The current trend is towards more home-based businesses. They require lower overhead and startup money making them easier for entrepreneurs with limited fund. If you are thinking about starting a home-based service business, here are a few tips for getting started on the right foot.
What is a service business?
Service businesses are those that provide help to others. This can be anything from mowing the lawn to managing business accounts. The basis of a successful service business is one that supplies a need. In your area, it may take some research to discover the top service needs and then figure out which one you can provide.
Benefits of a home-based service business
There are several benefits to running a home-based service business. First of all, you can run the business from your home. Since you already pay a mortgage, utilities and car payments, the only thing you need spend money on now is the equipment for your business. And, running a service that began as a hobby means you already own most of the needed equipment.
Starting a home-based business may or may not be for you. You will never know unless you jump out there and investigate what is needed. What do you like to do? Do you like to sew? Do you like creating graphics? What about speaking? Whatever it is that you like to do, you can ultimately get someone to pay you for it. What have you been called to do? Do you know your purpose?
Watch this video as I talk about the importance of knowing your purpose:
Get a notepad and sit down and right things out and implement.
Words like ‘failure’ make our hearts sink, whether it’s an exam we haven’t passed or a personal target we haven’t managed to hit. Failure is something which most of us are afraid of, and therefore we seek to do everything possible to avoid it. Failure to some people might mean not winning a race or not quite achieving something they’ve been working towards, but it’s important not to become discouraged by the fact you haven’t met targets or come out on top.
The most successful people in the world have had to go through situations that many others would regard as failures. J. K. Rowling, world-famous author of Harry Potter, was rejected by 12 publishers before she finally got the break she needed from her novels. Thomas Edison was told he was ‘too stupid’ by his teachers while he was at school, and he has become a household name now.
Failure can make you try harder
Depending on how badly you want something, failing can make you try even harder to reach your goal. Whether you’re training to run a 10K and want to surpass your personal best, or you’re studying for an exam and aiming to get the highest mark in the class, falling short can make us try harder next time. While it can be discouraging at first, it’s important to remember that you cannot change what you’ve already done, but you can look forward and change it in the future.
Failure isn’t the end of everything
With a few rare exceptions, there is always the chance to try again at whatever you’ve failed to achieve. Annual competitions will be held next year, exams can usually be re-sat the following exam season and sports can be played again and again. Failing several times can help you to realize that there will always be a second chance, and when you do finally succeed and achieve what you’ve been aiming for, you’ll feel a greater sense of satisfaction.
Failure can give you more confidence
If you’re afraid of failing, this will prevent you from trying new things and seeing what you can achieve. This fear is the main reason that many people are scared of doing certain things, such as going back into education or learning a new sport. Dealing with failure can give you a massive confidence boost and encourage you to try new things. After all, everybody has to start somewhere!
Go out and try something new. I have found that the thing that you fear most is probably the thing that will push you to where you really want to go.
If you are looking for an easy way to motivate yourself and to help yourself achieve your long-term goals, then you should practice visualization.
Although it may not seem all that helpful at first, there is a lot of solid evidence that visualization can be really helpful when it comes to achieving one’s goals.
In this blog post, you will see a few of the many reasons why you should be practicing visualization today.
What Is Visualization? Before we get too far into this post, we should actually be clear on what visualization is.
Simply put, visualization refers to the process of creating mental images of your goals. For example, a lot of people want to retire and own some sort of retirement property. With visualization, that retirement property wouldn’t be some abstract concept that is found only in your head. Instead, it would be a real thing that you could picture.
The idea is that you don’t just think about what you want, you actively build it in your head. It may sound strange to some, but there are lots of experts out there who recommend visualizing your goals.
How Does Visualization Help You Make Your Goals a Reality? Visualization may be all well and good, but you are probably curious as to how visualization can be used to help you achieve your goals. The first and most obvious way is by helping to motivate you. Sometimes, it can be hard to maintain your motivation when your goals seem so far off and abstract.
A good example of this would be a very out of shape person trying to get into shape. For that out of shape person, it can be hard to stay motivated since they will look in the mirror and see very little progress (weight loss is a slow process). Visualization can help them to stay motivated by giving them a visual goal to work towards. Another way that visualization can help is by giving a person a clearer direction.
To illustrate this, let’s return to the example of someone trying to get into shape. When someone says that they want to get fit, what does that mean? Do they want to get toned, do they want to build muscle, or do they just want to lose a bit of weight? Visualization can help them see what they want and adjust their strategy accordingly.
You would be surprised to know that many of the 6 and 7 figure earners are using Visualization to Help achieve their goals.
If you use visualization, I would love to hear from you.
No matter what business you are in, you need prospects. You need people to market to, in the hopes of turning those leads into customers. Businesses both online and off can benefit from the following 7 you ways to generate more leads to fill your sales funnel, build your email list and hopefully turn into cash-paying customers.
1 – Start a Podcast
It seems everyone has a blog, but few marketers have podcasts. Video and audio podcasts can engage your audience much better than a text-based approach.
2 – Have Twitter Do the Work for You
FollowerWonk.com helps you analyze the behavior of your followers on Twitter. You can also find industry influencers and connect with them, find out what time your followers are the most active on Twitter, and reach the people that are interested in your niche.
3 – Publish Information Frequently and Regularly
Imagine these two scenarios. You have 2 almost identical websites offering similar products and services. It looks like either site can help with your situation. One website publishes an informative blog post, videos and a podcasting episode every week. The second site rarely updates its content. Which one will you do business with?
Adding information to your blog or website frequently, and on a regular schedule, improves your chances of connecting with your audience.
3 – Harness the Power of Information Databases
Data.com is just one of many websites where you can find potential leads for your business. You have access to company contact information and other relevant data whaich allows you to target exactly the businesses and individuals who are the perfect prospects for what you are offering.
4 – Develop a Presence on LinkedIn
LinkedIn has hundreds of millions of regular users. It is a professional version of social media sites like Facebook or Pinterest, offering several ways to publish material that you can use to drive serious business professionals back to a landing page or lead generation funnel.
5 – Answer Questions on Q & A Sites
People online flock to websites like Quora, Yahoo Answers and WikiAnswers to ask questions about any and all topics. This is a way to prove yourself as an informed leader in your field. The search engines on these sites allow you to target a particular question or topic, and when people see your answers, you can lead them back to your website.
6 – Record Helpful Videos
There are dozens upon dozens of video sharing sites that attract millions of frequent users. YouTube and Vimeo are just two of the many web properties where you can host videos where you solve real problems in the lives of your prospects. Video “connects” with your target market much better than text-based content.
7 – Host a Contest
Contest-hosting sites such as RaffleCopter, WooBox and PageModo help you run a simple contest on social media sites. When people think they have a chance to win a valuable prize, they will sign up to your email list or newsletter. A veteran strategy here is to offer consolation prizes to everyone who does not win a main prize.
These are just a few of the ideas to generate leads in your business.
Your business website is essentially your storefront, business card and most significant marketing piece all rolled into one. How it affects your visitors and customers is then essential to your success. Provide a memorable experience and customers are sure to return time and time again. Let’s take a look at five keys to creating a website that sells.
Key #1 Make your website interactive.
As the internet continues to grow and evolve it’s becoming more important to create a community around your business. To accomplish this you want to engage your visitors and customers. This can be accomplished a number of ways. You can:
* Provide a forum
* Post surveys or polls
* Enable visitors and customers to review or rank items. For example a “How valuable was this article?” question and a scale of 1 to 5 stars or a ranking from 1-10.
* Offer a blog and inspire comments and feedback
* Host contests and sweepstakes
* Publish video and audio content as well as written content. This gives users another way to access you and your personality.
Key #2 Make sure your website provides value.
People go online for a number of reasons. They go online to research a potential purchase, to seek solutions for a problem they’re having and to be entertained. If your website provides all three; products, information, and entertainment then you’re in tip top shape. The good news is your content can provide both the information and the entertainment and when written well, can also inspire purchases. Here are a few ideas to provide value for your customers and prospects:
* How to articles, videos, and audio
* Tips articles, videos, and audio
* Case studies
* Workbooks and reports
* Interviews with experts
* Product reviews
Key #3 Make sure your website is easy to navigate.
It takes a visitor about 20 seconds to make a decision about whether they’re going to stay on your website or click away. If your site is laid out nicely, with products and services, information, prices, FAQs, and content easy to find then people are more likely to hang out – the longer they stay on your site the more likely they are to make a purchase or to return again.
To make your site easy to navigate consider:
* Keeping your site simple.
* Keep your pages uniform with the same options and appearance.
* If you have a lot of content, great! Use drop down menus and organize your content by topic for easier access.
* Offer a search function where users can search for products, services, or content topics quickly and easily.
* Provide a way for users to easily go back to previous pages. A back key is an option however if every page has the same options and drop down menus, including the ability to quickly return to the home page, a visitor will always be able to find what they need.
* Test your website’s appearance on different browsers to make sure every visitor has a good experience.
Key #4 Make your website easy on the eyes.
Ever visit a website and the text was so small or the colors so incompatible that you couldn’t read a word? Readability is critical to a selling website. Make sure:
* Your colors are easy on the eyes,
* Your graphics aren’t distracting
* And keep formatting like underlining, bold and italics to a minimum.
* Spacing between sentences and paragraphs is adequate
* Font size is large enough for people to read and font is easy to read
Key #5 Give them a soft sell.
People expect to be sold to and they’re looking for it – they’re wary. Instead of hitting website visitors with a hard sell, provide information, solve their problems and show them the benefits of your products or services. They’ll be much more receptive and appreciative.
Creating a website that sells requires a structured approach and a desire to create the best experience possible for your visitors. Once you’ve created your website, consider testing it and asking associates, friends and family for their opinion.
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