Great Expectations For Your Home-Based Business
So you sometimes wonder how your life would look if you were to be your own boss and self-employed or even if you owned a business? (Know the difference?)
Ok, so take a break from your normal busy day for a few minutes. Get yourself a drink, turn off the radio or TV. Indulge yourself here. What does your life look like in that freedom place? Maybe you no longer drive to and from your job. Perhaps you even work from home. Or you run a business getting paid for the real value of your skills and knowledge instead of feeling ripped off every time you get your tax notice.
Maybe you are now more in control of the office politics. Now you get to pick who you want to work with rather than being forced to get along with people you really have little in common with and who maybe regularly drive you crazy. Or no longer need do you panic daily to struggle to ferry your children around between day care, school or after school clubs and all their other activities, whilst not being late for work. No stress; you can build your work day around them! What’s more you’ll even have time to enjoy being around them when they have their birthdays, as they grow up.
Have you ever had to negotiate compassionate leave from work for bereavement and been made to feel like you were faking it? (Been there!) No more grovelling and resenting your colleagues and bosses for sneery or suspicious attitudes. If life throws trauma and stress your way, you take as long as you need and find someone else to take your place or perhaps you could do so well, you can just take that time out that you need…
Ladies, did you ever get passed over because the training budget was “too stretched” or because your male colleague was “just better suited” to that course? Then not long after they were promoted and it could have been you? How would you feel knowing that every day you are in control of your being able to learn new skills and you are being challenged and even excited as you develop professionally? What about if your work was rewarding because you are helping other people to have the same freedom to determine their lifestyle as you have?
And how would it be if you were really happy that the products you were trading are not only high value, but you are offering something that everybody is in need of, that you feel passionate about? Sounds like a dream, right? Could never be reality? Too good to be true? Well, when people start in any new home business, this is the life many people are aspiring to; it’s what drives them to make that step out of their comfort zone.
So the big question is, if this is a reality for some entrepreneurs,how is it that as many as 97% of people fail in online, home based business ventures and as many as 95% of traditional businesses struggle?
There are a number of reasons why the average would be entrepreneur fails -particularly if the online business owner chooses to work from home.
Perhaps the number one killer of chances of success for the online business entrepreneur, is false or unrealistic expectations about the work involved. It is a mistake, for instance, to think that just because you conduct your business online, that building real-life personal relationships with other people is not important. Truth is, being self-employed or being a business owner, whatever your preferred sector, business building is about building honest and lasting relationships with other people who have an interest in what you have to offer, in short – marketing to your list of prospects.
The second key consideration for your success as an entrepreneur is that your success depends upon your giving value in your professional relationships – off-line as much as on-line. Giving people what they want keeps them interested. Obvious? So why do business owners rest on their laurels?
Fifteen years ago, somebody introduced me to an online business opportunity; the internet was a whole new media for advertising and product promotion then. But because direct marketing was still new, there were rumours of home businesses being scams and pyramid schemes were whispered about at group meetings. My sponsor at the time was driven by the motivation to earn big money – fair enough – but I was not inspired by him as a business person. To be fair, this was not his fault to some degree; the business model did not focus on marketers developing themselves professionally. There were no real marketing skills lessons offered by the company, just hypey tapes I could neither relate to or learn a great deal from. Fact is I cringed after listening to a couple of them… so old school hard sell with some ‘mindset’ training.
Portfolios of hyper-shiney married couples with sometimes monstrously ostentatious homes were anathema to me. Images of these top sales people alienated me more than they inspired me. Importantly also, I could not see how I could get from A to B – and if what I saw in those glossy business brochures was destination B, I wasn’t going anywhere with Happy Clappers!
Nor was I inspired to learn about what owning a business meant. I was an employee, with an employee mentality and bills to pay. None of my so-called business partners spoke to me about what I wanted out of life. Setting goals in developing myself and moving a practical business plan forward was not on the agenda it seemed. So when our home computer began to regularly shut down for no apparent reason and when we were expected to stock up on products of the company, so we knew how great they were, when we were asked to ‘draw up a list’ of those close to us, when ‘world wide web’ security limitations were still a huge obstacle in peoples’ minds to shopping online, the practicalities and drawbacks began to out-weigh any possible benefits of sticking with it.
The fact remains, however, that choosing and online business does give you a distinct edge and that had we persisted, we no doubt would have been rich by now! I knew the potential for having an online business back then; just knowing this was not enough to drown out the doubt about the struggles to be got through.
I was also not impressed by the products back then, so all in all I could not get excited enough to make consistent efforts to make it happen. It never occurred to me then that there might be different business options available. I had very little contact with business people and in my mind, people inherited their parents’ businesses!
Little did I know, that what I needed was to be encouraged to search online to find a fantastic product with a proven, effective and powerful marketing system and sales process, replicable systems where jobs can be delegated and last but not least, good coaching.
In a home based business operating online, you can achieve much greater leverage than you could ever hope to in a traditional “bricks and mortar” business, or even by using “traditional” MLM or network marketing techniques. People seek you out instead of you having to chase customers down, or worse still, harass your family and neighbours.
Network marketing online is a BOOMING industry. It’s RECESSION PROOF if you know how to pull the right levers…
So be clear from the outset, that if your business is to thrive no matter what the economic climate, you need to put in some hard work on yourself, developing skills, patience and tenacity. Understanding your relationships with potential customers is crucial. They need to trust your opinion and your products; choosing the right business can offer that potential if you are brand new tot the idea of going independent.
The incredible power of leverage offered by internet marketing, to reach markets globally, 24-7, even as you sleep is incredibly alluring for more and more people. It’s the new Goldrush with which you have a formula to get you the lifestyle that very few actually attain.
Whether you choose a traditional business model or replicable online business, certainly being an entrepreneur is a step in the right direction towards gaining more control over your life. That being said, it’s also a matter of degree.
How many business people do you hear of who work 70 hour weeks and say that their business dominates their life to the point where they cannot reap the personal rewards of their hard work? If you cannot delegate, outsource or automate, you are bound to your business. All well and good if you are happy living that way.
But nowadays more men and women are looking to achieve a healthier work-life balance. The internet offers this potential freedom .
Doing your homework, putting in the time to do your research before you jump in can really pay off in terms of ROI and achieving more freedom . The right business for you can see you well positioned to build a professionally, financially and personally rewarding home-based business. If you are investigating your options to work from home now, be sure to research whether your product is unique and high value enough to bring the kind of returns on your investment that you need to sustain a high quality life-style.
Really important too is to find out what support you can expect from your business team in order to build your value in the market-place. Bear in mind, you are about to become your business’s greatest asset and driving factor for being successful or failing. On-going and consistent training to stay ahead of this fiercely competitive market is crucial.
Most important of all, do not be fooled by any promises of quick results. If you are looking for working towards a dream lifestyle,
developing your value to the market is going to take time and commitment. So many fail in internet marketing because they lose hope and momentum just at the point where their business is about to really take off. Be realistic. This is not a ‘see how it goes’ situation. You have to be committed to making your business work.
Research what is on offer and think about what your business needs to be helped to develop. Write a list during your due diligence of what appeals to you and find the business which fits your criteria.
Finally, enjoy the process. If you get a winning formula, it will be the making of you and your family. Your passion for your business is going to keep you going in any tough periods. Whatever the weather, being an independent entrepreneur is definitely emotionally and psychologically liberating. On balance, the good will outweigh those days every entrepreneur has of: “What have I got myself into?”!
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