Business Archives - Page 3 of 47

ACN Business – Building an ACN Business the Easy Way

Growing an online home based business is one of the best things that an individual can do to get a constant source of income. An online home business may come in various forms but one of the most profitable and tested online business type is network or multi-level marketing. It involves re-selling a company’s products or services for a commission. One such company that offers a network marketing business opportunity is ACN business.

ACN Inc. is the largest telecommunications company involved in direct selling in the world. It was founded in 1993 and is based in Michigan with operations in 19 countries across the world. ACN business deals in cutting-edge digital products and services in use and demand every day. These include long distance and local calling, DSL and dial-up internet, Satellite and wireless TV, cellular products and digital video/phone services. The company has realized double-digit growths consistently and rakes in an annual income of more than $500m.

ACN business offers an immediate and residual income-generating plan for its direct representatives. As an independent representative, one is expected to recruit customers into using the company’s products or services. As long as they remain active ACN business customers, the person who introduced them earns the representative commissions as high as 10%. The income growth is exponential as each of those customers recruits other customers down the line. Therefore, the greater the number of customers recruited under an independent representative, the higher the income.

Success with ACN business involves effort, passionate and effective marketing. That effort is made easier using the internet. The internet is a vast market place with potential customers numbering in the millions and growing daily. These customers are all simultaneously and consistently reachable on a 24-hour daily basis. With internet marketing, huge costs associated with traditional or physical marketing techniques are eliminated, translating into even more profits for the marketer.

Employing effective tactics and strategies to reach and convert customers is the most important component of a successful ACN business. The first step for the independent retailer is to create a website with all the information about the ACN business products and services. The website should be attractive, with easy to read and understand information.

Attracting traffic to the retailer’s ACN business website may be done in several ways. One of this is via blogging. Blogging involves promoting the products by posting recommendations on online discussion forums or web pages. These are particularly effective since millions go to these discussion pages to get unbiased and informative reviews on products, services and other general information. Other online marketing and advertising techniques may be employed though they may come at a cost.

Traditional marketing techniques such as making 3-way calls, warm marketing (marketing to relatives, friends), printing and handing out fliers are outdated, time consuming, limited in scope and not very effective for a successful ACN business.

Why Building a Successful Business Relies on Consistent Marketing

Keys to Consistency: How to get into a marketing rhythm to boost your business income

Let me ask you a question. How many of you NEVER missed a day sending your newsletter, posting daily social media, or publishing a blog post?

That’s what I thought… Guilty!

What’s funny is that deep down we know the importance of marketing our business consistently, but SO many entrepreneurs and business owners are an epic fail at delivering on that promise.

What keeps us from marketing consistently?

Why is inconsistent marketing so hurtful to our reputation?

How can we put a plan in place to make consistent marketing easy?

This article will provide answers to each of these questions and help you get on track with better consistency for your business marketing.

What’s Not Getting Done in Your Business – A Self Assessment

How many of these inbound marketing tasks are not being consistently done in your business?

Daily social media posts
Weekly blog articles
Weekly or bi-monthly newsletters
YouTube Videos
Posting and participating in LinkedIn and Facebook groups

Or these other valuable marketing efforts that will build your brand recognition and boost your business?

Networking and keeping in touch with connections
Commenting on other blog posts
Podcast and Webinar booking and promotion
Following up with sales leads

If there are items you are not getting done, then you are leaving money on the table. Why is it we do that to ourselves?

The Big Lies We Tell Ourselves About Why We Don’t Market Consistently

I don’t know what to write about. True, staring at a blank computer screen is not inspiring. One way to avoid this is to create a marketing calendar. This is one central document that you can use to map out your promotions for the year and ensure your marketing messaging themes align with it.

I don’t know what my audience cares about. This is a lame excuse; there are clues all around you. For one you can survey your list and followers to find out their biggest challenges. Secondly you could do keyword research to find out the high-searched topics. Third, see what others in your field are blogging about. What topics caught your attention?

I’m too busy. True, it’s easy to be loaded up with client deadlines and appointments. I know this happens to me the most. There are a couple of ways that even busy business owners can market regularly. The first is to get a marketing assistant. If you don’t personally have the time or discipline to get a weekly eZine out for instance, an assistant can post the articles on your blog and preschedule them to go out in your email marketing program. The same is true for your social media. You can delegate some of your social media to a reputable resource who can curate content and preschedule it using a tool like Hootsuite.

I am a terrible writer. No problem. If writing is not your thing, you can record short audios or videos instead. You can even record yourself talking out an article and have it transcribed. You can pull your articles from other materials you have written such as your book, workshops, and webinars. Finally, there are many talented writers that can take your concept and turn it into an article written with your voice.

Why Inconsistency Hurts Our Business So Much

It’s easy to think that if you miss a weekly email newsletter it’s no big deal. But when you publish a weekly newsletter, its making a promise to your readers.

When you miss that connection, it breaks your promise. Not only does that weaken your relationship with your list, but it can lead to mistrust.

When you communicate consistently with your readers it builds a trusting rapport and connection. They look forward to seeing your emails rolling into their inbox. Don’t let them down.

Plus, inconsistency can lead to your readers to forgetting about you.

They move onto the next most exciting ‘guru’ in their inbox who connects regularly with them. Then when 2 months later when you finally send out a newsletter, they delete it or mark it as SPAM thinking, “Who is this? I didn’t subscribe to this newsletter.”

How to Reform and Become a Consistent Marketer

Schedule time for your marketing. Book an ongoing weekly appointment for you to curate your social media, write articles, publish newsletters, create email blasts, and develop freebies for your list. It could be “My Business Monday”. Promise yourself to keep that time set aside for marketing your business.

Create an idea file. Whenever you come across emails, articles, and quotes that inspire you, save it to a folder in your email or make an Evernote list of “article ideas”. Use this as your source of inspiration when stuck on a topic to write about.

Develop an editorial calendar. This acts as a roadmap to keep you on track with topics, messages, and promotions. This way your marketing messaging is in perfect alignment with your promotional efforts.

Get help. If your business is growing fast and you don’t have time to handle all the marketing yourself, congratulations! Even if you do have time to handle your own marketing, outsourcing it can free up time for you to spend on profit-generating activities. Plus, someone who specializes in social media, blogging, and copywriting etc. can often produce better results in less time.

Imagine how your business could grow if you were organized and consistent with your marketing. Make the commitment today to make marketing your business a top priority and watch your business grow!

And if you are looking for help in online marketing, we can help! Contact us today to discuss your needs and how we can help you get consistent with your marketing.

Are you guilty of not being consistent with your marketing efforts? Tell us why in the comments – do any of the above resonate with you or is it something else?

To your success,

Small Business Owners: Plan to Hit Your Profit Targets

To make a Profit, the business needs to focus, not on breaking even, not on survival, but on business profitability – literally, the ‘ability’ of the business to aim at and produce a specific dollar amount of profit as a percentage of projected gross income. Only when this is the clear business target is it possible to build a business that can deliver profit to the owner year after year. Only then can that business truly become an ongoing, revenue-producing asset for the owner. How is this done? How can a business become a profitable asset? Show me the Money! Most small businesses are inherently profitable. Depending on the business, a reliable profit of 10% to 30% of total annual sales already exists as the potential, ongoing profit return on investment of the company. But where is this Profit? Why is it so hard to see, let alone produce?

As a small business consultant for a major consulting practice, I was continually amazed at the number of small-to-medium sized companies operating with a ledger notebook and aluminum box for cash. I was stunned that the computer was used only for internet email, customer letters and office decoration. The accounting software (QuickBooks or Peachtree) was on the computer for tax purposes used by the accountant at tax time. As a consultant I was able to help the small business owners realize the most effective way to run a profitable business was to plan to be profitable. By getting the owner to understand that expenses and sales should be planned towards a goal and events controlled in such a manner as to yield the profit target. By not monitoring the profit and loss statement, the business events control the owners, and management cannot drive process and procedures toward profits. The accounting software packages were then set up to view each product by profit and loss statements on a monthly and annual basis. This allowed the small business owner the ability to react quickly to any deviations from its budgeted plans (cash falling through the cracks). The organization learns from the feedback it gets by comparing budgeted goals to actual results(revenue decreasing). Communication increased throughout the organization about employee expectations towards profitable goals.

Owners, when was the last time you updated your business plan, which is probably on your bookshelf where you placed it since you initially developed it. Now, don’t get bogged down in the document, just dust it off and use a red pen to ask your self the following questions:

Profit Planning: Budget vs. Business Plan

Has the management team updated the business plan to reflect current/future market industry ‘realities’?

Does my management team understand the ‘market intricacies’ of each product they sell and service in the business unit they oversee?

Does my management team understand the ‘customer’ product needs and wants they sell and service in the business unit they oversee?

Have you developed a profit and loss statement for each product? What are your sales revenue, direct costs, and overhead expenses for each product?

Have you benchmarked your Gross Profit margin against industry standards? Is it high or low?

How are your products sales trending? Quarterly? Is product cost percentage lowering as you sell more volume of products? If not, can workflow be streamlined.

Is my business making money? Do I have a simple profitable business model in place for every product?

Have you identified your bestselling product lines vs. your worst selling products? Select which product will grow your business?

Have your management team created action plans to meet planned product profit specific objectives and goals in target areas?

Employees/Operational Readiness

What is the current morale of the employees? Who will champion the ‘Profit Program’ that they can believe in?

What are the current ‘roadblocks’ to lowering cost and increasing throughput of products? Why?

What are the training needs of my employees to achieve profit goals? How will training improve business or morale?

Do the employees know what’s expected of them? How will they be held accountable for performance?

How will they be rewarded? Plan to give Incentives, increase Profit-Sharing, surprise Bonuses, spontaneous Intangibles?

Have your managers and supervisors set specific production objectives and goals in target areas?

Are my employees cross trained in key (growth products) production areas? Why not?

Do I have financial measurements scorecard posted in work area? Do I have relevant workflow processes posted in work area?

Do we have the best technology solution in place to reach profit goals?

Customers

Has my customer base changed?

Has my product/service offering changed?

How often/how many new customers have I obtained in the last year?

What product do my customers need to solve their problem? What services can we offer to provide convenience or can we lower product cost?

Are there any solutions outside the industry that will ‘wow’ the customer? Is the marketing strategy relevant to customer wants?

What is the company reputation to the customer? If low, how can we improve reputation and brand image to the market?

Do I know who my best customers are? What do they really want?

Do I have more/fewer customers? Why did they leave?

Who are the current ‘bad customers/clients’? Money Owed? Should I keep them or sell them?

Competitors

Do I have new competitors? Who?

Do I have more/fewer competitors? Why?

What are the current competitive threats to my business?

How are my competitors resolving the customer problem? Who?

What industry has the best innovative solution to address my customers need? Why? Applicable?

What technology is a competitive threat to my bestselling product?

Evaluate answers against the strengths and weaknesses of your business capability. Formulate your strategy according to the opportunity available in the marketplace. The game is to make money for the long term, not to see how many widgets you can ‘hide’ at the end of the month or play financial engineering games with the books.

Price Points

It is never a good idea to cut your price, even in tough economic times. If you do cut your prices, only do it for a limited time encouraging customers to “act now.” This should be a last resort effort.. The temptation to cut your price in tough times is great. Ask your management team ‘If we cut prices, how will you get the prices up when the tough times are over?’ Stay on the message. Your value doesn’t diminish in tough times. Why should your price go down? Businesses should focus more on customer satisfaction. By focusing on delivering more than you promise, you are putting the customer first. It reinforces their decision to buy.

Business Partners

Look for businesses that you can partner with to cross-promote your products and services while sharing the costs. For example, a laundry mat offers free detergent with each washer load and the free detergent is paid for by both the owner of the laundry mat and the supplier of the detergent. The price was not reduced, but there is a unique incentive for the customer with a specific start and end date, which will get the customer to “act now.”

Plan to profit with sales this year. Explore new markets, new prospects and new products and pitches. This year, the three Ps of marketing your business are: prospects, products and pitches. All three may need to change a bit to get you to a profitable year.

You can do it. Surround yourself with mentors who you can talk to plan for success. It’s amazing the difference it makes just talking through your ideas. Think of planning as preparing yourself for success with a clear profit picture in mind.

New Markets

As you review your business plan, ask yourself where else you can sell your product or service. Go back to those customers who have not bought from you in a while. Have a compelling reason for them to buy from you now, such as improved service, different products or greater customer satisfaction just to name a few. Does it make sense to enter new geographic markets? Have any competitors in that market left or ‘retrenched, waiting for better times’?

Update Your Offerings

After reviewing your business plan is it necessary to change or update your product or service offering? Will product or service changes or additions allow you to sell more to your existing customers? An “update” here could mean a redesign of your web site, starting a blog, joining a social network. Essentially any way you can expand your reach to potential customers. The reason newspapers across the country are closing is due to lack of readership. People are moving to the internet for their news and information… and to find your business!

Improve Your Pitch

Thoroughly understand your product and service and why someone should buy it from you. Use written testimonials from some of your satisfied customers.

• Tell your story in five minutes or less.

• Practice to perfect your pitch “before” the sales call.

• Listen well. Ask questions & really listen to the client’s needs and concerns.

The bottom line is practice makes perfect. Be a dedicated practitioner in client connection. You are the owner. Your time, care and connection in the sales process will bring results. In these times, you can be tenacious & focus on seeking out new opportunities which will pay huge dividends when the economy turns around.

Our nation is experiencing a recession and has been in a prolonged serious economic downturn in the past decade. According to Tom Reilly, MissouriBusiness.Net, “Seventy percent of today’s CEOs have never led a company in or out of a recession and 60 percent of today’s salespeople have never sold in tough times”.

On every championship team, great coaches must receive accurate information in order to adjust their strategy to win the game. To be a truly great small company you must operate from a core value of honesty toward strategy and profitability. Remember the old management adage ‘If it doesn’t get measured, it doesn’t get done’ and ‘Lost Opportunity’ (bad decisions) can close your business. Planning profitability is a proven business method that allows your business to measure whether its succeeding or failing, not smooth talking inexperienced senior executives, presenting the latest management theory of the month to the board.

Remember, Enron, WorldCom, George S. May International, Arthur Anderson and Tyco.

10 Common Online Business Assumptions Made Daily By Solopreneurs

Not every online business strategy works for every business. Unfortunately, many Solopreneurs will continue to force themselves into one standard. Don’t let that be you. Learn some PROVEN tactics to help you avoid these common pitfalls of assumptions and set your brand up for profitable success.

With over 4 Billion+ active online businesses, and all of them fighting for attention, the Internet has made it possible for companies of various sizes to compete on a level playing field of sorts. The main issue remains that most of these companies are unsure how to gain the buying attention of potential clients for their products or services. Creating a Power Crew will be essential to your success as a Solopreneur because you will have to trust someone to help you handle day-to-day tasks. Check out these 10 common assumptions made in online business that you should avoid in order to have a successful head start.

Skimming on Investing. There is a large difference between spending smart and just being cheap. The Cheap Comes Out Expensive (“Lo Barato Sale Caro” – Judge Marilyn Milian). Reciprocity goes a very long way and helps you build a secure and trusted network. Everyone wants a deal when spending their hard earn money. Most business people have heard the saying, “you have to spend money to make money.” Actually when you take your brand seriously enough to invest in it, be it time or money, you will ensure that everyone on your Power Crew is properly compensated. This could be financially or through barter systems. Either way, you should be willing to give as much or more than you take from others.

Remaining Blissfully Ignorant. Are you leaving clients under-serviced because you refuse to explore new opportunities and creative possibilities? Put some investigative action behind your motives. Ask your Virtual or In-House Assistant to check out some new avenues. Hire someone to manage these new avenues for you and add them to your Power Crew. They would usually be focused on these tasks for at least 5 hours a week; 1 hour a day. Ignorance is not bliss, especially in business. there are too many opportunities out there for Solopreneurs to get on track and dominate some corner of their market.

Financing Blindly Without Reason. How can you properly guide your brand into financial success or at the very least avoid bankruptcy if you cannot track how much money is flowing throughout your business? If you are shocked at the amount of money you have spent over a one-year span, are constantly hunting down all of your expenses at tax time, and/or are always living in the red then you’re doing everything all wrong. Don’t become accepting of your business being a financial burden on you. You should have a budget in place to help you remain on track. Remember, you started this for FREEDOM not to trade on pair of frustration created shackles for another.

Maintenance Is An Option. I see many clients who believe that paying someone to manage their website is a waste of time, yet these are the same people who’s websites are constantly outdated behind the scenes and left vulnerable. Your carelessness is a hackers dream key to your Information Buffet. So much of these items can and should be automated, but you have to remain vigilant in protecting your online business. If you are collecting customer information, there is no room to be casual about Website Security and Maintenance.

Keeping Up with the Joneses. Doing all you can to follow what the crowd is doing rather than taking stock in what will work for your brand is ultimately a waste of time for you. This is not to say that watching your competition and friendly peers cannot be a learning experience. you simply have to learn to take the learning knowledge and map out your own destiny.

Online Businesses Don’t Need A Budget. As an extension of financing your business blindly, you need to realize that just because you have an online business, you are not exempt from having a budget. many believe that because they don’t have the rent of a brick-and-mortar establishment, they are free to spend wildly. That is not the case. Your “rent” is your hosting provider, your domain name, and your SSL Certificate. Your “utilities” are your financial manager (accountant/apps), email automation services, payroll, and anything else that helps you run your business. You MUST track these and be sure that you are not using up all of your resources without turning some type of profit to pay the rent or mortgage AND put food on your table.

Disconnected from Reality of Running A Business. Remain grounded and connected to the roots of your business so that you are aware of what is happening and are ready to rework any strategies accordingly. Even when people consider themselves “successful” they know there is continuous work involved in maintaining the level of success they enjoy or want to excel to. Taking into account everything we’ve discussed, these pieces all come together to help you face, head-on, the realities of running a business.

Blaming Others for Your Failures. The Blame game is a waste of time. Don’t allow Accountability to become some passive catchphrase in your business. Live up to how you would want clients and another business to treat you. If you or your brand fell short or messed up, take that as an opportunity to improve and get back on track. Ask for feedback. Failure is not a bad thing if you don’t allow it to become a stumbling block or a crutch. Boss up and take responsibility while showing others working with you that they need to do they same. Showing is way better than Telling!

Being Online Is An Automatic Success. No online business is an automatic success and anyone who tells you different is lying to you. I thought that once my website was up and running I would be set. Well, not exactly set, but the bulk of my work would be complete. I was so wrong and didn’t even realize how wrong I was. I had to become a quick study on e-marketing, copywriting, and product creation to really get my business going. Not an expert, but I had to get my rump in gear fast so that I could manage just enough to get things where I wanted them to be. Automation can make things easier for you, but without you putting ACTION behind the KNOWLEDGE you collect, your brand is dead in the water.

Misinformation. Stay as informed as possible. “He said, She said” doesn’t work when you need to share information with your Power Crew and customers. Never allow yourself to miss out on innovative moves occurring within your industry, or in other industries. If an app or software was not compatible of your business in 2011, check back and see if things have changed. If you didn’t think Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram were a good fit for your business and your customers would not be interested in a company blog, rethink these moves. Try things out. You may be surprised at the results and new information that flows in from these various options.

Boss Up

Once you have figured out what causes your business to thrive like a well watered plant, you’ll begin to reap the benefits of a profitable business and brand overall. I think of my business as a well-watered plant because there is energy tied to it. It needs my care in order to survive. My emotions affect my business and I need to maintain them both.

Clients want to know that you, as a business owner, care enough to pay attention to small details while maintaining the overall picture of success.

The Rundown

Put your all into your business. After all, most of us are not here for a one-night stand. Instead, we’re in it to win it! So get yourself out there and arm your brand against these 10 common assumptions most Solopreneurs make in online business.

To Your Continued Success & Learning!

Limited Liability Insurance for Small Business Info: A Brief Summary of LLP Insurance

Every business has to have insurance of some kind, but what about partnerships? If you do have some ownership in a business arrangement but not the entire organization as a whole, you should only be required to insure your share. This is what limited liability insurance for small business is for. Why should you be liable for everything? If you have a limited role in daily business practices and operations, you should only have to pay for coverage of your own assets.

The term “limited partnership” refers to a partnership in which there is at least one general partner and one limited partner. The general partner typically has the same role as in a general partnership, as someone who controls the business’ daily operations and being considered personally liable for business-associated debts.

The “limited partner”, as mentioned above, doesn’t have a lot of say in the daily operations and decisions of the business. There can be more than one limited partner involved in a small business. To make up for not getting an active role in decisions, you get the benefit of not having to pay off claims or business debts with personal assets. However, the limited partner can still potentially lose his / her financial investment in the company depending on the circumstances.

What Else to Look for in Limited Liability Insurance for Small Business

Another thing to consider when looking for limited liability insurance for small business is that the tax rules different somewhat. All partners are required to report and pay taxes individually on their share of the yearly profits. You probably won’t have to pay self-employment taxes since your status in the business is not “active”, thus your share of the partnership isn’t considered “earned income”. The general partner(s), on the other hand, do control the business’ day-to-day operations and therefore liable for business debts.

There is another type of partnership referred to as “limited liability partnership” or LLP, in which all owners are provided with limited personal liabilities. In this kind of situation LLPs tend to be professionals such as accountants or lawyers. In certain states, only professionals are allowed to be LLPs.

An LLP requires less paperwork than corporations and LLCs. Learn about the rules in your state, pay the relevant filing fee, and create the partnership agreement.

This is only a short overview of limited liability insurance for small business. To learn more about your options, look into Hiscox Business Insurance and the benefits this company offers. There are a variety of custom small business insurance plans tailored to your needs.

Just The Basics – How to Start Generating Income In Your New Network Marketing/Direct Sales Business

Whether this is your first year in a home business or your tenth, there are some basic things that you should do in order to start generating regular income.

It is important to understand that your attitude is critical when it comes to being successful in any business. Therefore, you must start your new business with the mindset that it is a real business. The fact that you are working from home does not change that. It certainly doesn’t stop you from earning a tremendous income should you desire to do so. There are people just like you that literally earn millions from the comfort of their homes . These people not only recognize the potential of the industry but always treat their businesses with the respect and dedication that they deserve.

Personal growth comes before the fortune. You may have heard that before in one form or another. It simply means that you must educate yourself first and the money will follow. Can you bake a cake without knowing the recipe or how to operate an oven? How about drive a car without knowing how to get it started? Do doctors practice performing surgery before they learn the skills required? Hopefully, you will get the picture. It doesn’t matter if you are doing something as simple as baking a cake or complicated as brain surgery, you have to learn some fundamental skills first or you are certainly headed down the path to failure.

So, what skills are required to build a profitable home business? Assuming that you have already mastered having the right attitude about your business, here are some basic skills that you will want to learn or improve.

People Skills

Time Management Skills

Marketing Skills

People skills are required because this is really a people business and not necessarily a sales business. Yes, there are plenty of individuals and teams that teach sales techniques as the primary way to build their businesses, but it is not always the best solution for the average person in network marketing. Most people are resistant to this method of team building and it makes it very difficult for them to grow a profitable business. There are always exceptions but we are not talking about those people. By developing some basic people skills, it will help you to communicate more easily and find out what the other person actually needs. Maybe they need your product versus extra money. It is your job to find out how you can help them and not push them to join your business. You might check your local bookstore for “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie.

Time management is extremely important because it is very easy to get distracted while working from home. Children, televisions, and other things can result in zero productivity for anyone who is not accustomed to this environment. You must learn how to use your time wisely and to set aside consistent hours each week to work your business. In addition, you want to use your allotted time effectively. That means that you are constantly working on tasks that will help to truly grow your business. Organizing your office every day may indirectly help in having better time management but it really isn’t a “business growing” activity. Focus your time on tasks that will expose your product or service to potential customers or partners. It is very difficult to be successful without good time management skills.

Marketing is an income producing activity and another critical skill that you should constantly learn and improve. Marketing is a very broad term but it basically means “the activities involved in the transfer of goods and services” or how to get the word out about your offer. Creativity and consistency are two words that come to mind when one thinks about effective marketing. So, how does a new home business owner go about marketing their products?

First, you must realize that network marketing is a business based a great deal on duplication. If effective marketing techniques are duplicated throughout your organization, that provides the greatest opportunity for rapid growth. You should find and use strategies that can also be used by anyone on your team. There are people that have the financial resources to purchase full page color ads in national magazines but that is not the kind of marketing that is easily duplicated by everyone in your business.

Here are some other suggestions…

Read and learn about marketing tips

Learn from team members that are successful

Be consistent and persistent and market daily

Watch your marketing dollars/budget closely

Hire professionals or outsource when required

Employ sweat equity or money equity

Use marketing that fits your personality

Distribute samples whenever financially possible

Put your business cards into the marketplace

Network with other business owners

Share with family and friends when appropriate

Search internet for creative marketing ideas

Know your primary target market and how to find them

Many years ago a very successful network marketer told me that success was based on 99% consistency and persistency, and 1% skill. Those numbers may not be totally accurate but the basic concept holds true. If you performed a very simple action of giving out 2-3 business cards daily for 90 days, you are very likely to generate interest, customers, and potential business partners.

There are many ways to build a business and start making money in network marketing. However, if I had to narrow it down to just one thing, it is targeted MARKETING.

However, keep in mind that having a marketing plan without action is useless. You must commit and implement your full marketing strategy. How many times have you ordered business cards and left them in the desk drawer? Have you ever ordered 100 leads and called only 10 of them? Your business will not thrive unless you tell someone. How you go about telling them is up to you.

If you are serious about generating income in your new home business, make a personal commitment for the next 90 days. Find a marketing technique that is a good fit for you and put it to work daily. At the end of that 90 day period, evaluate how successful you have been at being “consistent.” Your check will normally be a direct reflection of your previous daily actions.

Remember, “procrastination is the killer of all dreams.” Make a decision today that you want to generate a real income from home. Once that decision is made, identify the products/services that you want to promote, choose a few marketing techniques, and take action. 90 days (or less) is all you need to see measurable results. A few weeks of solid dedication can change your entire life.

The Difference Between Front-End Products and Back-End Products For Your Home Business

So you have a website, a landing page to capture your customers’ details and you are about to send them an offer of your product. Now what? Why do most of them not buy from you? What are you doing wrong? Questions like these are common with a home based business and when there is no answer available,thoughts of failure occurs.

This is where you will have to know the difference between a front-end product and a back-end product and what it can be worth to you and your prospects. There is a way where you can over sell a service and burn your list very quickly instead of building it. The fact that people have signed up to your website for free information, does not indicate that they will buy from you in the future.

That is why it is necessary to offer a product at the beginning of the sign up and then follow it up with numerous different ones. You have to remember to present all your list of customers with valuable information. Otherwise, you take the uniqueness away from your service and you become a familiar tune amongst those that will not buy!

Your front-end product is displayed straight after a person has signed up. They might not buy anything but at least it is there to be considered. This can help you cover the costs for paid advertising if used. An example will be if you have a daily budget of $50 set on getting exposure for your home business and you make 5 sales at $20. Now you have the privilege to cover your daily budget and make a profit of almost the same amount. Can you see what an asset this can be to you?

You can even put forward a discount or trial as they click away from that site. This way you can still at least cap the cost of the paid advertising and break even for the day. The important approach that you took was to continue building your list of prospects and selling your front-end product simultaneously. Even if you do not make a profit for that day, you still added a big number of potential buyers.

The back-end product is then offered afterwards through the use of e-mails. This is a proven formula for any home business that has a healthy number of customers. You can practise this method indefinitely and concentrate on always getting more people to join. Any offline business needs to grow on a daily basis and endeavor a better turn over each year. The same goes for your online business and that constant efforts to increase your followers will create great diversity.

Your home business will be very successful if you implement this method consistently and you will make money online daily. Once it becomes irregular, every minute of profits will be lost.

Work Only 8 Months Per Year and Play for 4 Months With Your Own Window Cleaning Business

Are you an outdoorsy person? Or do you dream of traveling for months at a time? Or maybe just someone who appreciates long periods of down time. Whatever the reason, starting a window cleaning business may be the answer you’ve been looking for.

While working only 8 months out of the year might seem like a pie in the sky dream, it is in fact more attainable than you probably think. I should know because I’ve done it, as have many other window cleaners from around the world.

In most parts of the world, the window cleaning markets boom for a little over half the year and then slow down through the winter months before picking up again in the spring. Therefore by operating a window cleaning business you have roughly 8 months (or more in some places) to rake in the money with steady window cleaning jobs.

But can I really make enough money in 8 months to live on for the full year?

The answer is a resounding YES! Of course, knowing how to live within your means is required. Let’s look at some basic numbers to explain how it is possible to only work for 8 months out of the year.

Most people in the US could live quite comfortably on $50,000 a year, in fact a large percentage of the population would kill to earn this much in 12 months, much less 8. So we will use $50,000 as our required income for the example.

Nobody wants to work 24/7 at any job, no matter how much you love it. Most good paying jobs require you to work 5 or 6 days a week, so we will use these numbers in our example.

Full-time solo window cleaners typically earn between $300 and $400 a day. Sometimes they may earn as much as $500 per day working by themselves. Simply by hiring a laborer to work with you can jump your daily income by 80% or more.

Now that we’ve got all of our criteria nailed down, let’s see how it all breaks down in our 8 month time frame:

– Working 6 days a week for 8 months, means you would be working a total of 192 days per year. And with our required income of $50,000, that means that you would need to earn an average of $260.41 per day.

– Working only 5 days a week for 8 months, means you would be working a total of 160 days per year. And with our required income of $50,000, that means that you would need to earn an average of $312.50 per day.

Looking at the above examples, the goal of working only 8 months out of 12 is looking more tangible by the minute and considering that the average residential window cleaning job is around $200, earning $50,000 in eight months could easily become a reality.

SEO Experts and SEO Consultants – How They Help Your Business

You have set up your business website and then sat back to watch as customers come knocking on your door, but unfortunately not much has happened? When you try to use keywords that you think you deserve, are you still finding the other guys website popping up in those top 3 spots? This is an unfortunate situation that is constantly happening for millions of website owners. You may ask yourself “what’s happening?” It may be difficult for you to understand now because you are not involved in the field of search engine optimization. However, talented SEO experts and SEO consultants out there have a solid understanding of what is happening, and it is pretty simply to these experts. They seem to have a way with websites!

SEO consultants carry out a number of activities to ensure that your site is ranked highly by the search engines. These SEO experts work on a wide range of sites from static sites to dynamic ecommerce sites, lead generation websites and other online portals that are driven by a database. They will charge you a fee for their services, either to perform the work of getting you to the top or else for the advice to get you to the top. Often times paying SEO consultants for their services is one of the best investments a small business can make that will actually help you reap healthy rewards. However, don’t be carried away by SEO experts who promise you everything and a sack of gold with your site. It is not automatic that you will receive the top ranking once they optimize your site. There are millions of website owners out there trying to get their website to the top as well. Doing almost the same thing as you and competing for the same top ranking. But this should not dampen your spirit because there are people out there who understand the secrets to success.

I advise that you shop around for the best company or person and have them optimize your site and create a link building campaign to fit your needs. The reason you need links to your website is simple: you need to confirm to the search engines that you are a relevant source of information for your website’s topic. You may not jump immediately in the search engine rankings, but with time your ranking should improve as the SEO consultants perform the work to get your website to the top. They will often times continue adjusting your webs site to fit the changing standards of the various search engines. Patience is definitely a virtue when working in this area.

You can also register for some training to learn more about search engine optimization. This will enable you to work on your site personally to improve your search rankings. As mentioned before, the standards keep on changing. Therefore, you must keep on investing time or else you need to hire a company that stays up to date on the latest changes for you. To cut down the long term costs associated with this service, it is important to make that one-time investment and get the training or purchase the services. Being trained in this field isn’t always the best option for everybody. Businessmen and entrepreneurs may not have the time to optimize their sites on their own. The option here is to hire the services of talented SEO consultant to work on their sites.

This will ensure that you are able to obtain the traffic that is needed to sustain growth and obtain customers. Most customers interested in SEO services are businesses and retail stores that want to expand their place of sale.

Hiring the services of SEO consultants is a cost that has to be part of the daily running of your business. Just like paying your bills, hiring the services of SEO experts is an operating cost for any business that offers its services or products online. The fees you pay depends on the SEO expert services you are using as well as what the expert believes they are worth. I recommend that you consider price, but you must also determine who can actually prove that they will be able to provide the results you are looking for. The greater the reputation of a SEO provider, often times the higher the fees. However, there are still some talented firms that are affordable and ready to help.

Importance of Family Business Management

Ready to be at the wheel?

March 10 and 11, 2018 gave aspiring and budding entrepreneurs an opportunity to connect and collaborate. As the best and brightest minds came together and brainstormed on on how to fuel their business growth. It is the most important aspect in any of the business. The conference at IIT Mumbai brought together the best breed of entrepreneurs, innovators, venture capitalists, business model creators, consultants, policy-makers, academicians, and business practitioners to present and discuss innovation and success under the aegis of entrepreneurship for Small and Medium Businesses.

Over the past decade or so, in the dilemma between joining family owned businesses and higher studies. The scales have been tipping towards entrepreneurship and joining family owned businesses.

Let us explore the genesis and the reason why:

The Genesis

Today, family-owned businesses account for two-thirds of the world’s businesses and generate most of the world’s economic output, employment and wealth. In many regions of the world, family companies dominate the economy. “Family-controlled firms now make up 19% of the companies in the Fortune Global 500,” states The Economist. In India alone, 67% businesses are family run. McKinsey forecasts, that by 2025,there will be more than 15,000 companies worldwide with at least $1 billion in annual revenues, of which 37% will be emerging-market family firms.

The need

There is a need for Family Business Management Programs whether you are in a successful family business or you are into a business facing challenges and trying to bring about a changeover.

Successful family business:

Successful family businesses are successful because families see important changes in their industry. Simply put, successful families are entrepreneurial. Also,families succeed because they invest in productive activities, emphasise growing assets, and consume relatively little of their wealth. These families maintain a culture that encourages family members to create things of lasting value. It’s not surprising that these families encourage entrepreneurs. Furthermore,successful families remain reasonably united, keeping supportive members loyal to one another and to the family’s mission. Over generations, as families become more diverse, it is likely that only a few relatives per generation will directly work in the business.

Outside-the-business members might still support family philanthropic efforts or social activities, and sometimes that level of involvement is enough to maintain family unity. But investing in family entrepreneurs can also keep talented members contributing to the broader family’s wealth and mission. Investing in family entrepreneurs has to be done objectively based on the feasibility of their business plans, and also fairly within the family. Even if some entrepreneurial projects don’t succeed, these investments will help you spot talent to keep your business growing. And you are sending an important message: this family is committed to creating value.

Family businesses – facing challenges

While family businesses on average are stronger performers than other types of enterprise, they face distinct challenges that need to be managed. This constraint often kills the family business.

This creates the need for a course of study in Family Business Management that helps students understand how to capitalize on the strengths, navigate the challenges, and guard against the weaknesses of the companies and the families that own them.

How is Family Business Management program different from an MBA in Entrepreneurship?

Both Family Business Management and an MBA in Entrepreneurship prepare you for setting up and gearing your own business. However, there is a subtle difference. Unlike MBA in Entrepreneurship which prepares students for a setting up a business, the Family Business Management programme is targeted at family business owners looking to sustain, scale and grow their businesses. The content and pedagogy includes concepts of entrepreneurship, business sustainability, market trends which thereby lead to portfolio expansion and business growth. The program would help you evaluate the state of your family businesses and gear you towards accelerating your business to the next level.

Colleges/Institutes for Entrepreneurial Management

Xavier School of Management (XLRI),Jamshedpur, offering a full-time six-month Post Graduate Programme for Certificate in Entrepreneurship Management (PGPCEM).

Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Gandhinagar,offering a two-year, full-time, residential Post Graduate Diploma in Management-Business Entrepreneurship (PGDM-BE).

SP Jain Institute of Management and Research – Mumbai,Start Your Business Certification Program (SYB), Grow Your Business Certification Program (GYB), The Entrepreneurial Manager (TEM).

Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies,Mumbai,M.B.A in Social Entrepreneurship

Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship – Bangalore, offering one year Entrepreneurial Development Programme (EDP)

Nirma Institute of Management,Ahmedabad,offering regular two-year MBA specialising in Family Business & Entrepreneurship.

Amity Business School,Noida, offering two year M.B.A in Entrepreneurship

IIM, Bangalore, specialization in Entrepreneurs & Family Businesses.

IIM Udaipur, Management Development Program for Women Entrepreneurs.

National Institute for Entrepreneurship & Small Business Development (NIESBUD), Delhi

The NIESBUD is an apex institute in the area of entrepreneurship and small business development under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India. It oversees the activities of various institutions and agencies engaged in entrepreneurship development, particularly in the area of small industry and small business. It also provides numerous training and development courses for budding entrepreneurs and small businesses.

Making the right choice:

In the world of family business, the entrepreneurs we celebrate are usually founders of companies. If you wish to be a founder of a company, start your new venture and learn how to navigate, go in for a pure MBA in Entrepreneurship. However, if you wish to join your family business and are supposed to take care of and grow the founder’s creation, you are not expected to be entrepreneurs but to understand and carry forward the vision of the founder,an MBA in Entrepreneurship would be more helpful.

Therefore, it is imperative that you make the right and informed choice…

Are these mutually exclusive?

If this makes you think that family business management programs are incompatible to entrepreneurship. The reason is because they are for students who are in family businesses that are usually tradition-bound, multi- generational. Let me tell you, we need to blur the lines here. The family businesses need to be more entrepreneurial. They need to pass on the entrepreneurial mindset and capabilities. To create new streams of wealth across many generations- not just pass the business on from one generation to the next. We need to come up with the concept of ‘family entrepreneurship’. When a leadership transition occurs in a family business, the new generation of leadership should be careful to maintain and build on the networks and knowledge of the former leaders, while expanding their own networks. This will insure that the business can continue to be entrepreneurial into the future.

And when they do, the distinction between Entrepreneurship and Family Business Management studies would begin to blur…