Home Business Ideas and Opportunities

Archive | July, 2015

Starting a New Online Business Opportunity & Keeping It Real

There is a lot of excitement when you are shopping for online business opportunities. It is not unlike the rush that shoppers get when they buy things! However there is just an additional rush of adrenaline or something when we believe we are on our way to success. Sometimes we just want to keep repeating that sensation so we keep on joining more and more programs, signing up for more information, and buying more and more gadgets.

ocean wave

To add to the excitement, there is the fact that we may have signed up for recurring payments and we don’t want to waste a single second because the clock is always ticking. So then on top of everything else, we get in a big rush. Unfortunately that recurring payment becomes our main focus. It shouldn’t. We need to understand where we are. We are investing in our own potential success. It’s just ‘the cost of doing business’.

There is a snarky remark with regard to this, and that is that if we are afraid to invest even a small amount of money in our own business, then what we actually need is another job, not to have a business. The same concept rings true for having to work without being paid when we are creating and developing our own business. If it is a deal breaker to you to get paid for every minute you spend working, then again, you need a job, not your own business.

So with that said, the focus should be on learning and getting your bearings by first doing your due diligence; then finding out what you have to do, and learning how to do it. Then we can get started to take action with everything we have going for us so far. Needless to say this is a very bad time to rush anything. Maybe even in retrospect if we did our planning, including budgeting, scheduling, taking stock, then maybe we could relax more after the deed has been done (the first membership payment).

Some of the most important information you need to get, digest and keep is with regard to the compensation plan and what is actually involved. What are the conditions where you can earn money? Do they have a refund policy? What is it exactly? It is a rude awakening and one that sometimes can be the death knell to a business idea if you suddenly learn the truth and it is nowhere near what you had imagined or misconstrued about what was being said in this regard.

This refers to the commissions you can earn. You need to also understand any protocols as far as your upline and downline and how they all work hand in hand. In other words for example are there ‘pass ups’? This is where your upline (sponsors) would get the commission for your sale – maybe the first one, maybe the third one, maybe both (and when you are upline you will do the same). It may be that there is a complex organizational structure you need to understand.

You really need to analyze this to clearly determine whether you can accept the terms. In most cases there are legitimate reasons why the company may have different rules and regulations. You should make every attempt to understand them and to also be real about all that you can expect to receive from the company. In most cases you will find that they are indeed justified and you are getting something that is definitely worth it. If you don’t agree then you should be free to change your mind at any point (no contracts); but keep in mind that if their policy is ’30-day refund’ that it is perfectly ethical for them to refuse to refund your money on day 31.

This is most apparent if you imagine that you are doing everything yourself from scratch. You will usually find that you would need to invest way, way more money into your business without the programs and the resources they are willing to share with you. Even if at the end of the day you decide for some reason not to do that particular program, what you have learned, whether positive or negative is part of your growth and experience. You shouldn’t begrudge them whatever small amount of money you may have paid.

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Home Business Start-Up – Building Trust

They say there ‘is no fear except fear itself’. People may have a fear of the unknown to begin with and likely are skeptical if not suspicious when they are in unfamiliar territory. In the case of a home business start-up, there are lots of areas that could become ‘deal breakers’. That is why it is doubly more important than ever that you are perceived as being honest and reliable to your prospects and customers.

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It is a good idea if you focus on the areas where it may seem small or inconsequential but it actually is not, as far as building trust. You should always keep your word even if it doesn’t seem important; for example understand that there is a difference between 9:00am and 9:30am. If you set up an appointment online or otherwise, you need to be there on time. Stuff happens? Then just be sure to call BEFORE you are late to say that you have been delayed and will be there ASAP. Really make an effort to be there on time or as close as you can. It is actually very rude and disrespectful to keep someone waiting. Might as well start off your relationships on the right foot so that you build trust instead of disgust.

This being honest thing extends to your advertising and marketing techniques as well. Say what you mean and mean what you say. If you stick to that rule you shouldn’t run into any problems with being perceived as trustworthy and reliable. An example here might be even something like saying a deal will end at 12:00am on Tuesday. A time deadline may be an effective ploy to get people to take action (the fear of missing out). However if they go to the site at 1:00am and it is still there, or a week from now, you have been caught in a lie. To someone you hope to do business with, they could feel you are less than genuine and that is not a good way to build a relationship of trust.

You can bend this just a little bit and still appear honest – for example at 12:00am post something to the effect that the time has been extended due to the huge response or slow response, and give the next deadline. The point is just don’t leave it there because there are too many people just looking for a reason to walk away and pronounce everything a scam. You are still saying what you mean and meaning what you say, it’s just bent a little. The perception is what counts and you are still attempting to be honest with them. Of course you want to change the deadline few and far between times – so maybe give it a broad range like a week rather than a specific hour.

Sometimes you ‘don’t get a second chance to make a first impression’. It is really shocking how skeptical people can turn the most innocent thing into a ‘scam’ — You don’t have phone support, therefore this means you must be part of a scam; maybe your customer service is a little slow in responding, therefore you must be a scammer. Even something that you said or printed that was misconstrued by them, you guessed it, that means you must be a scammer; how about they expected something from you, but that is not your policy or protocol and you try politely to explain that, but to no avail, this makes you a crook since you are not doing business on their terms. Nothing much can be done about people like this, but do what you can to ‘take the high road’.

For normal home business start-up relationships once you establish yourself as someone who is friendly, open and reasonably honest, then you can begin to build trust which can mean everything to your new business’ bottom-line, including repeat business from loyal customers and peers. Building trust is what you want to strive for in developing your home business. Even if what you are selling is one-time-only, there is still much credence given to those word-of-mouth recommendations, so you want to build your reputation in the right direction!

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Exploring The Possibility of Starting a Home Business

There are many things to consider in determining whether starting a home business is feasible for you. Some things may seem obvious, others not so much. The first thing to do is discover the right mindset.

more money

You want to keep an open mind – open to all possibilities, which is the opposite of being skeptical or negative. At the same time you need to be realistic though. Be sure to do your due diligence so that you don’t make the wrong decision that causes you to take the wrong action, such as taking a gamble with more than you can afford to lose.

Life does involve taking risks but you want to minimize the risk by being informed and not rushing or acting from your emotions rather than your logic. Not gambling with more than you can afford to lose of course is a wise decision. Taking a few small risks may be necessary to get anywhere in this life.

For example losing $10-20 to take a chance that you will find something you need would be unfortunate, but will not ruin you. On the other hand gambling with the month’s rent money would be disastrous if you lost it, so don’t even go there. Don’t speculate, imagining you will get your money back in time to pay the rent. What if you don’t? Then what?

So starting with yourself you need to determine what you want to do, and you need a few more details than ‘to make money from home’. Do you like marketing and/or sales? If you have never done it before would you like to learn how and accept that there will be work involved and it may be unpaid work until you get going?

If you are not crazy about marketing and sales that is understandable and so you should decide what it is that you could do to earn money from home. However you need to understand that whatever the business is, if you want to find customers and make money you will need to do a certain amount of marketing and advertising to generate sales whether you love it or hate it!

Ideally you could pay for some services in this regard but the truth is most people starting a home business are doing it because they don’t have enough money. Typically they start out with a small operating budget and as such need to learn how to do things for themselves.

Note that marketing and selling on the Internet is probably 150% less expensive than offline; (think in terms of saving for example on paper, printing, postage, phones, etc). Just as a home business is 250% less costly than paying rent in a storefront or office building; (all you need is some space and a computer with an Internet connection).

Almost everything you need to do to promote your business online can be done for free if you are willing and able to devote your time consistently. Exactly WHAT your business will be will determine how much it would cost you to do it.

For example you may want to sell some products like a ‘manufacturer’s representative’, selling products that are technically owned by others – an ‘independent consultant’; Or you may wish to create your own products – anything from software to arts & crafts gifts; or provide a service such as web design, ghostwriting, search engine optimization, customer service or technical support.

Now just because you don’t know exactly how to do something that seems attractive to you does NOT mean you can’t do it. It just means you will have to learn or you will need to partner up with somebody who can help you with that particular facet of developing your home business plan.

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Home Business Ideas and Opportunities

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