MikesHomeBiz Blog

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Every business in the world needs advertising in one form or another. A business without any means to attract customers will never achieve anything.

Traditional advertising methods such as national television ads, as used in retail advertising are very specific and prohibitively expensive. These methods are custom designed for the retail industry, and would be inappropriate at least (!) should you wish to attract affiliate marketing prospects.

It is vitally important to think very carefully about who your customer is and how you are most likely to attract his/her attention. Your affiliate marketing business is internet based, and your customer is not looking to buy a product like a box of dishwashing liquid.

Your customer is a real person, just like you and he/she is looking for a home business opportunity. There are myriads of home businesses out there, from data collection, to home-typing or book-keeping. Affiliate marketing is just one of these. It’s a legitimate business opportunity and can be successfully run by almost anyone.

How then do you attract your prospect? He/she will be browsing the internet looking for a home business opportunity and will initially examine possibilities that are familiar, or that fall within his/her current experience base. Sooner or later the person looking is likely to cast the net a little wider, to see if there are other possibilities available.

The likelihood is that he will scroll further down, or change the keywords of his search question to shift or broaden the focus of the search. Remember again who your customer is and what he/she is looking for. He/she wants INFORMATION about home business possibilities.

The answer then is to provide information about an affiliate marketing opportunity in an attractive, appealing way. Hard-sell with too much advertising is not the answer!

You will need a Website which describes the opportunity you’re promoting, also in an appealing manner. Personalize your site so that it doesn’t look like just another of the mass-produced versions out there. You may well start off with one of those, but when you make it even slightly different from all the others, it will have much more impact. If you have the option of including a photo (even if you’re not an oil-painting) this will make the information gathering experience a personal one for a prospective affiliate.

Your next task is to add your own copy to your site – telling a little about yourself, and how this affiliate-marketing opportunity has changed your life. It has already provided you with an opportunity to earn a living from home. You may not be a millionaire just yet, but no matter! You are working from home, and this is your own business. You will quickly learn from the training provided, and you will make progress sooner than you realize!

I sincerely hope that this article will at least have been thought provoking. There will be more on this and related subjects very soon.

Probably the single most important ingredient in the recipe for success in your home business is commitment. This is encapsulated in a number of actions to be taken by the business owner.

Momentum is the key! Discipline yourself to take action daily. This does not mean that you can never take a few days off, but it is vital, especially in the early days of your business to keep going. If you’re doing nothing – then rest assured that nothing is happening! Set yourself a routine to tackle tasks daily:

Maintain contact with customers, contacts and your down-line regularly. Attend to e-mails as a priority every morning. A prompt response to a query is better than a long story delivered too late to be effective. You will have an auto responder to deal with some of the load, provided it has been properly set-up, but there will always be questions and issues which need your attention – the sooner the better.

Schedule a regular time to deal with the less enjoyable tasks which still need to be done.  As an example, working your way through and registering your site on a long list of Directories isn’t fun – but must be done. It’s a very human trait to put off the unpleasant or the unknown for another time, and instead to focus on those more pleasant items which we enjoy doing and those that we are more confident to tackle.  Make a genuine attempt to get started and you’ll find that it’s never as bad as you expected it to be. You’ll derive a sense of satisfaction from having made a start anyway and having broken the ice, you’ll then be able to work your way further next time.

It’s also important to focus on issues or problems over which you have some control. Running a business is much like anything else in life. There are some problems over which you have some control, and some which are totally beyond your control. Again, as humans we often spend time worrying about things over which we have absolutely no control.

If you are perhaps able to take some precautionary measures, all well and good,  but there are so many issues in the macro environment which (could) adversely affect our business – like the escalating price of oil. Can we change it?  The answer is undoubtedly in the negative, so stop worrying about it!

Try always to be positive and proactive. There’s no doubt that having and maintaining a positive approach to life in general is of benefit, and dealing with problems positively is almost certain to be more effective than allowing negative thoughts to cloud our thought processes and to affect the resultant actions we may take.

Thanks for taking the time to read these thoughts – I trust that they’ve been of some value to you. More ideas and suggestions about growing your top home business will follow soon.

Trying to go it alone in your new home business, while learning from your mistakes is a slow, frustrating and expensive option.

The old principle of learning by trial and error can certainly be an option, provided you have endless determination, lots of time on your side, and no shortage of spare cash to finance your mistakes! There is also a high risk of becoming disillusioned, losing focus and consequently joining the endless numbers of people who having tried and failed, throw in the towel and walk away.

It is possible to be luckier than most, or perhaps have a superb sense of judgement, thereby reducing the ratio of failures in the trial and error process. Most ordinary folk, without perhaps the benefit of extensive business experience might not be so fortunate.

The question one might ask oneself is whether it is really necessary to keep re-inventing wheels, or perhaps easier (and smarter!) to learn from successful people who have gone before. This is why you are urged to find a suitable mentor.
In selecting a business-mentor, one should consider a number of criteria:

• Does the mentor have experience in your chosen field?
• Has he/she an established, visible track-record?
• Does he/she have the skills and motivation to be a successful mentor?
• Is there an acceptable mechanism to facilitate a question and answer/discussion process?
• Is this process formalized and established? It is extremely difficult to build an unofficial/informal relationship with a mentor, unless he/she is especially motivated to fulfill the relationship.

The ultimate is to be able to participate in an established business opportunity which offers a linked mentoring programme – even if a fee is payable for the privilege. In the end the cost is likely to be significantly less than that of trying and discarding a series of failed programmes.

Membership of and participation in a successful mentoring programme will probably be your best investment ever, in establishing your own top home business!

You will also gain a significant advantage from participating in online forums related to your business. You will probably start off by asking questions and seeking advice on matters of concern to you. In this way you will get to know other, possibly more experienced people, from whom you can learn.

With time you will become more knowledgeable and will eventually be able to assist others with answers from your own experience. (This is indeed a truly valuable, enriching and worthwhile experience.)

Do yourself a favour and lock in to a real, business mentoring programme, preferably with a direct link to your field of business. There can be no better way to accelerate your online home business towards success!

More tips and useful ideas will follow in the next article in this series.

The next in our series devoted to assisting the new home business owner to establish and grow the business.

An extremely important aspect of running any business, whether it’s a huge multinational or a little one-person operation run from home, is that of tracking and containing costs. There absolutely no point in running a business which costs more than it earns, other than during a period of establishment. It goes with out saying that most new businesses require some investment to get started, but controlling costs during this phase must be carefully monitored.

This need not become a major chore, but the process of keeping simple records, once set up takes only a moment to update regularly. The simplest is probably to open a little spreadsheet in Excel, with headings for a few columns, but first decide a limit for your monthly business expenses.

In an earlier article we discussed the importance of carefully considering your personal finances before commencing the business start-up steps. Given all other expenses versus income it should not be too difficult to arrive at an affordable monthly amount. It is also important to gain the commitment of your spouse or partner, so that there is agreement up-front regarding a monthly spending limit, and also for the period that you wish/are able to carry these costs, before you reach a break-even point.

If you have Office or similar on your computer, there are numerous ready-made templates available for your use, and if not, a quick search on the internet will find many options freely available. The essence is to keep it as simple as possible. You basically need one side of the spreadsheet for income, and the other for expenses.

A date for each entry with enough space for brief details – the amount carried forward to a column for each type of expenditure and a total at the end. Excel will do the arithmetic for you, as you simply add up each column at month-end, and carry totals to the monthly figures at bottom-right for income and expenditure. If you were fortunate enough to do a little book-keeping at school, this exercise will be a breeze, and if so I apologize for boring you with silly details! In the interim, a little time spent each month will enable you to keep track of how well you’re doing, and enable you to have a little celebration when you start to make a profit!

What we’re doing in this exercise, is laying the foundations for later on, when your very own of the top home businesses really gets moving. It’s also important to keep copies of invoices safely stored somewhere. You may not need them now, but you will need to show income for your version of Internal Revenue, one day.

Remember – you’re not doing this for fun!  You’re starting your business with your own goals in mind, and your plan is to work from home. If that income is sufficient for you to live on, then someone will come looking to tax you one day…  One of the few things certain about life is that you will pay tax! If you have kept your records carefully, you will be able to show that you have incurred legitimate expenses in generating your income. (Won’t this be a nice problem to have, anyway?)

Tax laws vary around the world, and you may need to take professional advice one day to keep on the right side of the law. Your little spreadsheet, combined with the copies of invoices will make that task much easier.

Now that you’ve signed up for your affiliate programmes, and you’ve hopefully worked your way through the “getting started” training provided by each, we’ll discuss some more steps to take to make things start to move towards your own version of those top home businesses out there.

Another in our current series aimed at assisting the new Home Business owner to develop and grow his new business.

If someone were to ask you how your home business is doing, would you be able to answer, truthfully, and accurately? The honest answer to this question (for most people) would undoubtedly be in the negative.

An extremely effective business management system is a simple process called “MANAGEMENT BY OBJECTIVES.”  In the business world, managers need to know how well their employees and subordinates are doing their jobs, and whether they are completing tasks within an agreed
time frame.  During a discussion, the manager sets his subordinate a list of “objectives”   also known as goals or targets, to be completed by agreed dates.

During regular follow-up discussions progress towards completion of these objectives is measured, those completed are signed off while new targets are discussed and set.

The individual home business owner’s reaction might understandably be to question the need for anything like this in a one-person home business. However, the sound reasons for setting and managing objectives apply equally to any business, no matter how large or small.  The logic is simply that this process (MBO) is a means of planning for a business, keeping a record of targets attained, and equally of keeping track of those (not) attained.

First of all, the discipline of thinking through your plans for your business is an excellent exercise in itself. It’s a way of listing important items to be completed and ticking them off when done. It’s a very good habit to aim for a reasonable “do-by” date for each, as well. If delays are encountered there’s no problem, simply re-set the date to something reasonable.

We’re all human, and one of man’s greatest weaknesses is procrastination. It’s too easy to put off those less enjoyable items for another day. Not everyone has a razor-sharp memory and long delayed items can eventually be forgotten. This can be disastrous, if a vital date like filing your tax-return is forgotten!

The suggestion is to set up a little document, with say four columns:

Date Set                  Objective                          Importance (1-3)             Do-by Date

You should have no more than about 6 items at any one time, and it’s vital to keep this as a living document, that should be reviewed about weekly. You can keep it on paper, or in your computer. There’s a certain satisfaction in clicking Delete when a tiresome task is complete and out of the way.

Make some of your goals short-term, (e.g. Open folders for filing incoming e-mails) and some longer term (e.g. Learn some HTML to make small changes to my Web-site.)

I’m sure that you will derive the benefits of sticking to this little exercise, and it’s especially valuable to you in ensuring that your business doesn’t stagnate. As time goes on, you will become aware of new items that will grow your business into the next level of top home businesses – upgrading software to make your business more effective, a new method of attracting more visitors to your site, or a new marketing campaign.

This keeps you aware of developmental opportunities and allows you to plan accordingly, both in terms of timing and resources.

I trust that this discussion will have been of interest to those of you who’ve not come across MBO or one of its many counterparts. Above all – keep it simple and keep it alive.

In our next article we’ll discuss the importance of Budgeting for your business.

I look forward to your company soon.

It is widely recognized that the vast majority of home businesses fail within the first year, for a number of reasons, such as failure to complete adequate research into the viability of the proposed business, little or no market research, insufficient business skills and others.

In reality, a very common cause of failure is simply a lack of self-discipline. Most business owners leave some form of employment before embarking on their dream of self-employment, and a possible motivation might well be to escape from the perceived injustice of a former boss. Having made the break, a very human reaction might then be to relax from the pressure.

This reaction could easily be the cause of downfall! We have discussed in an earlier series of articles the vital importance of clarifying one’s motivation for embarking on a home business.
Whether we like his methods or not, a hard-driving boss can be a reasonably effective substitute for motivation. If there is no driving-force or motivation, the result could easily be failure.

Be clear in your own mind why you are going it alone, and understand how important it is to you personally to succeed. Thus when the temptation is to “take the day off” be sure that this is for a good reason and make a personal decision to make up the time lost.

Some ideas which may be helpful to you in establishing your business on a sound footing as soon as possible:

• Try to make it a habit to work regular hours. Make a set time every morning to read and respond to e-mails and other correspondence. You should check again later in the day to deal with anything urgent that needs your attention.
• Try also to respond promptly to queries.
• Don’t even have your television turned on during your “working hours.” It’s too easy to be distracted by a sports programme or other interesting item.
• Remind family members and friends that although you’re working from home, you’re still working! Long personal telephone calls can break your concentration and waste your time. Suggest tactfully that the best time to contact you is between certain hours when you’re not busy at your computer.
• It is extremely difficult to handle the demands of small children at home, whilst you are trying to run a business. There is another article coming soon, aimed at helping the
“home-biz Mum” to find ways around this very real problem. For now, try to find ways of containing the element of distraction as far as possible. At least, tackle your most difficult tasks during rest-time, or when children are occupied under supervision.

In essence, it’s vital to treat your business with commitment and determination. Your personal circumstances will have a significant influence on the success or otherwise of your home business. Should you be able only to devote limited time and effort to it, you must expect your results to reflect this.

It is most unlikely that you will be able to enjoy a full-time income from a part-time business, at least until you have been able to develop your business to a stage where many functions operate “on auto-pilot.” Some highly successful owners of top home businesses are eventually able to make huge incomes while working part-time, but this takes considerable time and skill to achieve.

In our next article in this series we look at how to set, and manage some business targets.

The next in our current series of articles aimed at assisting the new home business owner to get his business on track as efficiently as possible, by making decisions which eliminate as much trial and error as possible. We suggest possibilities which duplicate the steps taken by highly successful people who have been this way before, and who are willing to share their experiences with others.

Our earlier discussions have examined a whole range of top home businesses, but our current theme is to focus on affiliate marketing, before returning to other options in a later series. The bewildering range of options remains the problem. Where to next?

Google lists more than 3 million “top” affiliate marketing programmes in less than one second!  “Close your eyes, spin the cursor, and click,” is unlikely to be of much help in making your selection! Our task then, is to narrow down the number of options, so that the principal beneficiary is you, the new home business owner.

Please give some thought to the following, in making your selection:

• Try to find a number of Affiliate programmes linked under one umbrella. Very few of the individual  programmes available are likely to be sustainable,if operated in isolation, unless you have unlimited time and resources available.

• Look also for those that offer comprehensive training and guidance every step of the way. The world of internet marketing is so complex, and is changing so rapidly that ordinary people like us have no way of keeping up with new technology and developments, without continuously available guidance.
• You should ideally follow successful entrepreneurs by duplicating their successes, and by avoiding the mistakes that they’ve inevitably made in getting to the top.

• You will need assistance in setting up and hosting a website, and probably a blog-site as well.
 
• Of paramount importance is the availability of some personal mentoring, so that you have (reasonable) access to someone who has been down the road well-trodden, and who offers e-mail contact to assist you through the daily round of technical and other problems which await the new business owner.

• The ideal is some sort of package-deal which combines all (or most) of these requirements, at a very modest cost. You will undoubtedly have to pay a little for the registration of a domain, with on-going website hosting. Highly successful, global affiliate programmes are freely available, and it should not be necessary to pay out large sums merely for membership.

• Do make sure in your own mind that you identify personally with the programmes on offer. Do they offer “real” products, which you might be prepared purchase or use? (Remember that products don’t have to be concrete, “touch and feel” objects to be real. Thus, services are also products which can be marketed.)

• Look at the profiles of the business-leaders. Do they have credibility? Do you believe what they say? Can you find some real personality underneath the claims of massive earnings? If possible visit their websites to get a better understanding of who they are and what they promise, in exchange for your hard-earned cash! There is often an element of hype aimed at attracting the ever-hopeful by promising unbelievable wealth. Many of these claims may be true, but of course many more are not! Read the small print entitled ” Earnings Disclaimer,” for a more accurate impression, and remember that only a small percentage of participants will make it right to the top.

• An excellent test is also to see how long a programme has been in existence, and if the business leaders have been around for a while! How large is current membership, and are there geographical or other limitations?

• Don’t believe claims that you can click here, pay there, and then sit back to wait for the cash to pour in! All businesses involve a great deal of hard work, especially in the early, developmental stages.  Success is almost invariably a measure of working hard and smart!

We trust that these thoughts will provide some assistance to you, in your quest to select your own version of the many top home businesses available.

In our next article we start examining the mechanics of getting the show on the road, with suggestions about a number of important steps to take in laying the foundations of your new business.

We’ve just taken a closer look at Affiliate Marketing as the business opportunity of the future.
If you’re like the rest of us – you’ve probably never heard of this before now, so don’t feel alone,
 and if so, you will probably need some help and guidance, from time to time.

Much will depend on your background, and whether you are equipped with a battery of specialist skills covering all areas of business!  If you’re one of those fortunate people, you’ll need very little help, indeed. You may also have useful skills or knowledge in some areas of business, but will need guidance in other areas.

You may be a complete newbie to the concepts and practices of running an internet business from home, but as long as you have a computer with access to the internet, and are prepared to learn as you go along, you’ll be fine!

Statistics show that a frightening number of people starting out in their own businesses, fail within the first year, and quietly fade away. There are many possible reasons for this, and we’ll alert you to the pitfalls ahead, and help you to avoid becoming just another statistic.

The first and most important item to make absolutely clear in your mind, as we’ve discussed  in an earlier article is:  ” Why am I doing this, and what do I want to achieve?”

Please be sure about this, because you must want to succeed as a top personal goal.
Your chances of success are even better if you need to succeed!  If you’re starting out with the idea that you’ll give this a try, and if it doesn’t work out, it’s not a problem, then you definitely won’t make it!

 Starting your own business by selecting from the huge range of top home businesses available, must be the most important life-changing decision you’ve made in a long, long time.

The second vital step is to consider time-frames. If you’re like the rest of us, and expect a steep learning curve in some areas of the business, then you’ll need to set realistic goals for yourself about how quickly you want, or are able to progress. The amount of time you have available to spend working on your business, must be taken into account in setting these goals.

A major advantage of running your own business is that of setting your own pace. If your expectations are unrealistic, you’ll become frustrated and disappointed when times are tough and when things don’t work out as you’d hoped.  However, you must have the determination to work through the problems, until resolution.

It’s amazing how often it helps to acknowledge a (temporary) problem, stop shuttling back and forth through the same mistakes, and take a break. The solution is often so simple the next morning, when your mind is fresh!

In our next article we’ll consider how to select an affiliate marketing programme that will provide you with the vital guidance you may need each step of the way. Blundering along on your own, trying and then discarding options if they don’t work, is not the way to go.

Keep in touch.

About the Author: Mike Muir is the owner of www.mikeshomebiz.com  and as such has made his own choices from the top home businesses out there. He is happy to share his experiences with you, in the hope that this will assist you in making these vital choices.
Please visit his Blog at:  http://mikeshomebiz.com/blog

A series of articles aimed at assisting the new home business owner to make informed decisions
.

Affiliate marketing has been described as “The home business of the future.”
In previous articles we’ve looked at some of the huge range of business opportunities available to the new or prospective home business owner. We’ve considered the possibilities of basing a home business on your personal skills and interests.

Let’s take a closer look at Affiliate Marketing as an extremely attractive, high potential opportunity, easily and quite economically available to almost anyone with a home computer, reasonable computer skills, and the willingness to learn more, if necessary.

A brief explanation of Affiliate Marketing, (rated amongst the most attractive of all top home businesses) is where a third party (you) agrees to advertise and promote products or services from a merchant or supplier on a commission basis.
You will be rewarded for sales gained directly through your own efforts, but additionally for sales achieved by other people you recruit to join you. This is where the real power lies!

“That’s all very well,” you may say,” but how and where do I start?”
You should initially spend some time browsing the internet, and have a quick look at what’s on offer out there. The possibilities are endless, but in order to narrow down your search, perhaps look at options with the following criteria in mind:
• Scan sites to look for professionalism in terms of presentation.
• Read some of the testimonials. How genuine are they?
• Are there promises of “instant” wealth, just by signing up? Don’t believe it!
• How realistic are the claims?
• Look at start-up costs. What are you offered in return?
• Take a look at the type and extent of personal training offered. Is there the offer of mentoring and/or personal guidance?
• Is there the possibility of being involved in more than one programme, concurrently? (More on this below.)
• Take a good look at the products you’ll be asked to promote. Are they quality, credible, saleable products? Could you see yourself buying them, in appropriate circumstances?
 
It is quite possible to make an excellent living from one affiliate programme, but your chances of success will be that much better if you can begin by associating with several, established, selected opportunities. You will quickly relate to some more than others, and you will focus on some, and discard others over time.

Have a look at some of the individual home business sites linked to the major businesses you’ve browsed through. How attractive are they? Are they professionally presented? Would you be happy with such a site?

If you are to be successful in affiliate marketing, the very least you’ll need is your own website, set up with links to your chosen affiliate programmes. You’ll probably need some assistance to achieve this, backed up by domain and site hosting, along with all the technology to become fully operational. What would total start-up cost be?

You’re that much closer now to making your personal selection from all the top home businesses open to you!

In the next article in this series, we’ll look at actually getting started. There are still

About the Author: Mike Muir is the owner of www.mikeshomebiz.com   He has made his personal choices from the top home businesses out there. He is happy to share his experiences with you, with the aim of assisting you through this vital decision-making process.

 The second in a series to help you get your Home Business off the ground. 

In my last article, my aim was to help you get an idea of the huge range of top home businesses available to you, and from which you can make a number of choices.

Having considered your personal skills and interests, you will need to consider whether these will lead you directly into a business venture from home.

It is possible to turn a hobby or special interest into a business. For example:

• Special skills in some type of craftwork could generate an income.

You would need to do some research into the marketability of your produce. Would you be able to sell sufficient items at a realistic price, to make a worthwhile income? Do you have the necessary space and equipment to work?

• An interest and ability in photography could also become a source of income, over time (especially with the huge growth in digital photography, and without the need for expensive darkroom equipment.)

Many people consider some form of online business, but often leap into something, lured by promises of massive fortunes to be made instantly!

The reality is far from this, and fortunes (can) be made but only as a result of hard work, perseverance, and by selecting the right opportunity, without wasting enormous quantities of time and money.

Most online businesses can be successfully operated from home, with a computer, easy access to the Internet, preferably via broadband, some computer skills, and especially some self-discipline!

Can you make time to work quietly at your computer, without being distracted by small children, visitors, the phone or any of the events happening at home every day?

You will need to work around, and adhere to a timetable to achieve a balance between your business and home commitments.

Remember that real top home businesses only grow from sustained effort and hard work.

Treat your business like a part-time hobby, and it will only pay like a hobby! 

If you weren’t born into the computer age, and aren’t totally familiar with the skills and techniques needed to operate fluently around the internet, websites, blogging etc, expect and be prepared for a steep learning curve! (More on this subject in another article.)

Most online businesses can be operated from anywhere in the world, but do check this aspect out, before hooking into something which may not be open to you, unless you are resident in a particular area.

In my next article I’ll take you through some of the widely differing online business opportunities which you might like to consider.

 About the Author:   Mike Muir is the owner of www.mikeshomebiz.com and has personally been through the process of selecting from all the top home businesses available to you. He is happy to share his experiences with you, to help guide you