Month: April 2009

Categories
Home-Based Business

Choosing the Home-Business That’s Right For You

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Starting down a new career path can be both exciting and terrifying. There are a lot of tools on the market that can help you determine what type of career field you should enter. But what if your chosen “career path” is being an entrepreneur and running a home-based business? Do the rules change? Below are five questions to ask yourself to help you determine what type of business might be right for you.

1. What is your passion?
Answer this question with the first thing that comes to mind: If money were no object and you could do anything, what would you do? You might have answered “be a writer”, “speak at conferences,” “bring my product idea to life” or any number of things. Whatever your answer, this most likely is your passion. I challenge you to take the time to ponder this and see if there is a way to bring your dream to fruition.

2. What types of things did you like to do as a child?
Many times the toys and games we loved as children give us a glimpse into who we have become as adults. If you loved climbing trees, you may now be an “outdoorsy” type of person. Think about how this might be incorporated into your business. For instance, you might enjoy setting up outdoor birthday parties for children or selling herbs from your backyard garden.

3. What type of products would you be interested in representing?
If you’re looking in the direction of direct sales, whether that be your own product or an established home-based business option, you need to think through what types of products you’d be comfortable presenting to your customers. Take the time to do some research and find a product that truly excites you. Your customers will see your sincerity and that can sell a product just as easily as a fancy presentation.

4. What skills and experience do you bring to the table?
If you’ve left the corporate world in favor of working at home, you’ve undoubtedly brought with you a set of skills. There may be a way to market those skills in a new way and turn them into a profitable business. For instance, if you were an executive assistant you may be able to type 80 words or more per minute. You could set up shop as a Virtual Assistant and help other business owners in processing orders, transcribing documents and much more.

5. Are you thinking outside of the box?
Most of us have a fear of the unknown. We many times assume that if we haven’t done something before it is simply out of reach. This carries over to the business world as well. We take our products or services and market them in the same way that we see other business owners using. However, it can be much more effective to find new and innovative ways to market. One home-based business owner I know sells stuffable toy kits. Instead of using the usual home parties and birthday party events, she works almost exclusively with children’s hospitals doing fundraisers. She makes a great living and helps not only the hospitals, but the children as well. She is a great example of unique marketing and overcoming the mundane marketing methods that so many business owners resign themselves to.

Your home-based business should be unique to you. It should make you want to get up each morning excited about the possibilities of the day ahead. Take the time to thoroughly think through the questions above and you’ll be on your way to making a great, well thought out decision that has your name written all over it!

Categories
Work Life

Being Present To Your Inner Brilliance

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“To make the right choices in life, you have to get in touch with your soul. To do this, you need to experience solitude, which most people are afraid of, because in the silence you hear the truth and know the solutions.” – Deepak K. Chopra

In the last week I have had three inspirational ideas to grow my business. All three of these ideas that have been popping around in my mind for a little while and last week, I began thinking more seriously about taking action to develop these ideas into new services.

In the past, my pattern has been to move quickly (sometimes impulsively) on thoughts that feel exciting or have that intuitive nudging to “do it now.” This time I felt a slight hesitation, which is one of my indicators that I need to get present to what I am thinking and feeling by tuning into my spirit. Many times, what seemed like a great idea, didn’t net the results I had hoped for and slowing down to explore these ideas more fully felt important.

When exploring new business ideas, some key questions can be enlightening

1. What’s my purpose?
2. What do I wish to accomplish? My objectives? Benefits to others?
3. Do I feel juiced and excited?
4. What actions do I feel inspired to take?
5. Do I have everything I need to move forward? Am I missing anything like people, systems, a website, equipment….?
6. Is this the right time?
7. What comes after? If I’m offering a program or service and people, what can I offer people as a next step?

When I feel unsure, clarity comes to me by taking walks in nature, meditating, writing, and having conversations with a few trusted friends. This year I made a deliberate decision to say yes to the things that feel Divinely inspired and aligning my actions with smart strategies so I am in the “flow.”

I will continue to take follow my intuition when it yells, DO IT NOW! And for the other times that don’t have the same feeling of inspired urgency, I’m committing to keep tuning in and listening to the whispers and nudges of my spirit. I know that when I follow my inner brilliance, what I manifest in my life is greater than anything I could have humanly imagined.

I encourage you to do the same. Take time to slow down, create space to tune in and listen to your heart even if it is just a few minutes. Be open to the commune with your wise Self.

Categories
How-To Guides Technology

Expert-tested Strategies: How to Save on Office Phone Systems

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One of the best ways to save money is to start with the expenses that are the easiest to reduce. Over 68% of business owners cited “cost savings” as the primary reason they’d switch phone systems, according to a recent survey. Phone systems are an often overlooked source of cost savings. By switching to VoIP or a hosted service, you can save tens of thousands of dollars a year in service and maintenance costs alone. Here’s our real business-tested, expert approved, step-by-step strategy for switching to a more cost effective phone system:
Make a list of requirements. If you already have a phone system, this is easy. Do you need voicemail, videoconferencing, call monitoring features, or more? If you’re a brand-new business, start with the basics- ask around to see what kinds of features are absolutely necessary and pick a system where you can add features later on an as-needed basis.
Do a little research on types of systems. Phone systems basically come in 4 flavors- landlines, internet-based, and combination of both. Traditional landline systems (Regular PBX phone systems and KSU systems) that use routing software (if you need lots of extensions or features) can be housed in your office or off-site by a provider. Internet-based systems use an internet connection to route calls. The type of system you choose makes a BIG difference: according to a recent study, switching to VoIP can save a business with over 500 employees up to $300,000 yearly.
Work out the nuts and bolts. If you have a current provider, you’ll need to work out the particulars of the switch. Consider things like downtime, number portability, and installation timing. Switching from a traditional landline model to a hosted PBX or VoIP system can take up to a week.
Negotiate your contract. Before you sign a brand new contract with a new provider, consider bargaining with your current vendor for more services, features, and upgrades to save on your overall cost. If you’re satisfied with your current service, bargaining is a great way to save without the hassle of switching to a new provider. One of the best ways to lower your bill is to lengthen your contract, expanding it to include more services at a lower cost.
Consider all potential expenses. Consider costs beyond those quoted by your service provider for equipment and setup expenses. Training is a good example. VoIP or hosted systems can have complex features that employees will need to learn how to use. Make sure you have the available budget to pay for training- at the very least, to pay for the time it will take for employees to learn how to use the new system. Some setup costs might not be apparent in the quote, for example, fees associated with switching internet service providers or upgrading your connection to handle the additional traffic a VoIP system will create. Make sure you consider all costs associated with the switch to get the big-picture estimate for how much money you’ll end up saving.

MerrinMuxlowPhoto.jpgMerrin Muxlow is a writer, yoga instructor, and law student based in San Diego, California. She writes extensively for Resource Nation, a company that provides resources for business owners, and is a frequent contributor to several sites and programs that offer tools for entrepreneurs, including Dell and BizEquity.

Categories
Sales & Marketing

How You Can Provide An Effective 3 Minutes Video For Your Business


This is a very creative video conveying on a very strong theme of “Think Family”. An effective video can convey the message you intended across to your customers in just 3 minutes. Therefore, an effective sales pitch can be done within this timeframe to capture your target customers!
And best of all, these videos can be uploaded onto many social sites such as Facebook, Youtube etc. At almost zero cost!
Viral marketing would come into play if such a video is picked up by many other “onliners” and would create a buzz through the word of mouths by the many.
Most importantly, a creative idea to market your business is can set you apart from your competitors!

Categories
How-To Guides

9 Ways to Leverage Your Radio or Teleseminar Interview

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As a broadcaster and popular interview guest, I’m often asked how interviews can be leveraged as a great marketing tool for your business. In fact, that was one of the points we discussed in my 5-week mentorship class, Insider Tips To Shine As A Radio Guest. It’s a great question because today, interviews are one of the best low to no cost ways to position yourself as an expert, sell your products and programs, and introduce yourself to new markets all over the world!

So, now that you have the interview under your belt, what do you do with the recording?
Here’s 9 ways you can leverage your interview (taken from my mentorship class):

1. Look for ways to naturally tie in what you wish to promote as a special event, product, program or service within your responses. I’ve done this repeatedly in advance of a new class or product so I can create some buzz that will drive traffic to my registration page. I’ve hosted my own intro calls and been a guest on other programs prior to an upcoming program to reach a larger audience of potential sign ups. It’s a great way to introduce yourself and give them a taste of what you are promoting.

2. Collect interviews and offer them as a special bonus to download off your site to build your opt-in list. (Be sure you have permission from the show host or station to market the interview). I’ve also done that many times with interviews I felt were some of my best and it has been a great way to offer a high value bonus to a new audience in a joint venture campaign, affiliate promotion or cross promotion.

3. Select your best interviews to compile for your digital press kit. If you’re planning to build your reputation as a speaker and market yourself as a great guest, considering a digital press kit is a great idea so hosts, products, and program directors have something tangible they can review in choosing to book or hire you as a speaker or guest. I use Brent Law to do all my digital and media production. (He created my video movie)

4. Create a media page on your site and upload shows or add links to past interviews. This is a great way to market yourself by offering high quality content that will benefit the listener. You might also add articles and testimonials. A media page can provide promotional resources for JV partners to use in advance of your book or program campaign.

5. Transcribe presentations to market as a free or paid report. Could be an additional bonus for an existing product or program.

6. Use content from your presentations to write articles, create new products and programs. Re-purposing material is a great way to expand on a point you wish to speak about in more depth. Use the content as a marketing tool, to create income generating products or services.

7. Compile past interviews for a book. A colleague of mine used the outlines and content development from her shows to write her book.

8. Upload the interview as an audio onto your site to market your expertise. Use the interview strictly as a marketing tool and free resource. You can also edit a clip from your interview if the content is relevant to something you are promoting. I’ve done that with several of the audios and products I sell on my site.

9. Offer listeners a special bonus, gift, tip, or discount if they contact you, subscribe to something on your site, or sign up for a program or buy something. Place a time frame to create urgency so listeners will take action. Be sure whatever you offer is of quality no matter if it is free. You’re building credibility and a reputation in the marketplace in everything you say and do.