HOW TO MAKE YOUR HOME BASED BUSINESS WORK !
BY : Yan Elliot ,MBA
Quite simply the answer is BE POSITIVE!
Most information used to encourage entrepreneurs to start their own business contains some kind of negative slant. It’s all true. There is no job security, jobs are being sourced to less costly labor markets (often in other countries), companies are likely to be merged or go out of business, and any of a host of other frightening scenarios. A favorite issue is about 95% of those who attain retirement age have almost no wealth and no income to use in their “golden years.” If you fail to start your business right now, you will lose the opportunity to help yourself because it takes some time for a business to become successful.
All this is true.
Then you are told you must find a unique business filling some niche market in demand by large numbers of potential customers. This business must be something no one anywhere has done before so the business will have instant success and produce great riches for the entrepreneur. Of course these things are true. A great idea or product not available from anyone but you will assure your quick success. But if everyone tries to do this, all will become discouraged because there are not enough monopolistic niches to go around!
This niche mindset is not valid in the real world. People don’t always enjoy doing business at just one place and different entrepreneurs are able to present similar products or services in ways that appeal to different sets of customers. Customer service is different in each case and aggressive pricing may provide further market advantages. If this niche thinking were the only effective element in the marketplace, there would be only one insurance agent. There would be only one place to buy an automobile. There would be just one auto parts supplier and so on. This situation isn’t true even in the smallest communities. So much for the niche idea. It doesn’t mean that entrepreneurs can’t carve a little specialty market for themselves by using their skills to do something different. We’ll discuss this next week in “Use These Simple Tools To Make Your Home Based Business Work.”
Realizing there really are no exact niche markets, entrepreneurs become desperate to establish the security that comes from a thriving business that is theirs alone. This makes some try every “opportunity” that comes along. After a couple of months, the money isn’t flowing as promised or desired, and another business program is tried with the same result. After this goes on for a year, and six different programs have failed, the entrepreneur becomes totally discouraged and believes there is no way anyone can succeed in their own business. This is the self-fulfillment of what all their peers have always said: “There’s no way anyone can make money on their own.”
The millions of frantic and scared workers who want a better way of life provide the market for “get-rich-quick” ideas, pyramid schemes where only the first make money, and countless other scams that look good but have no way of making money for the business owner. Many discouraged entrepreneurs say no one will tell them how to make money. The standard reply is that no one method will work the same way for everyone. This is true; there is no automatic cookie-cutter plan that will guarantee success for everyone. Every entrepreneur must determine what works best for them largely through trial and error. After a while there is a system that will begin to work.
The point of this article is to present ideas about the things required for a successful business that will encourage you to find what works for you. This won’t be a “plan” in the traditional sense that goals are stated and periodic checks are made to see how closely one is following their plan. Rather, we try to show some elements of successful businesses that may be needed in your business. Every situation doesn’t require all of these. A few of these ideas and tools are things I have used, others are from business articles and books. Some carry a cost; in these cases I assure you I have no personal financial interest (even if I should have an affiliate relationship with a provider the link I give you is not mine). Here is a system you can develop and follow on your own path to entrepreneurial success.
Develop a total positive attitude, not only about your business, but about life in general. Escape from any thinking that has “can’t” in it. I believe in luck and that it can often be changed or developed. Read The Luck Factor and Create Your Own Luck; use as many of these ideas as may be practical for you, believe in them, and your life will become better in amazing ways. My own salvation is realizing how lucky I have been in surviving a period of serious illness, financial distress, and personal disappointment. There are things I can’t influence in any way; instead of wasting energy worrying about them, I just say to myself, “I’m the luckiest man alive; never let me forget it.” If you will trust and believe in your luck, I guarantee something like that will work for you.
Decide to develop your own business because you want to control your own life and provide products and services that will benefit others as well as provide income for you. Believe your products will help others in some way.
Your first action should be to determine exactly what you want to do; no matter how lucrative and exciting a business may be, if you aren’t completely absorbed by it you will be less than successful. It must involve activities you can perform and that make you feel comfortable. If you are ill-at-ease selling face-to-face, stay clear of any direct selling business where you knock on doors or conduct meetings. You won’t do something you don’t like. Stay positive and find something you like; there are many opportunities out there. Yours will turn up if you look in the right places.