Looking to work from home?

A great little business that works perfectly!

2010-07-07T07:37:00.000-07:00

Problems Working From Home - Been There Done That

2010-07-07T01:28:00.000-07:00

As I say to every new person who has talked to me about problems working from home, there can be a short list and a long list of problems. The list becomes shorter when you start looking at a problem differently than you may have in the past. Before I get to how you should look at a problem give me a moment to work on your mind.

Your success will depend on removing each one of the problems you face working from home. Eventually your mind will look for a solution to each problem first. You will start to notice your productivity goes up. Your learning ability becomes easier.

Below I am going to give you a few of the most common working from home problems. These are problems I and people I consult in working from home have gone through. Then I will treat you to one of my worst but easily resolved problems working at home.

The 4 Most Common Problems Working From Home

Your friends and family interrupt you thinking that since you work from home you can stop any time they need something. Isn't it interesting that people who go to a job think that those of us, when working at home, can be constantly interrupted with either small talk or resolving their problems. Remember this point though: you are trying to make your working at home your full time job (J.O.B) so you can spend more time having fun than working. And another reason is spending time with your family. Be careful not to completely shut out your family when trying to curb interruptions. Solution: I bought an appointment book. When someone interrupts me I would grab the appointment book and ask them when they would like to be scheduled for an appointment. I would tell some that when I work I charge $20 an hour. Then with a broad smile I would ask them if they were paying by check. Finally most people realized that even though I was working from home, I was working. The same as if I were at a job (J.O.B.).
The telephone (land line and cell phone) seems to ring only when you sit down and get ready to work. You never realized until you starting working out of your home that the phone rang so much. Keep in mind that when you were (or are now) working for someone else you never hear your land line phone. At work they probably have you turn your cell phone off. Solution: Start acting like you are at your J.O.B. Turn the cell phone off. With the land line you could leave the ringer on. But definitely have caller ID. You will also notice how many hang-ups you have (no message left) when you start ignoring the land line phone. Stop thinking that a phone needs to be answered every time it rings. If it is also your business phone now get a distinctive ring from the phone company. That way you can distinguish when it is a personal or business call.
You find that one of your biggest problems working from home is you have trouble focusing on what you need to do. You start feeling you were more productive at your J.O.B. Solution: Start acting like you are at your job. The tough part is you are your own boss. You are accountable for everything you do. You could role play being both a worker and a boss at the same time. Just ask yourself if you were your boss would you fire you? Hopefully, if you are not being productive, the answer would be yes. Here's another point. Would you even pay a worker who was not productive? Remember, you are working at home to provide yourself with a bigger income than you would ever get at any J.O.B.
Everyone you know wants to give you their opinion about your working at home. The reasons for most of these unsolicited opinions will vary. For instance some people truly believe they genuinely care about your welfare. Others are jealousy that they have not taken the same initiative you have. You could even be getting an opinion from a broker than you are friend or relative. And this is like getting advice from a furnace repairman on how the chemical make up of Haley's comet effects the Earth's rotation. (Okay I do know a furnace repairman that knows more about Haley's comet they I do.) Solution: Here is one of my favorite solutions to unsolicited advice. Start acting like you didn't hear the comment that someone made about your working at home. You could even look at them in a hazy sort of I "didn't hear you" look. You can apologize for looking at them like that way. My favorite apology is "I am sorry I didn't hear you. I was thinking about how great it is to be working from home and soon my J.O.B. will be a thing of the past. Those 2 sentences worked 99 percent of the time. You will have that 1 percent that just don't give up giving you "their advice" or opinion.

My All Time Personal Favorite When It Comes to Having Problems Working From Home

I remember starting a new online business. Before I continue I have to tell you about my sleeping habits before I started this new business. I would go to bed between 11:00 PM and midnight. I would wake up a 7:00 AM to be ready to drive my youngest daughter to school. I would always wake up refreshed and ready to start the day.

Now back to the new business adventurer. After 2 weeks of beginning this new business I was going to sleep feeling fine. But upon waking up, I would have this nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. And of course those haunting thoughts that nothing was going to work out the way I wanted.

This morning wake up turmoil went on for at least 2 weeks. It seemed that no matter what time I went to bed I would suddenly wake up around 6:00 AM. I would just lay there tossing and turning until 7:00 AM.

Suddenly, as if a bolt of lightning hit me, I thought of a solution. What if I woke up at 6:00 AM and instead of tossing and turning I got right up and went to work.

Well, that did the trick. Since I went right to work my day seemed longer. I concentrated on what I needed to do, not what I thought I needed to worry about. Something else occurred. I actually started considering what I was working on something I truly and happily wanted to do. All of a sudden what I was doing didn't feel like work any more. I was happier and even became 105 percent confident that the new business would be better than what I expected.

Guess what happened. The new business was a success within 6 weeks of starting it. Also, since that day, every Monday through Friday I now get up at 6:00 AM not 7:00AM.

Conclusion

Start looking at the problems you face working from home differently. Each time you face a problem just have your mind think "there must be a solution". Stated another way, "behind every problem there is a solution". If you start looking for a solution immediately you will spend less unproductive time worrying about what you think is a problem.

My motto today is: "All those problems working from home have a whole bunch of solutions just waiting for me to discover."

After 10 years of doing business on the internet David Main has recently set up a new website for helping people properly learn how to deal with problems working from home [http://www.reviewsworkathome.com] and be successful at it. He also helps anyone who is looking to avoid or stop the financial pitfalls that prevent many people from becoming successful. David offers a free 7 day email course to help you get started or stop the frustration you have been having. It takes more than just spending money. It starts with the proper mindset and proper business approach to be successful.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Main

How Do You Find the Perfect Business Idea?

2010-07-05T02:09:00.000-07:00

The answer to this question is that the perfect idea probably doesn't exist. Your aim should be to choose an idea that is practical and workable, given your skills and experience, and your long-term goals. It should also be an idea that fires your enthusiasm and something that you can really believe in!

Some new business people find it hard to settle on a single business idea because they are worried about missing out on new opportunities or narrowing their options too early on. But remember, even when you have started your business, it is possible to add new services or products, or even to begin a second or third business. You and your businesses will continue to grow and develop - so in selecting your first business idea you are not saying 'no' to other opportunities. However, to give your first business idea a really strong start you might need to put other ideas on hold for a while!

Inspiration for your new business may come from:

inventing something new - some people are naturally good at finding original solutions to problems. Others come up with completely new ideas based on new technology or other developments. Sometimes people are driven to invent a solution when they are faced with a problem in their own life and realise there is no solution... yet.
copying someone else's idea - this can be a great starting point. If an idea is working for one business there's a good chance it could work for yours too. However, this one needs to be handled with care. If the marketplace is already overcrowded, you will need to offer something really special to earn your share of customers.

"Sandra was considering opening her own hairdressing salon - other hairdressing businesses in her small town seemed to be doing very well, and she was an experience stylist with several years professional experience under her belt. However, once she began researching her market, she realised that there were six salons in a small town of perhaps 15,000 people. It also became clear to her that although a couple of the salons were doing very well, two of the others were really struggling. This was an overcrowded and highly competitive market. If she wanted to open her salon in her home town Sandra needed to decide how her business would be different. How would she stand out from the rest and attract customers?"

spotting a gap in the market - this often happens by accident. Perhaps you look everywhere for something you need, only to realise that no one in your area is providing it.
developing your own skills and interests - building on your own areas of expertise can be a great starting point, not least because you probably already understand the market and the needs of your potential customers quite well. Many people dream of earning a living doing something they love, and there is no reason why they shouldn't achieve this goal, given careful planning and hard work.

"Graham was a keen fly fisherman. He decided to start a business running fishing holidays to Iceland, a place he had visited several times himself, and where he had several useful contacts. The business was highly success and with three years he had expanded his fishing holiday business to cover Canada, Russia and Norway as well.

Graham's business catered to a small, specialised market. This is sometimes called niche marketing."

Business ideas may be found in the most unexpected places or in everyday situations. Ideas don't need to be wildly inventive or original to succeed:

"Often the simplest and most obvious ideas are the best. When I first started out, I picked up a yellow pages and flicked through to find out what everyone else was doing. I reasoned that if they were already doing it, that proved there was at least a market for it!"

Charlie Stevenson.

Six Behaviours of Winners in a Downturn

2010-07-02T06:38:00.001-07:00

Behaviour 1:

Be in Control

In the current climate you may feel that you and your business are at the mercy of

forces beyond your control. Many owner managers will feel paralysed by a sense

of helplessness and simply wait for the hand that fate deals them. Winners take

control of their own destiny and create the future they want for their businesses

and themselves.

There is little any of us can do about the macroeconomic climate, nevertheless as

an owner manager you can continue to control what you do in your business.

You can still have inspiring vision and communicate it to your people; you can still

be proud and confident about what makes your business great; you can continue

to be strong and rigorous in managing your business; you can still make plans and

invest wisely. And most importantly you can continue to grasp opportunities that

others are too timid to spot.

Behaviour 2:

Be Confident

In the current climate it is tough to focus on the future and you may feel that you

are just existing week by week. Of course a short term agenda can be dispiriting,

both for you and for other people in your business. And at some point in the not

too distant future there will be an upturn. Winners continue to have confidence

in a clear and compelling vision of the future. It is important to look beyond the

short term and have a confident and clear view of the medium to longer term.

Stay confident about what makes your business great; stay confident about your

passion for your business; stay confident about the future you will create for your

business and yourself. Communicate that vision in a way which inspires other

people to help you bring it about. This confidence will spread to other people in

your business, to your customers and to your suppliers. And the effect will be

dramatic.

Behaviour 3:

Be Distinctive

In tough economic times some owner managers will scrap and scrabble for any

business they can get their hands on, just to stay in the game. The danger of this

is that you lose sight of the distinctive benefits that your product or service

delivers to your customers. And you can end up being treated like a commodity

and coming under severe price pressure. Winners clearly articulate the distinctive

benefits they bring to their customers. Ensure that what you offer is distinctive,

and that your customers are prepared to pay for that distinctiveness. Hold fast to

your distinctiveness and articulate it at every opportunity. If you lose it, your

offering will be treated like a commodity and you will come under price pressure.

And if you succumb to that pressure and reduce your prices, you are actually

giving away profit and it is very difficult to make up for that lost profit in increased

sales. In fact, if you are clear about your distinctive benefits then you are

probably better off increasing prices rather than reducing them. Even if that

means losing some of your customers. They are probably the customers that

don’t really value your distinctiveness at all and it may well even be costing you

money to service them.

Behaviour 4:

Be Strong

The current climate means that now, more than ever, you need to be absolutely

rigorous in managing your business – that means focusing on the things that really

matter; managing cash with a religious fervour, challenging costs and waste at

every opportunity. Make immediate bottom line improvements by driving down

debtor days, insisting sales staff adhere to a tight pricing policy, negotiating

discounts with suppliers, reducing fixed costs and shedding unprofitable

customers. You will need a plan robust enough to survive variances and you will

need indicators that act as early warning signals and tell you at a glance how the

business is fairing.

Behaviour 5:

Be Wise

In tough economic times, some owner managers will simply hunker down and

stop all investment. While this preserves cash in the short term, it restricts the

ability to grasp the upside of the downturn and is demotivating for everyone. For

the other owner managers who take big risks in an attempt to drive sales, winners

continue to make wise investments for the future. In order to do this, you need a

clear plan of the future you want to create for your business and for yourself and

you will then need the realism to differentiate between those investments which

are truly crucial to bringing that future about and those which actually do not

need to be made. In particular, before moving into new markets and launching

new products, consider whether you have fully exploited your existing niches.

Sticking to the knitting, or in other words selling more of your existing products

and services to your existing customers and people just like them, is far more

profitable and far less risky than diversification.

Behaviour 6:

Be Ready

Tough economic times are also times of great turmoil and great change and

change creates opportunities. Winners are always ready to grasp the

opportunities brought about by change.

The economic downturn might be threatening the very survival of some of our

companies, but for more robust businesses it presents an opportunity to redefine

their sector and their position within that sector. That means really

understanding your market and keeping a keen eye on your competitors. You

may find that you have access to markets, potential customers, premises and

people who in better times might not be so readily available to you. From weaker

competitors you may be able to acquire customers, key staff or other resources.

You may even find yourself in a position to acquire some of your competitor’s

businesses. In all cases you need to be ready to seize opportunities to grasp the

upside of the downturn.

Challenging times are the true test of great leadership. Now if the time for owner

managers to show the vision, determination, resilience and courage of the great

leader. Take control of your own destiny, be confident, be distinctive, be strong,

be wise and be ready to seize the upturn of the downturn. Create a different and

better future for your business and for you. And be a winner.