1. Do what you enjoy.
What you get out of your
business in the form of personal satisfaction, financial gain, stability and
enjoyment will be the sum of what you put into your business. So if you don't
enjoy what you're doing, in all likelihood it's safe to assume that will be
reflected in the success of your business--or subsequent lack of success. In
fact, if you don't enjoy what you're doing, chances are you won't succeed.
2. Take what you do
seriously.
You cannot expect to be
effective and successful in business unless you truly believe in your business
and in the goods and services that you sell. Far too many home business owners
fail to take their own businesses seriously enough, getting easily sidetracked
and not staying motivated and keeping their noses to the grindstone. They also
fall prey to naysayers who don't take them seriously because they don't work
from an office building, office park, storefront, or factory. Little do these
skeptics, who rain on the home business owner's parade, know is that the number
of people working from home, and making very good annual incomes, has grown by
leaps and bounds in recent years.
3. Plan everything.
Planning every aspect of
your home business is not only a must, but also builds habits that every home
business owner should develop, implement, and maintain. The act of business
planning is so important because it requires you to analyze each business situation,
research and compile data, and make conclusions based mainly on the facts as
revealed through the research. A business plan also
serves a second function, which is having your goals and how you will achieve
them, on paper. You can use the plan that you create both as map to take you
from point A to Z and as a yardstick to measure the success of each individual
plan or segment within the plan.
4. Manage money wisely.
The lifeblood of any
business enterprise is cash flow. You need it to buy inventory, pay for
services, promote and market your business, repair and replace tools and
equipment, and pay yourself so that you can continue to work. Therefore, all
home business owners must become wise money managers to ensure that the cash
keeps flowing and the bills get paid. There are two aspects to wise money
management.
1.
The money you receive from clients in exchange for your goods and
services you provide (income)
2.
The money you spend on inventory, supplies, wages and other items
required to keep your business operating. (expenses)
5. Ask for the sale.
A home business
entrepreneur must always remember that marketing, advertising, or promotional
activities are completely worthless, regardless of how clever, expensive, or
perfectly targeted they are, unless one simple thing is accomplished--ask for
the sale. This is not to say that being a great salesperson, advertising
copywriting whiz or a public relations specialist isn't a tremendous asset to
your business. However, all of these skills will be for naught if you do not
actively ask people to buy what you are selling.
6. Remember it's all
about the customer.
Your home business is
not about the products or services that you sell. Your home business is not
about the prices that you charge for your goods and services. Your home
business is not about your competition and how to beat them. Your business is
all about your customers, or clients, period. After all, your customers are the
people that will ultimately decide if your business goes boom or bust.
Everything you do in business must be customer focused, including your
policies, warranties, payment options, operating hours, presentations,
advertising and promotional campaigns and website. In addition, you must know
who your customers are inside out and upside down.
7. Become a shameless
self-promoter (without becoming obnoxious).
One of the greatest
myths about personal or business success is that eventually your business,
personal abilities, products or services will get discovered and be embraced by
the masses that will beat a path to your door to buy what you are selling. But
how can this happen if no one knows who you are, what you sell and why they
should be buying?
Self-promotion is one of
the most beneficial, yet most underutilized, marketing tools that the majority
of home business owners have at their immediate disposal.
8. Project a positive
business image.
You have but a passing
moment to make a positive and memorable impression on people with whom you
intend to do business. Home business owners must go out of their way and make a
conscious effort to always project the most professional business image
possible. The majority of home business owners do not have the advantage of
elaborate offices or elegant storefronts and showrooms to wow prospects and
impress customers. Instead, they must rely on imagination, creativity and attention
to the smallest detail when creating and maintaining a professional image for
their home business.
9. Get to know your
customers.
One of the biggest
features and often the most significant competitive edge the home based
entrepreneur has over the larger competitors is the he can offer personalized
attention. Call it high-tech backlash if you will, but customers are sick and
tired of hearing that their information is somewhere in the computer and must
be retrieved, or told to push a dozen digits to finally get to the right
department only to end up with voice mail--from which they never receive a
return phone call.
The home business owner
can actually answer phone calls, get to know customers, provide personal
attention and win over repeat business by doing so. It's a researched fact that
most business (80 percent) will come from repeat customers rather than new
customers. Therefore, along with trying to draw newcomers, the more you can do
to woo your regular customers, the better off you will be in the long run and
personalized attention is very much appreciated and remembered in the modern
high tech world.
10. Level the playing
field with technology.
You should avoid getting
overly caught up in the high-tech world, but you should also know how to take
advantage of using it. One of the most amazing aspects of the internet is that
a one or two person business operating from a basement can have a superior
website to a $50 million company, and nobody knows the difference. Make sure
you're keeping up with the high-tech world as it suits your needs.. The best
technology is that which helps you, not that which impresses your neighbors.
11. Build a top-notch
business team.
No one person can build
a successful business alone. It's a task that requires a team that is as
committed as you to the business and its success. Your business team may
include family members, friends, suppliers, business alliances, employees,
sub-contractors, industry and business associations, local government and the
community. Of course the most important team members will be your customers or
clients. Any or all may have a say in how your business will function and a
stake in your business future.
12. Become known as an
expert.
When you have a problem
that needs to be solved, do you seek just anyone's advice or do you seek an
expert in the field to help solve your particular problem? Obviously, you want
the most accurate information and assistance that you can get. You naturally seek
an expert to help solve your problem. You call a plumber when the hot water
tank leaks, a real estate agent when it's time to sell your home or a dentist
when you have a toothache. Therefore, it only stands to reason that the more
you become known for your expertise in your business, the more people will seek
you out to tap into your expertise, creating more selling and referral
opportunities. In effect, becoming known as an expert is another style of
prospecting for new business, just in reverse. Instead of finding new and
qualified people to sell to, these people seek you out for your expertise.
13. Create a competitive
advantage.
A home business must
have a clearly defined unique selling proposition. This is nothing more than a
fancy way of asking the vital question, "Why will people choose to do
business with you or purchase your product or service instead of doing business
with a competitor and buying his product or service?" In other words, what
one aspect or combination of aspects is going to separate your business from
your competition? Will it be better service, a longer warranty, better
selection, longer business hours, more flexible payment options, lowest price,
personalized service, better customer service, better return and exchange
policies or a combination of several of these?
14. Invest in yourself.
Top entrepreneurs buy
and read business and marketing books,
magazines, reports, journals, newsletters, websites and industry publications,
knowing that these resources will improve their understanding of business and
marketing functions and skills. They join business associations and clubs, and
they network with other skilled business people to learn their secrets of
success and help define their own goals and objectives. Top entrepreneurs
attend business and marketing seminars, workshops and training courses, even if
they have already mastered the subject matter of the event. They do this
because they know that education is an ongoing process. There are usually ways
to do things better, in less time, with less effort. In short, top
entrepreneurs never stop investing in the most powerful, effective and best
business and marketing tool at their immediate disposal--themselves.
15. Be accessible.
We're living in a time
when we all expect our fast food lunch at the drive-thru window to be ready in
mere minutes, our dry cleaning to be ready for pick-up on the same day, our
money to be available at the cash machine and our pizza delivered in 30 minutes
or it's free. You see the pattern developing--you must make it as easy as you
can for people to do business with you, regardless of the home business you
operate.
You must remain
cognizant of the fact that few people will work hard, go out of their way, or
be inconvenienced just for the privilege of giving you their hard-earned money.
The shoe is always on the other foot. Making it easy for people to do business
with you means that you must be accessible and knowledgeable about your
products and services. You must be able to provide customers with what they
want, when they want it.
16. Build a rock-solid
reputation.
A good reputation is
unquestionably one of the home business owner's most tangible and marketable
assets. You can't simply buy a good reputation; it's something that you earn by
honoring your promises. If you promise to have the merchandise in the
customer's hands by Wednesday, you have no excuse not to have it there. If you
offer to repair something, you need to make good on your offer. Consistency in
what you offer is the other key factor. If you cannot come through with the
same level of service (and products) for clients on a regular basis, they have
no reason to trust you . . . and without trust, you won't have a good
reputation.
17. Sell benefits.
Pushing product features
is for inexperienced or wannabe entrepreneurs. Selling the benefits associated
with owning and using the products and services you carry is what sales professionals
worldwide focus on to create buying excitement and to sell, sell more, and sell
more frequently to their customers. Your advertising, sales presentations,
printed marketing materials, product packaging, website, newsletters, trade
show exhibit and signage are vital. Every time and every medium used to
communicate with your target audience must always be selling the benefits
associated with owning your product or using your service.
18. Get involved.
Always go out of your
way to get involved in the community that supports your business. You can do
this in many ways, such as pitching in to help local charities or the food
bank, becoming involved in organizing community events, and getting involved in
local politics. You can join associations and clubs that concentrate on
programs and policies designed to improve the local community. It's a fact that
people like to do business with people they know, like and respect, and with
people who do things to help them as members of the community.
19. Grab attention.
Small-business owners
cannot waste time, money and energy on promotional activities aimed at building
awareness solely through long-term, repeated exposure. If you do, chances are
you will go broke long before this goal is accomplished. Instead, every
promotional activity you engage in, must put money back in your pocket so that
you can continue to grab more attention and grow your business.
20. Master the art of
negotiations.
The ability to negotiate effectively is
unquestionably a skill that every home business owner must make every effort to
master. It's perhaps second in importance only to asking for the sale in terms
of home business musts. In business, negotiation skills are used daily. Always
remember that mastering the art of negotiation means that your skills are so
finely tuned that you can always orchestrate a win-win situation. These win-win
arrangements mean that everyone involved feels they have won, which is really
the basis for building long-term and profitable business relationships.
21. Design Your
workspace for success.
Carefully plan and
design your home office workspace to ensure maximum personal performance and
productivity and, if necessary, to project professionalism for visiting
clients. If at all possible, resist the temptation to turn a corner of the
living room or your bedroom into your office. Ideally, you'll want a separate
room with a door that closes to keep business activities in and family members
out, at least during prime business and revenue generating hours of the day. A
den, spare bedroom, basement or converted garage are all ideal candidates for
your new home office. If this is not possible, you'll have to find a means of
converting a room with a partition or simply find hours to do the bulk of your
work when nobody else is home.
22. Get and stay
organized.
The key to staying
organized is not about which type of file you have or whether you keep a stack
or two of papers on your desk, but it's about managing your business. It's
about having systems in place to do things. Therefore, you wan to establish a
routine by which you can accomplish as much as possible in a given workday,
whether that's three hours for a part-time business or seven or nine hours as a
full-timer. In fact, you should develop systems and routines for just about
every single business activity. Small things such as creating a to-do list at
the end of each business day, or for the week, will help keep you on top of
important tasks to tackle. Creating a single calendar to work from, not
multiple sets for individual tasks or jobs, will also ensure that jobs are
completed on schedule and appointments kept. Incorporating family and personal
activities into your work calendar is also critical so that you work and plan
from a single calendar.
23. Take time off.
The temptation to work
around the clock is very real for some home business owners. After all, you
don't have a manager telling you it's time to go home because they can't afford
the overtime pay. Every person working from home must take time to establish a
regular work schedule that includes time to stretch your legs and take lunch
breaks, plus some days off and scheduled vacations. Create the schedule as soon
as you have made the commitment to start a home business. Of course, your
schedule will have to be flexible. You should, therefore, not fill every
possible hour in the day. Give yourself a backup hour or two. All work and no
play makes you burn out very fast and grumpy customer service is not what
people want.
24. Limit the number of
hats you wear.
It's difficult for most
business owners not to take a hands-on approach. They try to do as much as
possible and tackle as many tasks as possible in their business. The ability to
multitask, in fact, is a common trait shared by successful entrepreneurs. However,
once in a while you have to stand back and look beyond today to determine
what's in the best interest of your business and yourself over the long run.
Most highly successful entrepreneurs will tell you that from the time they
started out, they knew what they were good at and what tasks to delegate to
others.
25. Follow-up
constantly.
Constant contact,
follow-up, and follow-through with customers, prospects, and business alliances
should be the mantra of every home business owner, new or established. Constant
and consistent follow-up enables you to turn prospects into customers, increase
the value of each sale and buying frequency from existing customers, and build
stronger business relationships with suppliers and your core business team.
Follow-up is especially important with your existing customer base, as the real
work begins after the sale. It's easy to sell one product or service, but it
takes work to retain customers and keep them coming back.
source: entrepreneur.com
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