Posts Tagged ‘work at home business’
DOES YOUR BUSINESS HAVE A MISSION STATEMENT?
Does your business have a mission statement? A mission statement is a way to define your business. It is a statement of who your company is, what you do, and why you do it.
Some companies use their mission statement as an advertising slogan. But the real purpose is to clarify what your company is all about. Who are your clients, and what benefits do you offer them? What are your business goals? What problems are you solving for your clients?
In fact, the first step is an awareness of exactly who your target market is. You can’t be all things to all people. You need to narrow down your market to a target group, or “niche”. Once you know who you’re targeting and what their needs are, you can work to clarify how you can fill their needs.
Spend some time reading the mission statements of other companies. Then define what makes your company unique.
The mission statement should be short and to the point. It is usually three to four sentences long, and it should be broad enough to change as your company changes. The words and message should be simple and able to be understood by anyone that reads it. Fancy language won’t impress your potential clients. Instead it may cause some to be confused or unsure of what you are offering.
What is the purpose of your business? Are you trying to provide a unique service? Are you trying to fill a void in the market?
There are many reasons to write a mission statement. It can be used for fund raising, or if you have employees, it helps them to know what your company is all about.
Above all, it should be meaningful to you. It should be a constant reminder of why you’re doing what you’re doing. Keep reviewing it and updating it until it sounds perfect. Once you have written the best mission statement you can, it will work like kind of a compass that keeps you moving in the right direction.
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.
Persistence in Your Home Business
Many people have the desire to start their own business, but become discouraged when faced with obstacles. The answer to discouragement is persistence.
As Dale Carnegie said, “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who kept trying when there was no hope at all.”
Starting a home business requires determination to see your goals through. The first sign of trouble doesn’t mean you’ve been defeated. It means you have to try different tactics.
Success doesn’t come overnight to most people. There is no such thing as getting rich quick. Starting your first business means you have to learn new skills. The learning curve always results in some mistakes, and mistakes are necessary to learn certain lessons. Mastering skills requires time and experience. There is no way around that.
As a new business owner, when success doesn’t come as quickly as you think it should, you may begin to doubt yourself and your ability to make your dreams come true. When you’re in that frame of mind, listen to the words of Harriet Beecher Stowe:
“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
If you believed in yourself enough to start your own business, don’t give up on yourself when you make mistakes while you are inexperienced. Remember that every successful person has a history of early failures. We aren’t born knowing how to run our own business, and chances are we didn’t learn what we need to know in school. We can only learn by trial and error, by jumping in and participating, and by trusting that with persistence, we will not only rise above our mistakes but benefit from them.
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.
Are You Really The Boss?
The desire to work from home usually goes hand in hand with the desire not to have to report to anyone else. People envision a life free of alarm clocks and rush hour traffic, free of pointless meetings and time cards.
Still, many people begin their work at home careers with a telecommute job. They may get started by talking their current boss into allowing them to work from home, or they may secure a telecommute job such as customer service rep or telemarketing job that entails putting in a certain number of hours, possibly at specific times.
There is nothing wrong with that if that is really what you want. But a telecommute job is just that – a job. You still have a boss, you still have to put in a certain number of hours and your worth is often perceived based on how many hours you put in, not the quality of your work or how productive you can be.
A home business on the other hand is a way for you to really be the boss. This can have both good and bad aspects to it. You are in charge of what hours you work. If you don’t work, you don’t make money. At least, that’s how it is in the early months of your business.
The ultimate goal for a home business owner is to create an environment in which you are making money whether you are working or not. You may have employees that are able to carry the ball for you. Or you may be able to set up a business that brings in money on auto-pilot, such as a website that sells high demand items.
The choice of a home business or a work at home job is up to you. Consider what is most important to you, and then decide which path is the right one for you to take.
Daily Planning
The importance of daily planning for a home business owner can’t be overemphasized. In the corporate world, days are very structured. You may need to complete certain projects by certain dates, attend meetings or training programs at certain times. You probably have coffee break at a certain time, lunch at a certain time, and you go home at a certain time.
But in planning your day for your home business, you are faced with a blank calendar. No one is going to make you do anything. No one is going to notice if you fritter your day away with web surfing or checking emails, or if you chat on the phone or watch soap operas or talk shows.
Of course, you will notice if time passes and you’re not making money. As a home business owner, you are responsible for planning your day and sticking to your plan. No one is going to make you do it but you.
The most important part of daily planning is to write down the tasks you expect to accomplish each day. It’s easy to tell yourself that today you will work on certain things, but if you don’t have a written plan, chances are you’ll succumb to distractions. They best way to write out a plan is in the evening. Clearly state what you will work on the next day. Plan your hardest tasks for the hours you are most alert, and the hours you are least likely to be interrupted by children and family.
You may have to dedicate a certain part of your day to marketing or business record keeping. Keep track of the hours you are actually working, not web surfing or chatting on the telephone with friends. Strive to better your best by knowing where you are now and what you’re actually doing with your time.
Some business owners prefer to use software to plan their day.
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.
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.
Introduction to Drop Shipping
Your market research has probably helped you select a product or category of products that you would like to specialize in. The next question is how will you go about obtaining products to resell?
One place you may want to check is the wholesale area of eBay itself. Items can sometimes be bought wholesale on eBay and then resold.
An even simpler solution is drop shipping. Drop shipping is basically selling items you don’t own. Suppliers will ship merchandise directly to your customers. You don’t have to have space for inventory or spend time packaging and shipping products. Your profit is the difference between the wholesale price plus the cost of shipping and any listing fees.
Some companies advertise themselves as drop shipping companies, but they are really middlemen. They don’t actually have any products in stock themselves. They are making their profits from membership fees or handling fees. This is why market research is so important. If you sign up with a drop shipping company that is really a middleman, you will find that they are selling you items at the same price they are being sold at on eBay or Amazon. You will make little or no profit from this type of company.
Working directly with a manufacturer will allow you to get the best price and make the best profit. The question is how do you go about finding manufacturers that will work directly with a small business, such as the one that you own? There are quite a few manufacturers that will drop ship for you, but finding them may not be easy.
The most highly recommended way to obtain sources for drop shipping is through a company called WorldWide Brands. They are not actually a supplier, but they maintain a list of wholesale sources that agree to work with small business owners and eBay sellers. They charge a one-time fee for lifetime access to their database. Once you are a member, you will have access to over 7,000 wholesale suppliers for your business.
Learn more about WorldWide Brands at http://worldwidebrands.com/.