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Archive for the ‘Home Based Business’ Category

It doesn’t have to be unpleasant or messy, but it does have to be done. You may be well on your way to building a full-time home-based business or may just be tossing the idea around right now, but having a clear understanding of your current and future financial commitments will play a MAJOR role in your strategic plan for business success.

Home-based business owners don’t normally wake up one day and say, “Yep. I’m quitting my job today and starting a home-based business.” There is usually a period of time for contemplation, exploration, making the decision, creating a plan, and then starting to execute steps within the plan to achieve the final goal.

The process can take anywhere from several months to several years before an employee is in a position to walk away from her job to begin life as a full-time entrepreneur.

Being financially responsible is critical to not only home-based business success, but to create the financial cushion required to transition from being an employee to a full-time entrepreneur.

Understanding your current financial position is mandatory and doesn’t have to take more than an hour of your time if you follow the five basic steps below.

1. Calculate how much money you currently have sitting in bank accounts, investments, registered retirement savings plans, GIC’s, real estate, etc. If you were to leave your job today, would there be any form of payout (ie. sick plan credit, pension plan contributions, unused holidays, anniversary pay, etc.)?

2. Determine how much you earn on a monthly basis either through employment, child support payments, rental properties, dividends, your existing home-based business, etc.

3. Record your monthly household expenses. Some examples to get you started are:

- mortgage/rent
- property tax/house and mortgage insurance
- utilities (heat/water/hydro)
- phone/cable/satellite/Internet
- yard maintenance/snow removal
- groceries and household supplies
- vehicle fuel, insurance and maintenance costs
- medical
- child care
- personal care (hair/nails/clothing)
- entertainment (movies/sports/books/plays)
- club memberships, publications, etc.

4. List your monthly business expenses, for example:

- Internet
- phone (separate business line)
- autoresponder
- shopping cart
- long distance
- bank fees
- office supplies
- tools
- web hosting
- marketing
- advertising
- part-time help
- coaching services
- shipping/postage, etc.

5. Identify your outstanding liabilities such as:

- credit card balances
- personal loans
- lines of credit, etc.

When you calculate your earnings and revenue on an annual basis and deduct your personal and business expenses. How much do you have remaining at the end of the year? Can a portion of this be put aside to build your financial cushion?

If your current business revenue isn’t enough to cover your business and personal expenses and if you were to quit work today, how long would you be able to survive on your other revenue sources or savings and assets, taking into account your monthly expenses?

Have you considered all unexpected expenditures that could arise in the next year or two?

Is your car running on its last two cylinders?
Has your furnace almost reached its life expectancy?
Is your vacuum cleaner starting to growl at you?
Is your partner’s job secure or do you foresee unstable times ahead?

This exercise is by no means intended to scare or discourage. Financial stability is an area that needs to be addressed so you can keep your feet firmly planted and plans realistic as you build your home-based business.

Understanding where you are and what potentially lies ahead will help you make sound financial decisions as you plan your future.

After completing these five steps, you may realize your dream to break free of your job might take a year longer than expected, or you may learn that in order to move forward at a quicker pace, you may have to bring in a partner or investor, or learn to leverage your time, money and effort more efficiently to expedite progress.
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1. Use cedar matches, if possible. If you prefer to use a lighter, make sure it’s butane lighter to avoid strong odors.

2. Warm the open end of the cigar (aka ‘the foot’ of the cigar) slowly over the flame, without touching it to the fire. Let a black ring form around the end.

3. Place the cigar in your mouth and draw in slowly. Hold the cigar over the flame, about half an inch above it, again without touching. Continue to draw in until the cigar draws the flame. Turn the cigar slowly, spinning it to establish an even burn.

4. Once your cigar is lit, take it out of your mouth and observe the burn you have established. If the burn appears to be uneven, simply blow on the unlit sections to draw the burn, and then take one or two draws from the cigar to reestablish an even burn.

Be honest with yourself. Are you one of those people that believe that you just don’t have the time to get your home business up and running? You’re not alone. Many people I talk to claim they have too much to do and not enough time to do it. They wind up defeating themselves and their business looses momentum and suffers.

Full time jobs, family obligations, maintaining health and too many other distractions are the main reasons for not building momentum for their business. You can wind up feeling that your life is spent catering to every one else’s obligations.

However, I have some good news! You can find and maximize time to build momentum for your home business. All you need is to find time and commit to use that time for your home business only. Try the following strategies to make your home based business flourish.

Document Your Daily Routine

The first thing you will need to do find a quiet place and write down your schedule. Document the start and end time on events like getting ready for work, driving your kids to school, your commute to your day job, gym time and any other weekly commitments you have. Don’t forget to include weekends and family time (this is most important).

After completing this exercise you should have a good visual of what your work week looks like. You should see openings in your week. Make your goal easy: try to find two hours you can commit to spend on your business. You should be able to re-prioritize some time.

Stay with the Schedule You Created and Re-Evaluate

The next thing you need to do is stick with your schedule. This can be tough because you are creating a new habit. Once you get the hang of your new routine, you should always re-evaluate your schedule. You may be able to find more time to spend on your home business.

Sticking with your schedule means you need to discipline yourself to work. This means that you have to find a way after work, after little league games, after dinner and after putting the kids to bed.
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You hear it al the time if you have been involved or are involved in the home business or internet business industry:

“You need a system to succeed.”

I like to take this a step further. You not only need a “system”, but in order to get the most out of your home business opportunity, you need to have an Automated System. To take that even one step further, your Automated System must hit your prospects from EVERY angle in order to achieve the highest levels of prosperity.

Here are four techniques that if used on all of your prospects WILL increase your earnings with ANY home or internet business opportunity.

Step 1: Create a “capture” or “squeeze” page.

Even if you have no idea what this is, you have almost certainly seen a capture page and even been “captured by one. A capture page is simply a page that is set up to give some brief information about a product or service, but then requires the prospect to enter their info to get the full details. It is often a teaser or hyped up page to get the prospect to want to know more. The most effective capture pages touch on the prospects personal or financial needs compelling them to find out more by filling in their information. Once they do, you own their information for life and can continue to follow up with them or contact them about other offers of services you have no, or develop in the future. Capture pages are a MUST to start building your list that you will be able to promote any product or service. A great program that allows even the most novice person to create capture pages in minutes is Lead Page Generator.

Special note: NEVER LOSE YOUR LIST OF CAPTURED NAMES, ADDRESSES, EMAILS, ETC.
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