7 Quick and Easy Ways to Make Your Home Based Business Look Like a World-Class Enterprise
Your home based business is first class. But what if it is small, and you really want it to look like a big corporation? Hold that thought – because you really can make it happen. What is more, you do not have to drive a gaping hole through your budget to do it.
Let us look at 7 quick and cheap ways to magically turn your one-person home business into what sounds like an international corporation.
1) Smart Answering Service. For a low cost, you can subscribe to a live answering service. Some services sound so professional, they even ask the caller which department they want.
2) Separate Order Taking and Shipping. If you have a physical product, it is helpful to hire a firm to store your product as well as pack and ship it. Many services also do the job of customer service and order taking. This definitely gives the impression of a large firm.
3) Business Cards and Stationery. Special order your business cards and stationery. Check out cards and stationery belonging to large corporations to get a good idea for your own. Have your own cards and stationery custom designed. Buy good stock in eggshell or light grey with conservative lettering.
4) Web Site. It is vital to have a Web site, even if it is only a few pages. It should be conservative and show your product to its best advantage. If you are selling a product or service via the Internet, a good sales letter is vital, as is an order page that is easy to understand.
5) Business Address. A business address sets you apart from most other home businesses. It states that you have a place of business. You, of course, may not need a separate place of business. So, one good solution is to use the address of a UPS store or other commercial mail service where you rent a box.
6) First Rate Publicity. There are all kinds of ways to get excellent publicity and one of the best is to write and publish quality articles in your area of expertise. Your articles should appear offline in print publications as well as online in article directories. From your articles, readers will know you are an expert and visit your site.
7) Affiliates. Affiliates are businesses and individuals that sell your product. It is like having an army of salespeople working for you around the world. It is important to pay a high commission of about 45%. Also, your affiliates need a good sales letter and all the assistance you can give them.
Your home based business may occupy only a corner of your den. But, today, it is relatively easy to make your home business look like a giant company. And you can do it without much money or effort. Once your home based business has a big-time image, it will be easier to turn your visitors into paying customers.
Follow Your Heart To Business – 4 Things The Books May Not Tell You About Starting Your Own Business
Many (most?) of us dream of the perfect job or business, but few of us ever get there. Usually this is not because of a lack of opportunity, but more of an abundance of fear. To follow you heart to your business dreams takes courage, lots of it. And a good dose of chutzpah helps, too. Go to any bookstore and you will find literally dozens of books on self-employment, starting your own business, writing business plans, and so on.
Pick a few or read them all; you are bound to get good practical advice. Take classes, work with a coach, join groups. If you don’t get overwhelmed by all the input you will be able to set the forces in motion and get started.
Here are four simple steps you may or may not get in those practical guides or from that experienced business coach:
Do listen to your heart (and your coach if you have one): I finally went for the gusto, back to something I first did when I was nine years old, after piddling around in dissatisfying jobs or unsuccessful ventures for years. Now I am happy and making money at it, too. Recently I ran across notes from coaching I did a couple of business flops back. What struck me is that I am now doing pretty much what the sessions pointed to, information I ignored for years. I stopped trying to put square me in the round hole.
Don’t talk too much to friends: This is not to protect your idea, although that may well be a consideration. This is to protect yourself. Your friends and family members may be well-intentioned, or they may be unintentional saboteurs. Well-meaning people can say mean things. Don’t listen to criticism and advice from people who don’t really understand what you are doing or why you are doing it. If you do listen, but don’t take it to heart.
Trust in yourself.
Know yourself and your pace: I am a plodder; it takes me a long time to make decisions, take the first steps, make the calls. The ideas are there, they just sometimes take a long time to come to fruition. I know my pace. People are compelled to tell me to contact Oprah about my product, start looking into manufacturing/mass production, do this, do that. I am not ready to do all that, and I know it. I just smile and nod, and go at my snail’s pace. It works for me, even if it does not work for others. Maybe you are the sort to rush headlong into things and that is great. But if you take what seems like forever, don’t beat yourself up over it. Remember the Hare and the Tortoise?
Avoid panic and self-doubt: This is probably the hardest step for me. If there is a lull in business I freak out and think I will go broke. Invoking the lessons of “The Secret” may or may not help. I obsessively look at similar products on line and question what I am doing, even though I know I am doing what is right for ME and is working as is. Do your best to avoid comparing your business or product to others that are similar. If you are struggling financially, get a part time job, get a loan, but don’t throw in the towel if you are truly doing what you love. Take a deep breath and another step forward.
So, in addition to all the practical aspects of starting a business, keep these emotional steps in mind as well. Being on your own is not easy, but it is worth it if you do it right. Trust your instincts, follow your heart, do what you love. Good luck!
Peace with each of our own hearts possible. Every heart that finds peace, even for a moment at a time, gets us one step, one heart closer to a universal peace. If you follow your heart and build a business you love you will be making a positive step not just for yourself, but in a small and important way, to all human beings. See how one entrepreneur is doing that at http://www.peacefulheartsdolls.com/
Dream Big. Think Small.
You see, I’ve studied hundreds of successful people. I’ve read their biographies.
One thing I’ve always seen whether it’s a Hollywood actor or business person.
There’s always incremental growth before breakout, exponential growth.
Maybe there are a few exceptions, though for the most part this is true.
So what that means is you go from $300 a month, to $500, to $900… and on to $3,000, $5,000, etc….then you get an exponential jump from say $7,000 one month to $17,000 the next (and you never look back).
I believe in MOMENTUM. I want to help you get there.
I believe in CELEBRATING small victories. I want to celebrate your victories with you.
If you’ve had challenges getting good results in your life, getting momentum going, don’t ‘think bigger’, THINK SMALLER and watch what happens.
Dream Big. Think Small.
Spend Time To Save Time
You have to give some to get some. The old adage is usually applied to money but it is also true of time.
When we are very young or very old, time seems endless. But for the majority of our lives, time is something we always need.
We are always pressed for time or seem to owe time to others from our bosses to our families. Time is such a valuable commodity so we need to make sure that we use it carefully. Careful use of our time means one thing — time management.
The sad truth is that most of us who are really in need of time management rarely utilize it. However, spending time on this simple four-step plan named “TIME” can really make a difference in your day, your life, and your time!
T Is For Taking Time To Plan
Every minute spent on planning and organizing will save at least that amount of time when you implement your plan. Shopping trips taken without a list often result in wasted time, errands run without prior planning often mean wasted time, and tasks not properly organized often mean wasted time. We all know this is true and yet we still rush forward in our haste to get something done. Take time to plan and you will be more efficient.
I Is For Involving Others
Whether at work or at home, involving other crucial stake-holders in your planning and prioritizing can help you attend to the essentials and share the work. Others may have good ideas to help you achieve your goals and others may well spark even more ideas from you. Sometimes, simply talking things over with a sympathetic audience can help you think more clearly. Don’t forget to give others a share in the work as well as the planning.
M Is For Meditation
No matter how busy your life or hectic your schedule is, you must take time to reflect on your goals and dreams. Taking a few moment to clear your mind, focus your energy, and rebuild your strength can revitalize you and help you accomplish more when you swing back into action.
Allowing yourself this down time may well give you the opportunity to prioritize and brainstorm so you can be even more productive than before. Even if you don’t have brainstorms from taking this time out, it will definitely give you an energy boost.
E Is For Evaluation
It is important for you to regularly evaluate your priorities and goals. Perhaps you have accomplished tasks that can now be permanently crossed off your list or can be set aside until a later date. Perhaps you have achieved certain goals resulting in a change of other priorities. Perhaps you simply have learned something along the way that caused a number of shifts in your priorities and goals.
Evaluation can also give you a sense of accomplishment if you look back on what you have achieved and the goals you have reached.
Even if taking TIME for time management can seem wasteful, it is actually a process that pays for itself time and again. Time management may cost you time for planning and organization but in the end it helps you gain time through efficiency and prioritization. The simple truth is that time management saves you time and stress.
4 Simple Ways to Increase your Blog Traffic
You have worked all day. The kids are home from school, dinner is done, and the cleanup is over. Finally you have a moment to sit down and relax when all of a sudden your teenager remembers a research project they have due in school tomorrow. Quickly, you go to the computer and type in the subject hoping for quick and informative results. You hit the “Enter” key and up pops all sorts of different sites that relate to the topic.
As a website owner, you wonder, how does one get their website to appear in the world of search engines? Welcome to the world of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
In a nutshell Search Engine Optimization is the improvement of traffic and website hits to your site by increasing the opportunities for the search engines to pull from your site, whether that be through images, keywords, local searches, or even business specific searches.
One way to accomplish this is to hire a Search Engine Optimizer. This individual or company, will review your site for content, build keyword searches, establish a website development plan, and help provide location specific statistics. Services are often times expensive, and require ongoing maintenance; an expense that many small business owners cannot afford.
WordPress to the Rescue!
WordPress offers their users many different plugins that can increase their visibility and presence on the Internet. However, even using this platform there are still a few key rules to search engine optimization that every website owner should know and implement.
1. Watch Your Titles – Front running words receive the most attention in a search string. Also, research shows that the typical user reads a search result page from top to bottom, then left to right. The closer your keywords are to the beginning of your title, the more weight and attention they will receive in a search.
2. Increase Your Speed – Have you ever noticed that the links in the beginning of a search engine result load faster than those near the end? This is because search engines weigh the length of time it takes a site to load in their crawling for matches. Increase your site’s loading speed by removing un-needed code, slacking down on the video, increasing cache speed, etc.
3. Tag and Connect – Do you have related articles on other blogs or sites? By tagging each of the posts with the same or similar keywords, you increase your web presence. Also, since pages are weighted heavier than posts, consider creating a page that links all the similar articles or blogs together with a “Read More”, or similar link at the bottom of the page.
4. Keep Your Traffic – While sidebars are an attractive way to lure readers to your site, by offering them a link and presence; they actually can hurt more than they can help. Links out of your site mean just that; the opportunity for your reader to leave and not browse your site further.
These tips will enhance your site presence using any website platform. The advantage of WordPress is that it supports several functionalities that other platforms do not, including optimized descriptions, tagging, related posts, and defining titles. It provides ease of use, allowing the small business owner to customize their site and build an online business presence through search engine optimization without having to spend tons of time learning the ins and outs of SEO or hiring someone else to do it.
Fun Resources
I was over reading the blog of Jay Baer, his article was about “What do Twitter Lists Say about your Personal Brand?“ He had a very need exercise.
Get the twitter lists you are on and then create a Woodle of the keywords.
I like to think of the Woodle as your core values and key words all wrapped together. I am also grateful to see all the time that I have spent working on my personal branding is paying off.
Here is my Woodle:
Starting Over again – Mailing list – Part 4
The last update on this particular project, it is ongoing and through testing we have found several actions that we will keep doing.
What we have completed so far:
- Created a small report or 5-7 day ecourse
- Sign up for a autoresponder
- Created as many messages as required
- Put the sign up web form on your website
The Options we decided to use:
- Joint Promotions (books) * more about this later
- Newsletter Ads
- Web Signup Forms
I was originally thinking 3-4 promotions per month, but I feel that is too much, maybe one or 2 at most per month
- I don’t want my readers & web site visitors to be annoyed with too many promotions
- I want to find promotions that I feel are of great value
So over the next several months offer different ebook and ecourse gauging response to the topics to find the perfect one.
Watch for new articles that report on “how we do it” in the near further.
Everything needs a beginning and a plan!
Everything needs a beginning and a plan! This is where we will start….
New practitioners will simply love the process of finding your vision! Even for practitioners that have been in business for 25+ years, it is good to revisit your goals and what you would like to accomplish in and with your business. I recommend revisiting your goals and priorities each quarter. You never can tell what things may happen that might change your priorities.
Step 1. Business Mission
A mission statement is a brief description of a company’s fundamental purpose. A mission statement answers the question, “Why do we exist?” Your mission statements will “broadly describe an business’ present capabilities, customer focus, and activities.
To write your mission statement, describe what your business does, describe how you do it , what core values you run your business by and why.
A mission statement sample: “At Earth’s Bounty, we grow market vegetables in a way that’s good for the earth and good for the table“.
Now let’s move on to the Business Vision, You may be asking what is the difference between the mission and the vision? The difference between a mission statement and a vision statement is that a mission statement focuses on a company’s present state while a vision statement focuses on a company’s future.
Step 2a. Business Vision
Set aside 1-2 hours for meditation, visualization and planning. You will need at the very least a pen and paper and a quiet room. I recommend adding fresh water, light snacks, soothing
music, candles, incense if you choose. If possible I highly encourage a trip to a hotel and a over night stay with no one around. I did this last year, it helped me as it allowed me to
break through my ego and find my true purpose.
This year I was lucky enough to have the house to myself for a weekend, so I played meditation music, prepared a lovely bubble bath, sat meditating for a while, received a Reiki attunement and then wrote my vision.
This is how I like to start my Vision – Write out my perfect day! From the time you wake up in the morning, what you ate, what you did, who you say, what business activities did you accomplish, all the way until you fall to sleep that evening. Really FEEL the whole day, see it in your minds eye, smell the smells of the fresh air, the eggs cooking. Hear the phone ring, feel the hug from your first client of the day, feel your eyes fill with tears as you read a thank you note from a client. Feel the love in your heart as you spend time with your partner, your children, your family, your pets. Taste the most wonderful flavours of the dinner you have prepared. Feel the sense of satisfaction and accomplishment as you drift off to sleep.
What does your perfect day look like, what is your vision for your business?
Step 2b. Write in 2-3 sentences what your main Vision for Your business.
The more powerful and vivid the vision, the more opportunities that come your way. Vision is about the dream, it is what you truly want your business to be, it is the impact your business will have on your community, the world and your life! Your vision statement is your inspiration, the framework for all your strategic planning. What you are doing when creating a vision statement is articulating your dreams and hopes for your business. It reminds you of what you are trying to build. Unlike the mission statement, a vision statement is for you and the other members of your company, not for your customers or clients.
A Vision Statement sample: “Within the next five years, ZZZ Tours will become the premier eco-tour company in Canada, increasing revenues to 1 million dollars in 2010 by becoming internationally known for the comfort and excitement of the whale-watching tours it offers.”
Now that you know where you are going…. it is a LOT easier to get there.
Two Basic Parts of a Low Cost Web Site Promotion
Anybody could own a web site. Anybody could up sell their own products and services to their target audience. Anyone could try to promote their web site with a low cost. But there are not many web sites that have a truly successful web site with traffic all day through. What these individuals or companies lack is the most essential factor of success – a low cost web site promotion that really works.
If you have been trying to promote your own web site and you have received traffic every hour, my hands are down for you. But for those people who need assistance, who does not have the patience to promote their own product and services, and lacks knowledge to properly advertise themselves, here are some guidelines to help you achieve success with a low cost web site promotion.
Search Engine Submission and Ranking are the two basic parts to a low cost web site promotion. Both of the parts have the same effect on the market of the web site – for your products and services presented in your web site catches the people’s attention.
The first inexpensive method of web site promotion is the search engine submission. This first part is the act filing information and submitting your web site to search engines. There are two types of Search engine submission – manual and automatic. For a low cost and effective web site promotion, automatic submission is ideal because after filling up the information, a software program would forward this information to other search engines.
The second money-saving web site promotion is ranking. This refers to the numerical position in which your web site appears on a search engine, based upon the web site’s criteria. Some search engines rank the order in which your search results appear primarily by how many other web sites link to each page. The leading web sites on this order would eventually fulfill a low cost web site promotion.
Other types of inexpensive web site promotion you could use to boost up traffic on your web site are banner advertising, classified ads, text links and section sponsorship. Banner advertisements pop up above and below web pages, and sometimes in another window. Text links and section sponsorship may cost more, but these methods helps in promoting to your specified target audience. It wouldn’t harm your web site to try these methods.
Always remember that the effects of your not so costly web site promotion hits are increasing significantly each day. Don’t waste time; find an effective and affordable web site promotion of your choice today.
5 Easy Ways To Create Profitable eBooks Now!
Writing ebooks is a MUST if you want to increase your credibility and expert status online, make more money in all areas of your business, stomp your competition and create a profitable Internet/information business.
80% of people believe they have a book or ebook in them but less than 1% will actually write one! That means that just by authoring an ebook you will elevate your status and be seen as an authority automatically.
Think about it, the word “author” comes from the word “authority” and when you are an authority doors open and opportunities abound and your business will start to EXPLODE!
