Another Take On Plan Your Work And Work Your Plan For Business Success

How to Win At Home-Based Business? Hit The Floor Running

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion . . . or . . . it will be killed.

Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle . . . or . . . it will starve to death.

It doesn't matter whether you are a gazelle or a lion, when the sun comes up . . . you better be running.

****

With no boss breathing down your neck or clock to punch, It can be so tempting to stay in bed one hour longer, to postpone picking up the phone and contacting that prospect, or to focus your time and energy on the easy and fun stuff and put the unpleasant stuff off until later.

One of the core competencies you need to succeed at home-based business is DISCIPLINE. You are now responsible for your success 24/7 and if you aren't doing what is required to succeed, there won't be someone to come along behind you and clean up your mess. It's do or die, eat or be eaten.

To truly succeed as a serious home-based business owner, you need to be strong-willed and self-disciplined. You also need a solid, thorough, written plan to keep you on track and in constant motion.

To ensure continuous momentum, you can plan your daily activities a month in advance, or even weekly. Some people prefer to dedicate each day of the week to a different task, for example:

Monday - marketing
Tuesday - business building
Wednesday - customer relations

. . . and so on.

Others prefer to perform a variety of tasks on any given day, for example:

Monday - marketing (morning), business building (afternoon)
Tuesday - customers relations (morning), industry research (afternoon)

The most important factor here is have a Plan and stick to it.

Although most people start a home-based business to create freedom, many of them fail to recognize the critical importance of a structured plan.

No plan = no business and no business = no freedom.

So remember, hit the floor running each morning, keep ahead of those who are following behind and overtake those in front of you. Whether you're the lion or the gazelle, you've got to run!

2006 © Laurie Hayes - The HBB Source

Laurie Hayes, founder and visionary behind The HBB Source™ helps government and corporate employees break free of their jobs to live their dream of running a home-based business.

Subscribe to her FREE e-zine, The HBB Confidential, for valuable tips and resources designed to create business success, visit http://www.thehbbsource.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Laurie_Hayes

Make and Break Your Sales Quotas - Maximize Your Momentum!

The "Secret" Sales Fortune Cookie You've Been Waiting For!

I lovvvvve going to a psychic. Getting my tarot cards read. Cracking open fortune cookies..and all that jazz. It is fun, sometimes enlightening and usually thought provoking.

Are you sitting down? I am going to reveal your future in the Sales Diva crystal ball! And it is in the form of a secret "fortune cookie" that has made me:

· a national award winner in selling

· one of the youngest sales managers in the history of Canada's oldest television network

· a business owner with international clients and recognition ( and a nice fat bank account!)

Would you like to be in the same boat as your Diva? (And by the way, I can paddle and not even break a nail!) The Secret That Won't Break Your Bank, Back or Manicure

The secret is simple but I bet you aren't creating it.

Momentum.

I can hear your gasp of shock and horror. Yes.

In order for your business and sales to move forward you actually have to work ON it and not just IN it - every day. Yup. Everyday. It's that "just add water and stir" action you may be waiting for!

The Hula Hoop Sales Effect

It doesn't matter if you've had a flat tire, a bad day, a great day, attended a fabulous 5-day business conference, gained 2 pounds, have a 20th high school anniversary coming up, your computer has crashed, or you've just attracted the biggest client of your life.

If you SKIP a week/month(s) of creating MOMENTUM the wheel doesn't just slowly stop - it pretty much topples over. Imagine a hula hoop that you keep rolling.

If you ignore it - it ends up down by your knees pretty damn fast!

Here's How You Can Tell If You're On The Right Track

Are you wondering if you are doing the right sales strategies? Or if you are even doing ANY sales strategies? Check:

1. Your client activity list.

2. Your revenues.

3. Your goals and how close you are to meeting or exceeding them.

4. How much time you devote to your business every day vs complaining about it.

5. Your list of THRILLED clients who refer you happily, frequently and quickly.

6. How often you wake up at 3 am panicking about money.

If you get gold stars after answering those questions - then YAHOOOOO for you girl! If your stomach just went into a knot then you know you AREN'T creating momentum. It's Time To Strap On The Stilettos and Get A Move On!

So what do you do to create momentum faster than a Diva can apply nail polish?

Commit 30 minutes per day to the MOST IMPORTANT activity you need to do in SALES - which is FOLLOW-UP! What is the point of networking and attracting business if you don't follow-up and through with your client base?? Before you know it - you lose top of mind awareness and you're back to spinning your wheels and eating rubber chicken at network functions.

I don't care how you do it - with the phone, e-mail, by mail, pony express or pigeon carrier - just do it! And do it EVERYDAY.

It's the first step in momentum that leads to massive increases in money for YOU (which by the way, allows you to buy many, many, many pairs of shoes!)

So quit waiting for the Secret Fortune Cookie to fall onto your computer keyboard and instead DO SOMETHING. NOW. Your sparkling, successful future depends on it.

by Kim Duke

Kim Duke, The Sales Diva, provides savvy, sassy sales training for women small biz owners and entrepreneurs. Kim works with clients internationally, showing them The Sales Diva secrets to success! Sign up for her saucy and smart FREE e-zine and receive her FREE Bonus Report “The 5 Biggest Sales Mistakes Women Make” at http://www.salesdivas.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kim_Duke

Apply A Simple Acid Test To Every Home Based Internet Business Opportunity

Apply A Simple Acid Test To Every Home Based Internet Business Opportunity

Most people who have searched for a suitable home based Internet Business opportunity complain about a common illness: They are sick and tired of websites that promote best home based Internet Business opportunities… sick and tired of the false promises, the over-hyped sales pitches, and the downright SCAMS that lurk behind most Internet Business opportunities.

If you're new to the home based Internet Marketing opportunity 'industry', test a few websites for yourself. Simply go to the Google search box and type in the Keyword Term "Internet Business Opportunity", using the "quotes" to refine your search.

Now click on a few of the websites that appear on the first two or three pages… Read some of the content; Click on a few of the Advertised Sites that appear down the right hand side of these websites…and read some of the content on these websites. What is your overall impression?

Perhaps you've gone further… Perhaps you've bought into one or more of these so called home based business opportunities. If so, are you impressed and satisfied with what you received in return for your hard-earned cash?

The truth is… most opportunity seekers are becoming more and more disillusioned by the whole home based business opportunity 'industry'. They are becoming wide awake and more cautious… because its so easy to be misled and scammed by Internet sharks.

If you've suffered from these sharks, don't be too hard on yourself. Most serious business opportunity seekers get fleeced, often more than once, by ruthless business opportunity SCAMMERS… before they find a genuine business opportunity that suits them.

That's because most home based business opportunities fall far short of the hype and promises contained in the websites and sales letters of their owners and promoters. Being scammed seems to be part and parcel of the 'character building' experience that most Internet Business opportunity seekers go through on in their 'school-of-hard-knocks' learning journey.

A Simple Acid Test There is one simple Acid Test you can apply to EVERY home based Internet Business opportunity you come across. It answers the question:

What is the most important part of this 'Internet Business' opportunity?

If the answer is 'the Internet part'' then you would do well to tread very carefully. If the answer is 'the Business part' then you may be onto a good opportunity.

You see, at the core of the Internet Business Opportunities 'industry' lurks a Great Big Lie. Ignore it at your peril!

THE GREAT BIG LIE is: The INTERNET IS the BUSINESS!

The Great Big Lie is contained in the words 'Internet Business'. Look at how often most so called 'Internet Business' opportunity providers and promoters use the word business in their sales hype. They try to impress you that what they are offering is a complete BUSINESS-IN-A-BOX.

But most of these offerings have little to do with a BUSINESS. At best they are simply INTERNET TECHNICAL AND MARKETING TOOLS that can support your business. The 'Internet BUSINESS-In-A-Box is a sales ploy . . . to get you to buy a few packages of Internet software, ready-made websites, website hosting, and training courses. These are likely to be only add-ons for the real business you will need to create if you are going to make any money at all.

THE GREAT BIG TRUTH is: The BUSINESS IS THE BUSINESS! The Internet is ONLY A COMMUNICATION MEDIUM in general and a MARKETING TOOL in particular for Internet Businesses.

Why do most home based Internet Business owners fail? Because they do not have a viable BUSINESS MODEL from the very beginning. They simply jump into what they are led to believe is an 'easy-money-from-home-cash-machine' Internet opportunity.

How often have you read home based Internet Business Opportunity blurb such as: 'Make $100,000 in less than three months while you sleep. No experience or commuter skills necessary. Simply follow our step-by-step instructions that come with our Turnkey Internet Business-In-A-Box.'

Blurb like this is nonsense! There is no ethical Internet Business Opportunity in the world that can do this for the beginner! Even if you have 25 years of related Business Experience, 15 years of super Computer Experience, and a superb product to sell.. it will take you at least a year to make ANY money on the Internet if you are a novice! There's just so much you have to learn about Marketing alone before you can even get started… not to mention search engine optimisation, Adwords, and all the other tools to drive traffic to your website(s).

You simply don't get all of the help you need to start and run a successful home based Internet Marketing business in any 'Internet Business-In-A-Box' package for $495 or even $7,000! We know this because we've been there, we've bought the packages, we've spent loads of time, effort, and money on Internet Business opportunities, seminars, courses, software, products, mentoring etc. And our bitter experience shows that most Internet Business 'get-rich-quick-schemes' are nothing but Scams!

So, use our simple Acid Test before you part with your hard-earned cash: Check out whether or not the enticing home based Internet Business Opportunity really is a BUSINESS opportunity which can be operated effectively by Internet!

by Bill Barbour

Bill Barbour is a marketer and business developer. He and his wife Katerina provide products and serivices that help others to start and develop home based businesses. Their company is called InfoNiche Marketing Ltd.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bill_Barbour

20 Super Hot Ways To Make More Money From Your Customers

I received this article in my email and it's pure marketing magic. Cody Moya shows us some basic addons, bundling, and upsells, just good business promotion strategies for creating more value to your customers, and increasing business revenues. Here it is:

20 Super Hot Ways To Make More Money From Your Customers

1. Insert a brochure for another product in the first product package your customer buys from you.

2. Sell a basic product and tell people for a little more money they can receive the deluxe edition.

3. Give your customers a free subscription to your e-zine and include back end products in each issue.

4. Charge people extra money to get the reproduction rights.

5. Send your customers greeting cards at holidays with your back end product offer included.

6. Offer your customers a discount if they buy more than one of the same product.

7. Include a back end product offer on your online "thank you" page.

8. Give people a huge discount to your subscription product if they subscribe for a longer period of time.

9. Send your customer a free surprise gift with your back end product offer included.

10. Give your customers a discount if they buy over a certain number of any products.

11. Publish a back end product offer inside any of the information products you sell.

12. Group your products together in package deals to make more profit form each sale.

13. Include a back end product offer inside your "customer's only" online club.

14. Join someone else's affiliate program and use it as an upsell or back end product.

15. Follow-up with your customers to see if they're happy and offer them another product.

16. Offer people a free sample of your product and tell them they will get a discount if they order now.

17. Send your customers a "thank you" e-mail with a back end offer attached.

18. Offer your customers add-on products like gift wrapping, batteries, imprinting, etc.

19. Allow your customers the option of signing up to your "future product offers list".

20. Explain to people that for extra money, they can extend the guarantee or warranty of the product.

Here For Your Success

Cody Moya, Copyright 2006

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Cody Moya writes about Business and Marketing in his Free Internet Marketing Courses. You can sign up for his Free Internet Marketing Courses and get additional information at his website: http://FreeInternetMarketingCourses.com

Does Your Marketing Have "Skanky Scrunchie Syndrome"?

YIKES! I just have to publish this article! I feel that it was written just for me. The Realgoalgetter Website is still going through 'renovations' and there are many sections in disarray, and with tremendously incongruent looks. There are parts of the website which still have the 'old' look mixed in with the new site, in other words I need to clean up shop quick.

Give it a read and then check for your own incongruencies in your business look, your image.

Does Your Marketing Have "Skanky Scrunchie Syndrome"?
by Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen"

A few years ago I spoke at a large marketing conference in Atlanta, Georgia. One woman approached my display table to ask a few questions. Honestly she was so attractive it was intimidating. Tall with a pretty face, understated jewelry, a blue designer suit with beautiful shoes and a high-end bag. She looked like she'd just stepped out of a catalog. I thought to myself, "How polished! This woman really puts out a winning image. She must do very well with her business."

Then, as she turned to walk away, I spotted it...

The scrunchie.

Her silky, shiny hair was pulled back by a dingy white scrunchie that looked in desperate need of a washing, if not discarding. It was a truly skanky scrunchie.

Everything positive this woman had projected was immediately tarnished by this negligent afterthought.

Now, of course I assumed the poor woman must have been traveling and forgotten her good scrunchie, and that's all she had in her bag.

So a few months later I'm at another marketing conference here in Los Angeles, standing at my booth after speaking on the main stage. And up she walks again to say hi, looking fabulous as before. We have another great conversation, and as she turns away, there it is ... AGAIN.

The skanky scrunchie!

I realized then that she had no idea it had a negative effect in any way. She must have thought that no one would notice. Or that since the rest of her outfit was so polished that it wouldn't matter.

Wrong.

My point is not to ridicule this woman's choice of accessories. My point is how one piece of a "package" can ruin the entire presentation. Another example is seeing a beautifully dressed man (I just love a man in a sharp suit and tie) with shabby shoes. There goes the sale!

I eventually realized I had a few "skanky scrunchies" of my own, when it came to how I packaged my products. While I'd upgraded most of my marketing materials to my slick new look, there were a few product packages remaining that looked like I'd created them myself using clip art. (That's because I had!) I wasn't proud to ship them to people. I wasn't proud to display them at my seminars. In fact, I avoided showing them to anyone at all, which of course meant no one could buy them.

My good friend Kim Castle of WhyBrandU.com says that your marketing materials should "make you tingle" when you look at them. Like your business card for example. I'd say almost half of all people who hand me their business card make some type of excuse for it. "Oh this is just a temporary card for now." "This is my old logo on here." "Sorry this isn't updated yet." Kim calls this "business card shame." I love that!

I've realized over the last year that if I want to BE a million-dollar business, I'd better start LOOKING like one (and acting like one, for that matter). And that attitude and those actions are paying off immensely.

So take about 30 minutes this week and inventory all your marketing materials. I mean ALL of them. Your website, business cards, brochures, product packaging, even forms -- anything that your prospects or clients and customers see. (And even the things only you and your staff see.)

Do they all look consistent and professional? Or do some of them look like your kid designed it or it was thrown together quickly?

If any give you shame, they're your skanky scrunchies. Write them down on a piece of paper, and then write down what you're going to do about them, and when.

Resolve to fix them yourself or outsource the design and production to get them revised ASAP. I guarantee you'll thank yourself once you do! You'll not only be more proud to give out and sell your materials, you'll see your business rise as well.

© 2004-2005 Alexandria K. Brown

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Alexandria's Small Business Marketing Blog.

Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, "The E-zine Queen," publishes the award-winning 'Straight Shooter Marketing' weekly ezine with 20,000+ subscribers. If you're ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at http://www.EzineQueen.com