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10 Key Strategies for Success in a Home Based Business
Copyright 2005 Geoffrey Young
When you finally decide to work from home in an internet based
business, you will need to follow certain steps to be successful.
Following are the basic steps in setting up for home business
success.
1. Attitude
This is the key to your business.
Treat your business like a business.
This is critical no matter if you work part or full-time. One of
my friends is a work at home mom. She has always put her family
first whilst at the same time developing her business. She says,
"I work part-time, but I have a full-time attitude."
Put another way, "If you have a hobby attitude you will have a
hobby income, if you have a business attitude you will have a
business income."
You can be successful working part-time and you can be
successful working full-time but it is highly unlikely that you
will be successful working in your "spare time".
2. Working Environment
A space that you can call your own, free from distractions for
your scheduled time.
A comfortable chair and organized desk. Stationery supplies as
required. For example:
- pens - highlighters - stapler - hole punch - sticky tape -
note book(s) - a simple filing system - ring binders - manilla
folders
Consider the value of a broadband connection. Your time is
valuable and a broadband connection can allow you to get more
done in a given time frame.
3. Schedule
Develop a schedule that works for you, your family (or
"significant others") and your business. When you allot a block
of time for work then use that time for work. Equally important
is to schedule time for your other commitments - family time,
self education ( reading, listening and viewing), "health time"
(exercise, cooking and eating), and leisure time. During these
other times don't work. After all if one of the reasons to work
from home is to spend more time with your family then you don't
want your working at home time to consume your family time.
You are working for yourself and your schedule (by your choice)
is your "boss". When you have people calling you or dropping
around unexpectedly or maybe out-of-town visitors may want to
catch up with you then you need to make a choice. Are you
committed to your own business success? What will be your choice
in these situations? Only you can decide what is important to
you.
In a family environment you may need to negotiate with your
partner and children to have your business time agreed upon,
during which you will not be interrupted. Put this schedule
prominently somewhere so all family members are aware of your
work schedule.
4. Describe Your Business
Be able to describe your business concisely; a powerful one or
two sentence description that someone can repeat in describing
your business to others. A unique and memorable tag line can
also be invaluable for promoting your business.
5. Know Your Product or Service
Once you have selected your product or service to sell, it may
or may not be something that you use yourself but you need to
know your product intimately. If you are selling ebooks then
know the content and its value. If you are selling software then
use it know it "inside out". You will develop a reputation of
providing quality information and because of your product
knowledge you can become
the preferred supplier.
It is not practical to use certain products (for example a woman
may choose to sell man's shoes or vice versa) in which case the
seller won't be a product user, however the seller can still
know the benefits and features of the product intimately.
6. Administration
Use good record keeping practices.
This may involve a consultation with a tax advisor who can let
you know about the optimal way to set up your financial records
and what records need to be kept. Your advisor will also
recommend record keeping systems and you can find out what
software may simplify this aspect of your business. Additionally
your obtain advice on the best arrangement for your bank
accounts. You will most likely be advised to have a separate
bank account.
You will also need to keep track of your various logins,
usernames and passwords. A very handy little software tool for
this is Treepad available as either the free Lite version
(without password protection) or the commercial Plus or Biz
versions. http://www.treepad.com
There are other useful tools for this also from a simple paper
notebook to free and commercial password keepers. One popular
solution is Roboform that will remember your login details and
can automatically fill out your login and other registration
forms. http://www.roboform.com
7. Computer Protection
Your computer is the lifeline to your business dealings and must
be protected including the data that is stored.
You need a virus scanner, personal firewall, anti-spyware and
anti-adware and preferably an email scanner with the ability to
delete suspect of spam email from the server before it is
downloaded to your computer.
Some suggestions are:
AVG Anti-Virus: http://www.grisoft.com Spybot S&D:
http://www.safer-networking.org Microsoft Anti-Spyware:
www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
Adaware: http://www.lavasoft.com/ Mailwasher Email Scanner:
http://www.mailwasher.net
8. A Domain Name
You will most likely need a domain name for your business and
one cost effective registrar is GoDaddy, http://www.godaddy.com.
9. Payment Processing
You will need a way to process credit cards; that may be using
services such as: - PayPal https://www.paypal.com - Storm Pay
http://www.stormpay.com - 2 Checkout http://www.2checkout.com -
Clickbank http://www.clickbank.com or others.
This is the most economical way to get started. Once your
business picks up you may need to look into your own merchant
account for credit card transactions.
Consideration may also be given to other forms of online
currency such as eGold http://www.egold.com
10. Email accounts
Once you have your own domain you can use an associated email
account. This can further assist in the promotion of your
business and promotes a more professional business image.
As a final comment on continuing in your internet business,
conduct your business ethically, provide extraordinary service
and be proud to put your name to the products or services that
you are selling and you will be on track to developing a
sustainable long term internet business.
About the author:
Geoffrey Young develops e-marketing solutions for people looking
to start a home based business. http://www.CoolJobAtHome.com
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