Category: Run a Home Business

    State of Entrepreneurial Spirit!

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    WATCH THE VIDEO! INSPIRING!

    Today, I learned about this program (that I wished I had when I was young) called Startupskool at early entrepreneurs. It is a foundation whose mission is to create a revolution of social innovators.

    As mentioned on their website,

    We gave a handful of elementary classrooms each a $100 micro-loan as startup capital, and asked them to raise funds for charity. Rather than running typical fundraisers such as asking for pledges, these classes used the money to start their own small businesses such as building bird houses to sell at a local market, selling green smoothies on Fridays, and creating family friendly events. These students were using their own creativity and imagination to turn our initial $100 loan into thousands of dollars for charity. Building on the success of our original experiment, we partnered with amazing educators and entrepreneurs to launch a full curriculum behind our program. Through media-based lessons and an interactive platform we’ve been able to transform over 120 classrooms across Canada into social innovators. Their efforts have since generated over $80,000 in support of local and global charities.

    They now have a website where teachers can register and find out how to run their own program in their class to instill the entrepreneurial training into their children from kindergarten to High School (in Canada).  The internet program can be adapted (and it has been adapted) to other countries.  The children are given $100 for their team and they have to create $500 with a business and the team learns about marketing, costing, pricing and  product creation all through working together in a class.

    It is a story like this which makes you realize that anyone at any age can learn how to have the entrepreneurial spirit.  It just takes some training and knowledge about business and guidance from mentors to help you start.

    This idea that i can pass on my knowledge about business to another so they can create a business themselves is a desire for this website.  Inside The Business of At Home Business membership there is the information and step-by-step to start a business.

    Categories: Run a Home Business Tags: Tags: ,

    Testimonials, do you do them?

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    Testimonials for companies that you work with and you are happy with the customer service and the information that you learned, do you do them?

    Do you ask for testimonials from your customers when the work or service you did for them is complete?

    No.

    Then you are missing out on the best form of lead generation for your business.

    I did this testimonial for www.hangoutmarketingu.com as I was asked and I was very happy with what I learned about Hangouts On Air in the program.  When I am asked how I learned to do Hangouts On Air, you can bet I will be referring them on to Hangoutmarketing because I was pleased with everything I learned for doing the lessons.

    Is there a  better way to get free leads back to your business with happy customers telling everyone they know about your service?  No!

    In the  structural engineering business with my husband, we do absolutely no advertising other than a listing in the Yellow Pages.  Remember the Yellow Pages!  We get all our customers from referrals. Whether it is from customers who we did work for before and their neighbour wants some advice on a good engineer or it is a local contractor who wants to make his new customer happy with good service, we get ALL our leads from referrals.

    Customer referral marketing is one of the marketing strategies that is rarely talked about, especially online.

    Does your customer give you any feedback after they receive your service or product about how happy or what was missing that made them unhappy? Do you ask?

    Does your customer get a request from you for a testimonial if they were pleased with your service?   Do you follow-up and see if there is a quick way you can get them to submit something?  It could be a quick interview on video; it could be a survey to quickly fill in or a written testimonial.

    I always use Consumer Reports when I am buying an expensive item for the house like a T.V. or car.  Why wouldn’t people want to know what other people got out of your service or product before they purchase!

    Customer service is key to a successful business whether offline or online and this is what we talk about, as well as other topics, in the Business of At Home Business membership!  Check it out here.

     

    Categories: Run a Home Business Tags: Tags: , ,

    Can Your Smartphone Replace Your Desktop Computer for Work?

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    Many of us consider our desktop computers primarily as work devices. These are the machines we use when we’re writing documents, updating spreadsheets, creating slideshows and presentations and pretty much whenever we have any kind of work to do.But desktop computers are not portable and they are prone to going wrong occasionally. As such, it’s very possible to imagine you might end up stuck without your computer and having to make do with your smartphone – which is always on and always on your person.

    Could you make do?

    Let’s find out…

    Software

    The main challenges would be finding compatible software. If you only tend to use Microsoft Office for your work, then the good news is that both iOS and Android have fully functional office suits from Microsoft in the form of Office365. You’ll need an Office subscription and some features are lacking but overall it will be sufficient for most people looking for a way to write their documents on the move.

    If you don’t have an office subscription then you can alternatively use free alternatives like Kingsoft Office or Documents to Go.

    Unfortunately, some businesses will require their own specialist software and this is where things can get a little bit more difficult for those who need to work on the move. Unless you can find a way to stream your computer to your smartphone (which will be fiddly) you’ll probably be stumped.

    The other challenge with working on a smartphone would be the input. Fortunately this is a matter that is considerably easier to solve. If you’re someone who owns an Android, then setting up a compatible Bluetooth mouse and keyboard is actually very easy. If you then prop your phone up with a stand you can have a set-up that is reminiscent of a very tiny computer and this can be used to work anywhere. You can even get foldable keyboards allowing you to keep the whole set-up in your pockets!
With an iPhone on the other hand, you won’t be able to get mouse support but with a capacitive stylus you can achieve much the same thing.

    And if you aren’t on the move, then you can even rig a smartphone up to a television or a monitor in order to get a big screen experience. While it’s not quite perfect yet then, most smartphones can be used to emulate the features of a full-blown PC.

    Categories: Run a Home Business, Smartphone Tags: Tags:

    How Times have changed

     

     

     

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    Back in 1999 , Joel Comm was interviewed to explain what the internet is and his internet online business.  How times have changed but why we use the internet remains the same. 

    Categories: Internet Tags: Tags: ,

    Omni-channel mobile

    According to +Think with Google surveys are research, 71% of smartphone users surveyed will use their smartphone for research while IN THE STORE. They are comparing, checking for latest prices, availability, choices in the survey during Xmas shopping season.


    Categories: Run a Home Business Tags: Tags: , ,

    Mobilegeddon is having an effect

    According to Stone Temple Consulting who did a before Mobilegeddon and after (April 17, 2015) in Google Search Rankings there is a significant drop in Google Search rankings for websites that aren’t mobilefriendly.  See post below for the comments on how they did the study. 

    What does that mean for you?

    What does your website look like on a mobile phone? Does it respond and decrease in size to fit the phone screen or do you have to scroll to see all of the blog post?  If you have to scroll then you don’t have a mobile responsive screen and you should consider getting a new theme!

    Categories: Mobile, Run a Home Business Tags: Tags: ,

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