How I Failed With A Home Based Business, And You Don’t Have To

Do you want to run and operate a home based, or work from home, business? Do you think you have what it takes to run a business?

This is how I failed and my first home based business, learn from my mistakes.

There are seemingly countless home based business opportunities out there, both on and off the internet. You have the options of starting something on your own from scratch, or ordering a turn-key system from someone.

My problem was I got so excited about the possibilities that I didn’t focus enough on the details. All I saw was how much money I could make and little else. Deep down I knew I wouldn’t like doing the work required to succeed in the my work from home business. I kept thinking about the money I could make and told myself I could things I wasn’t comfortable with to become rich.

Basically, I failed because I had set unrealistic expectations for myself. I dreamed of quitting my day job and becoming my own boss. Then I came across one of those opportunities that seemed to good to be true, and it was. Don’t read into that. It was a legitimate opportunity and many people were being successful at it.

The problem is person-to-person sales makes me uncomfortable and this opportunity required exactly that. It required me to advertise and promote my business, and make numerous calls to grow my down line and sell products.

I spent an awful lot of money on advertising. The advertising got results too. But then I had to call each person who responded and try to close the sale. These calls would make me so uncomfortable that after spending several hours on the phone I was so stressed out that I wasn’t able to relax. It even got to the point that I wasn’t sleeping well at night. It got to the point where I just stopped making calls and all that advertising was a giant loss because I wasn’t able to follow up on my leads.

So you can see, it’s important to choose a business opportunity that is right for you, not because other people are making money with it. Focus on building a business that is right for you and the money will come.

Four guidelines for success

1. Be realistic about the business opportunity. If you will be required to do what you are not comfortable with you will not succeed.
2. Ignore the profit potential and choose something you will enjoy doing, because if you don’t like the business activity you will not succeed.
3. We can’t all succeed at the same thing. Just because someone is making $2000 or more a week does not mean you will. Different people can do different things well. Recognize your personal potential and stay within it.
4. Develop a budget for your home based business and stick to it. Never let someone talk you into spending more than you can afford, including yourself!

Further Reading

• Small Business Financial Management
• How to Choose a Home Based Business
• MLM Strategies
• How to Sell Face to Face Survival Guide

10 Classic Tips for Article Marketing

1 – Advertise to your target Market. The better you are at matching your articles to your target market, the more response you will get.

2 – Track your ads.Don’t just guess which ads are working and which are not. Use some sort of ad tracking to determine which articles are bringing you customers.

3 – Put your ad in multiple issues. For better response and take advantage of publishers discounts for bulk advertising.

4 – Spend a lot of time on your headline. Effective headlines get your readers attention and targets your audience. An great headline will encourage your reader to finish the article which will lead to more traffic and sales.

5 – Just create interest, don’t try to sell from your ad. Write in a way to create interest in the product or service you are offering so your reader will want to visit your site. Have a powerful sales page convert your readers to prospects or customers for you. Also, make it easy for your site visitors to subscribe to you newsletter for easy follow up and conversion.

6 – Avoid using all caps in your headlines. It will seem like YOUR ARE YELLING AT YOUR READER, it also looks amateurish.

7 – Always include a call to action. Wrap up every article or ad with a call to action telling the reader what to do, such as visit your web site or subscribe to your newsletter.

8 – Avoid being cute and funny. You can’t count on cute and funny to increase site visits or sales, though it may put your reader in a good mood.

9 – Make a free offer. Give your reader an incentive to visit your site like a free eBook, or free trial.

10 – Review the archives, or subscribe to the article sites and e-zines you are interested in advertising with. This will allow you to see how many ads are in each issue, the content of the publication, and it will give you an idea about what the publication’s readership is interested in by reviewing the ads and articles.

Resources:

• Article Marketing
• Bum Marketing
• Copy Writing

There are many advertising methods to get youself or your business noticed online. They include SEO for search engines, pay per click (PPC) advertising, advertising co-ops and joint ventures, posting forums and boards that cater to your target market, press releases, and article writing.

Off-line advertising and marketing is ignored by many online marketers. However, there are many ways to advertise off-line that is free or costs very little. I want to let you know about three of them.

1 – Business Cards

Business cards are a requirement for anyone who is serious about their business. They’re a superb method of getting the attention of prospects and keeping the attention of customers. Just hand them out to anyone you think will benefit from what you’re offering. Additionally, leave a card behind whenever you visit a club, bar, or restaurant. There is one salesman who says putting one in each bathroom stall generates leads.

If you are just starting out in business you might consider printing your own business cards at home.

2 – Brochures and Flyers

You can easily create brochures and flyers with today’s desktop publishing and computer technology. Simply post flyers (with permission, of course) at businesses and other location where you think your potential customers will see them. Or hand out brochures to the people you meet throughout your day.

A lot of bars and restaurants will let you post a flyer in their places as well.

Grocery stores too. Many have cork boards near the front door for just this purpose. With hundreds of people walking by every day.

3 – Advertising With You Car

Yes, that’s right! Your car is a great vehicle for advertising. Place magnetic signs on the sides of your car with you company name and web address on it. It’s like a big business card on the side of your car.

In this way you and your business will be exposed to a large number of people whether you’re driving, parked, or stuck in traffic. These magnetic signs aren’t very expensive either. Check with a local sign maker to learn the cost.