Looking back at many unsuccessful home-based business ventures, we hope we get guidance from someone who has been on the path we want to take. We had so many failures that we began to doubt that success in a home-based business would ever happen to us.
Thankfully, we did not give up and through perseverance, we managed to achieve a success that has been dodging for years. Along the way, we found many things that we hope to know when we embark on this journey.
Our success has really changed our lives. We believe that to whom much has been given, much is needed. Consider this information our gift to you. If we can help, feel free to fill out the contact form at TheHomeBusinessPodcast.
Online Home Business Tips
1. Success does not happen overnight
For some reason, people think they should get rich in a few months with their new home business and some people believe that success should happen in a few weeks or days! We introduced a man in his early 50's to our business and he was very happy. When he first met, he complained that he had been working hard for over 30 years and he was broke.
He said he never had time for himself or his family. We told him what it took to be successful and he agreed to do it. Then he disappears. A few weeks later he called to tell me he was going to stop. He has not even started yet and here he is ready to surrender.
We asked him if he would be better off quitting working full time and running his home business! Of course, we did not really mean that he should quit his job, but he has been working full time for over 30 years and he is still broke. He started his home business a few weeks ago and he never gave it a chance.
Why do so many people think that they should get rich in a few weeks? The answer may lie in all the rich quick schemes that are so prevalent in our society today. You have seen an email or read this line in your junk mail. No Selling, We Do All The Work For You, Earn $ 30,000 in 90 days and so on.
They get rich quick scams causing people to think that every home-based business is a scam and that's not true. We just got off the phone with Doug, a nice man who is seriously considering our home business. During our conversation, we explained that he would not be rich in 60 or 90 days and his response was the kind of response we often hear, "Thanks for telling the truth, I'm glad to know that I'm dealing with people with integrity."
We are frustrated repeatedly in the first year of home-based business that stops such a sensible action. However, these things did not work. Who do you think you are? Why do not you get a job like everyone else? These thoughts and many of them almost make us successful.
If you already have a home business, you may face the same thought. Do not let negative thoughts put aside the life-changing success that home-based businesses offer. Sure, we struggled at first, but after 20 months we made $ 100,000 a year for lifetime residual income! When you find yourself facing bankruptcy and foreclosure while we are and then filing a food coupon that you hold in a difficult time can bring life.
Sometimes, we will say "What If?" Like, what if we do not get stuck through hard times? What if we take the advice of well-meaning people who say we will never succeed in a home-based business?
What if you take two to four years to succeed in a home-based business? What if you could make $ 100,000 without a boss and a job to do? What if you could actually go home for your kids and get to know them as people rather than see them as little people living in your house?
Most people who start a home-based business stop within their first 90 days and return to their miserable mischievous life. Most people do not really live. They are just there. They went from one day to the next without any hope of a better life. Benjamin Franklin said, "most people die at the age of 18, we do not bury it until they are 65 years old."
2. Success does not happen without work
I talked to a woman who said she was interested in changing her life. When it was time for her to make a decision, she asked me, "Should I do something?" "No," I replied, "once a month we just returned the truck back to your house and broke it up!"
If you have a traditional business, you have to open your business every day. If you have a job that you need to show if you want to get paid. When you start a home business you can not just sign up and expect the money to start depositing in your bank account. There is work to be done.
Is it difficult to succeed in a home-based business? Compared to giving all the best years of your life to your boss and missing birthday, anniversaries, your child's first words, your child's first step and realizing that life is almost over and in your golden year you have no money to do. The things you want to do, not really not at all difficult!
If you are in a business like our business when you use leverage, get paid for other people's efforts, you can enjoy the results of your hard work. Even if you have a home business where you do all the work, it's better than working for an employer.
We are convinced that to live a great life your home business must use the concept of leverage. That's the only way you can have the money and time to enjoy it. The richest man in America gets rich by owning a business. Businesses that create great wealth are ahead of the trend and business owners are paid for by the efforts of thousands of people. We will not enjoy the life we live today if we are paid only for our own efforts.
We work very hard with little success in our first year. Our second year was the breakthrough we were looking for, success was on the way. What we fail to realize is that during our first 12 months we improved our skills and confidence and that was when success began.
So how much do we work in our first two years? We work as much as needed. How much do you have to work your home business? It depends on various factors. How bad do you want it? How fast do you want to succeed? We recommend that you do a home business at least 7 to 10 hours a week, and do it consistently for at least two years.
Success does not happen without work and is not limited to your efforts. Are you committed to improving your skills and working with you? Read at least 10 ledger pages daily. Books like "Think and Grow Rich" will change the way you think and when you change your way of thinking you will change your life.
Expect unsuccessful success from your home-based business like expecting a paycheck from a job you never started. That does not make sense.
3. You must be disciplined to achieve success
So, you're working on your new home business and a friend phoning offers to bring you lunch. Can you go? Your favorite show is on TV, but you know you need to do business in your home, what will you do? Perhaps the greatest adjustment that most of us need to do is to be disciplined in our home business.
Let's face it in the work environment there is usually supervision. Many people fail in home-based businesses because no one looks over their shoulders to see that they are doing what they have to do.
Since most people who start a home-based business never own a business, we must learn discipline, if we are going to run a successful home-based business. There was a time when someone told us and it was devastating. We usually go back and forth and fail to do anything else all day. If we maintain that attitude, we will have a job now, not a successful home business!
Consider regulating working hours. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, but asking friends and family members to respect your business and your working hours is an important step towards success. We have good friends who make over $ 100,000 a year and when you come to his house during business hours, you can visit his wife, but he forgives himself and runs his business. If you have small children, do as he naps and when they sleep at night.
It's also a good idea to have a permanent workspace, so you can close the door, eliminate distractions and finish your work.
This is a difficult adjustment for some people to make, but your kids can learn that when Mommy or Daddy are in this room with their closed doors working. You will be amazed at how many children will appreciate your space and time if you ask it too. We have seen many survive at home moms and dads working with children nearby. Do not let screaming kids or kids who bother you on the occasion of being a big deal, the person on the other end of the phone may be sure that your business is right for them BECAUSE they hear your kids in the background.
When you promise to call someone back at a certain time you have to find the time. Children will appreciate knowing why Mommy or Daddy are not available at certain times and you can explain to them that it will be worth all the sacrifices once you become successful.
Discipline can be difficult with all the disturbances that can happen in your home, but it is one of the ingredients that you must make a success.
4. Who is involved with you is more important than the business you are in
Let's face it, most people do not really have a clue how to operate a business, any kind of business is not just a home business. When we are young we are told to go to school to get good grades so we can get good ... JOB! That's the way most of us start, get a job, work hard, work for hours and try to do promotions so we can work longer and hopefully make more money.
We do it for 10, 20 or 30 years and then realize that we can never get ahead. That's when the idea that home-based businesses can change our lives happens to most of us. We've been told to be good employees and that's what most of us do all our lives.
There is no substitute for leadership. If you are blessed to find someone who has been successful in a home-based business and you know that they can sincerely help you change your life forever, you must jump at the opportunity to work with them. Make sure you feel comfortable with them before starting. So, what should you look for? You have to find someone who knows exactly what they are doing. When you ask a question whether they are comfortable or uncomfortable? Do they have systems that you can install and succeed right away?
One of the reasons I fail in other home-based businesses is because I do not understand the importance of finding the right person to work with. I do not blame my failures on others, but if I am associated with people who really know what they are doing, they will give me guidance that I did not get. Maybe I will fail, but there is no doubt that working with successful people will reduce your learning curve and save you a lot of time and money. Only you can ensure your success, but finding the right person to work with and then listening to that person gives you a tremendous advantage over most people who work from their homes!
Let's say you have what you consider to be a great idea and you have some extra cash saved away in the rainy day. Your partner is not very supportive, but he wants you to succeed. You decide to invest $ 1,000 or $ 2,000 for your new business by taking ads in local magazines. You do not get any response. How do you think your partner feels about your home business right now? Such mistakes destroy most people and they never recover.
Last week I received an email from a marketing guru who offered his services. I can get his marketing skills if I pay him nearly $ 800. Almost everything he offers we give to our team members for FREE! We know that what we do works for our business because it has been tested and proven successful or we will not do it. The material, though similar to ours, has never been tested in our business and can be a waste of time and money. What will happen if you send that $ 800 and that does not work? How supportive is your current partner?
5. Technology has changed everything
Years ago you had to go out and meet people and most businesses were done face-to-face. You can contact people across the country, but if they have an interest in your business, you should send an overnight package. It proved to be very expensive.
When we went bankrupt, I thought everyone was serious, serious. I mailed the package several times a week only to find that these people are not serious at all.
Then, the internet changed everything. You do not have to meet face to face with others, although I must admit it is still my favorite way of doing business. Today, you can upload videos in seconds, so people can see you. You can send an email with a link to your website, video and contact information. Your autoresponder makes you look like a Fortune 500 company, and no one knows how big your business is because anyone can have a great website.
When I started my business more than 10 years ago my long distance phone bill was almost $ 1,000 a month, today we can call as much as we want for $ 20! You can use conference calls and webcasts to present your business to hundreds of people at once.
People can automatically receive your latest Podcasts and watch them on the subway or during lunch. This is the information age and you should capitalize on technological changes in your home business. Do not worry about all the latest gadgets when starting your business because personal touch will always matter. Even if you do not have a lot of money technology, it lets your home business operate and looks like a very big business.
Do not get too engrossed in technology. However, you can use it to improve your image and productivity if you know what you're doing. Today, we do not send information about our home business to anyone. With internet access almost everywhere, we realized that if someone needed us to send something to them, maybe they were not the person we were looking for.
6. It's a home business, but that does not mean it cannot be big business
Most people who start a home business are looking for an additional $ 300 to $ 500 a month. What an extra $ 50,000 or $ 100,000 a year for you and your family, really! Probably because many of us have repeatedly failed so we no longer believe in ourselves.
Once you understand the basic fundamentals of your new home business and once you achieve success, you will understand that the sky is the limit. We make more money than we ever imagined and we have friends who earn more than $ 1,000,000 a year! Hard to believe? Of course! Just because it's hard to believe does not mean it does not happen.
After we fought for many other businesses, I wanted to believe that we could be very successful, but my past held me back. Currently, we operate a home-based business that generates annual sales of nearly $ 10,000,000! Years ago I never knew anyone who earns $ 1,000,000 a year, so it's hard for me to "see" myself ever reaching that milestone. When a good friend of mine does it, I can then begin to see that I can have that kind of success.
So, do you really want to fight all your life? Then why are we satisfied with mediocrity? This is why, we are not sure of ourselves, trapped in habits, fear, we lack confidence, we try and fail and try and fail, what will my spouse, mother, brother, my best friend think? We care too much about what others say, think and do!
7. As Man Thinketh
As the man thought in his heart, so did he. Joyce Meyer likes to say that where the mind goes, the man follows. Of course, it makes no difference whether you are male or female, you are what you think. As we struggle in our home business, it's easy to get discouraged. We always fail. Constant thoughts about failure surround us.
Later, we realized that others had succeeded. Why do they succeed where many others have failed? Could it be that the only reason they achieve success is that they think differently? We were so bankrupt and desperate for a breakthrough in our lives that we realized we were not able to have the luxury of having negative thoughts. There are many other negative people we can listen to, but what will we get?
What if we listen to positive people, who by the way are the same people who achieve success? When starting a home business, we feel like the biggest losers on the planet. If something positive did not happen soon, we had to move from the country to live with Judith's mother. How can we explain to our children that we have lost our home? If our home business will change, we have to replace it first.
We are unable to make the luxury of one negative thought. We started making good choices. We will distance ourselves from people who have something negative to say about anything! We will surround ourselves with positive, uplifting people who will speak life into our lives.
We do not listen to people who laugh at us and yes, there are actually people who laugh at us. We believe that we will have success to change lives even before there are signs of real success. Some people call the concept of "fake until you make it". While we wholeheartedly support the concept, we do not recommend that you mislead people.
There is nothing wrong with having a positive attitude. It is wrong to describe your current financial situation. One of the most disappointing things we face in home-based businesses is the tendency that people should increase their income. There must be some thought that this is interesting or extraordinary. and no.
Once you lose integrity, you will never be able to get it back. We've done everything we can to make it clear that home-based businesses will not usually solve your financial pressures overnight. We know that many people earn $ 500 to $ 2,000 in their first month in a home-based business. Very few make more than that in their first 30 days. If you think you should lie to be successful you are wrong. We generated over $ 300 of our first month in a home-based business that has given us more money than we ever imagined.
Negative people try to convince us that we will never succeed. We did not listen to them then, and we do not listen to negative people now. We know that you can succeed in a home business. We know it will not be easy. We know that if you get guidance along the way from successful people, you will live an incredible life.