Tag: start a home business

    What Is The Biggest Obstacle You Face When Starting A Home Business?

    So you want to start a home business?

    When you look at starting a home business as a new entrepreneur, you look at all the things you need to do to get started.

    Website

    Sales Pages

    Traffic

    Product creation

    Design graphics

    Social media

    Funnels – what are funnels?!

    All the other requirements like taxes, books, government regulations and so on ..

    All you want to do is find the customers who need your solution to their problem or what they desire…..

    All the equipment or technology you need to create a functioning business can seem like the biggest obstacle to starting a home business but it is not the biggest obstacle.

    The biggest obstacle to starting a home business is YOU!

    Paralysis

    Your brain will get overwhelmed by all the “things” you have to do in your business.

    Your Mind is powerful and it is great at collecting knowledge from here, there and everywhere.

    But that can be overwhelming and cause “Paralysis Analysis.”  You will become overwhelmed by all the information and get STUCK. What should I do next?!

    Well… take a deep breath ..and make a step by step checklist of what you need to do and cross it off as you do it.

    Perfectionism

    Don’t try to be Perfect.

    Perfectionism can also cause paralysis in terms of “waiting” till I get this done and it takes longer than you thought and suddenly, it has been three months of you trying to perfect a sales page.

    Imperfect Action is better than no Action.

    Perfect is unattainable so don’t even try for Perfect. Just Perfect Enough to get moving!

    The Next Best Thing

    There is no quick way to make money with a home business. It is about building a business that has systems in it to keep the cash flowing. So always following the newest idea on how to make the cash flow will get you into chasing the quick money instead of a business. It is called the “Bright Shiny Object” syndrome and the promise of the “NEW” has always moved people to buy but you don’t want to move “off your path” chasing rainbows, you want to be focused on a path to your business such that you can see how it works.

    The Business of At Home Business Membership

    As an entrepreneur working in home business, I have (and still know) known the challenges of being in home business so I have developed a Membership to help others get their home business started quicker and easier.

    Check it out at  The Business of At Home Business here.

    Categories: Be Your Own Boss, Knowledge, Mindset, Run a Home Business Tags: Tags: , , , , ,

    5 Steps to An Online Business

     

     

     

     

    Today we’re going to be talking about systems again because you need systems in your business in order to save time and save you money and ,  of course,  give you the time to go out and get more money!

    So,  we’re going to talk today about the five steps to have an online business and we’re going to be talking about one step at a time.

     

     

    So, today we’re going to be talking about your Web site. Basically,  there are five basic steps to getting an online business on the Internet.

    1. The first step is to get a hub on the Internet. So,  to get your web site to have a place for your visitors to come and have a place for your clients to come and have a place for people to contact you.
    2. Then the second step is to get video and audio storage and product storage which is separate from your Web site. This will be the place that you will connect to process any sales. Obviously this is where you keep your product or and where you keep your messaging.
    3. Then you have the collection system which will collect your leads which will then become clients as long as you continue to contact them on a regular basis.
    4. The fourth step is to get a sales system set up in your business. This sale system will be connected to your Web site.
    5. Then the fifth step is to get a marketing system to send your prospects to your Web site.

     

    So those are the five basic steps for getting a system that will collect yearly to  engage your visitors and keep a place for you to have your product and store your videos and ideas you might need for your website and keep it separate from your web site so that if your Web site goes down or your video and audio product isn’t lost now.

    Four Things you Need to Have for a Website

    You will need to invest in some software tools to make the system work on its own of course. However,  there are some free software and tools that you can use as well.

    You can get a hub on the  Internet which is your Web site. For that,  you, of course,  you need a domain name which we’ll talk about in a minute. You need hosting for your web site and then you need a WordPress Web site is my preference as it is easy to use. Then you need an SSL secure certificate which I think it says will talk about this in a minute.

    But first of all, lets  talk about your dream team now.

    Your domain name is basically a name that is registered on the Internet which is the identifier for your Internet address. So, on the Internet you have internet hosting and Internet domain providers who give you what is called an IP address of say 1 9 2 1 6 8 45 23 but then it becomes identified to a domain which makes it much easier for people to connect with you.

    So, you need to get domain name.

    Of course,  I have a small story on that  as when I went to pick the name The business of home business,  Google was ranking according to keywords and at home business was a lower ranking key word than Home Based Business or entrepreneur et cetera. So,  it was available. The business at home business but you know obviously home business is a very competitive domain name. So,  there wasn’t any other choice. So I picked that because it was sort of like the others that were more popular like home business or home biz or home based business. But in the end, when I picked the business home business,  it was perfect. It was awkward and of course it’s a very long address but the business of our home business is my brand because I want to assist others with the foundations and business of their business while they deal with involving their vision and brand for their business.  So, my brand is who I am even though I would have been another brand.

    So what about you?

    I mean does your business name speak about who you are in your business and see if it’s available so you can reserve a domain name.  There’s various places on the Internet where you can get your name reserved. Obviously,  I’m not going to say any domain name provider is better than the other but I have a few listed here.

     

    Most of all the hosting providers will also register your domain name or get registered and then you need to get hosting as I mentioned before because you need a place in your house. This is going to have your Web site hosted on a host business. So,  for example go daddy and hostgator and  blue host,  they are all hosting providers and they put your information into a website location.

    They give you a location on their servers on the Internet and then you point your domain name to that location on their server and that becomes your Web site.

    So you need hosting.

    Then, of course , as I mentioned you need to get a WordPress Web site because I know there’s other platforms but WordPress software is free. It’s easy to learn and is very flexible in how you use it. I mean even a newbie person can work with WordPress once they learn the basics so you need as a solopreneur,  you need to be in control of your own assets.

    Now  some web design,  you can make quick and simple edits to your Web site and you don’t have to wait for your web designer. So that is why I recommend WordPress because I know it sounds intimidating but it actually is very easy to use.

    Then the last thing which has become so important because it’s actually required by almost all Web sites now and is in fact you can get free certificates. It’s called an SSL secure certificate,  a secure socket layer certificate which proves to Google search that your web site is safe and also to your visitors will feel more comfortable about entering their credit card number on your Web site.

    So, if you don’t have an SSL certificate then sometimes Google will put a big red mark through your domain name when someone is searching for it to say I’m not sure this is secure and you want to really get go there and of course you want your visitors to come anytime.

    So if it’s so easy to get a free SSL certificate I would certainly recommend it.

     

    So those are the four things that you need to get for your Web site set up.

     

    So,  in your business you need to have systems.

    You can have five systems in your business.

     

    1. You have a Web site system.
    2. You have your sale system you have your payment system.
    3. You have your storage system.
    4. You have a collection system to collect leads and customers.
    5. Your marketing system to send your prospects onto your Web site.

    We’ll talk about the other systems in a later post but for now, join The Business of At Home Business to get your online business up quick with systems to make a lifestyle business!

     

     

    Categories: Be Your Own Boss Tags: Tags: , , ,

    7 ways to get the time to start a home business?

    Are you stuck in overwhelm wondering how to start your own home business?

    Do you find that your days are filled with your job, commuting and family chores that you don’t know how you can find the time to think about starting a home business let alone actually having the time to do it!

    Ask yourself just how committed are you to starting a business that can improve your life?

    You can find the time if you REALLY want to have your own business.

    Here are 7 ways to find the time to start your own home business

    1. Stop watching T.V.

    Television is such a time waste when you think of what you could be doing in that hour to take action in your business. If you “have to be social” with the family then at least bring out the laptop or phone to work on your business while you are there.

    2. Get up one hour earlier every day

    If you were to get up at 5 a.m instead of 6 a.m. just think of the action you could take planning your business in the quiet of the morning. Staying up late to work isn’t recommended as you aren’t getting the sleep your body needs to work during the day.

    3. Take 15 minutes a day for you

    Fifteen minutes for 30 days is equal to 450 minutes or over 7 hours you have spent to move your business forward. I use a small book to write in my ideas and next action steps.

    4. Take the time while commuting or waiting at appointments

    Just think of the minutes and hours you spend just travelling or waiting in life that you could do something productive towards planning and taking action to start your business. I like writing down ideas and next steps in my Moleskine notebook because I like the visceral feel of the book and paper but you can just write on your phone or record your thoughts.

    5. Get a Mentor

    Find someone who already has a business and ask if you could ask questions of him or her about starting a home business by email or on the phone. A mentor can help you save time by preventing you from making common mistakes and helping you take action.

    6. Allow yourself to take baby steps of action.

    You have to celebrate whatever small action you may take every day to move forward. If you celebrate rather than counting the number of things you need to do that will help with overwhelm.

     

    7. Read a book about business instead of a novel at bedtime

    If you don’t know someone successful in business, you can read about entrepreneurs and starting a home business to absorb the lessons they have learned whether it is “The Reluctant Entrepreneur” by Michael Masterson or “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie.

     

    If you want to learn about starting, running or growing a home business all in one place, you should join “The Business of At Home Business” membership where you can learn and implement about what it takes to start an online or offline home business all in one place!

    Categories: Be Your Own Boss, Run a Home Business Tags: Tags: , , ,

    Your Big Why -Why do you want to start a home business

    Welcome this is Jane Gardner and welcome to start your own home business on Tuesday.
    No don’t start it today 🙂 just start your own business Tuesday.

    So,let’s start by talking about why do you want to start a home business.

    For those of you who are thinking of starting a home business ask yourself “Why” first and then ask yourself “Are you willing to do the things that are needed in order to start a home business?”
    “So why are you starting a home business?” Is it because you want to make more money in your life or do you want to be in control of your own life and be able to be your own boss? “Are you desperate for money?” “Are you wanting to support your family better than you are now?” Do you think that it will be a quick way to make more money but you are disillusioned because starting your own home business will always be a challenge. It will always have its freedom and it may always have its challenges as well as its triumphs. So let’s have a sit down and figure out exactly why “what’s the big why” for why you want to start a home business.

    Next week, we’ll look into researching and thinking about what kind of home business you want to have. Just so you know, I am interested in talking about online Home businesses as well as offline Home business. Obviously being in a structural engineering firm, our own business that is local and we work in the local area. And obviously we’re not doing any international work or otherwise I would have mentioned it. So, but of course, now there are very few home businesses that are always local. You can always get customers on the Internet now and expand into the Internet.

    So, we’ll be talking about offline home businesses as well as online home businesses.

    But today I want to just sit down and ask yourself ” why you want to start a home business?”

    So for example, my husband and I are in our home business and we’re both in our 50s to 60s. We’d like to retire well but basically my husband cannot retire without closing down the business or he would have to get someone else to take over. So my big “Why” is to try to figure out how I can help others start their own home business by sharing my knowledge and wisdom and some of the practical skills and technology and resources that you can use to start a home business. while at the same time, adding some revenue to our life so that we can retire.

    We’ll talk about a practice as a business another day (I’ll just write that down). But our practice is not really a business. For someone who’s an individual like a doctor or dentist or an engineer where basically the business is you. So we’ll talk about that another time and another night whether you want to choose that kind of business.

    But today my big why is to try and set up another business so that we can retire and enjoy our retirement as well as earning some revenue to enjoy our life while we’re retired and sharing my wisdom.
    So what’s your big why?

    Do you have family that you want to support? Certainly we all do have family members who need to have some support from us in terms of money. Do you have children that you want to help go to school or you want to help your grandchildren? Do you want to help other family members with some resources?
    Are you looking to earn some extra revenue so that you can enjoy your retirement earlier than you expected or even not retirement just being able to support your family because the job that you’re doing right now, your day job is not fulfilling and you need another choice?

    Is your Why you want to start a home business big enough so that you can be able to continue on to start your home business without quitting basically. So my big why is basically I’d like to be able to retire from our engineering firm and my husband as well and  because otherwise we’ll be working till we are 75.  So this is just my Big Why is being able to share my wisdom in order to have the revenue come in so that we can we close our engineering firm.

    So what’s your Big Why?

    Are you looking to support your family members? Do you have big medical bills coming up that you need to have support for? Do you have family members who are not in the best form of health and you need to help support them? Some of these things can really help you to have a think  before you start a home business to realize that you need to support yourself and your family with this.  In those days where the day is long and you’re struggling and you’re having a challenge or you don’t have the amount of money you’d like to come in that you know you have the potential to come in with your business- your WHY has to be Big!

    I will help you to remember that Why you’re doing this and the days that you’re spending time in front of the computer or learning a skill or phoning up clients to find out what you need to do or even doing the work for your clients on the weekends instead of  spending  time with your family.

    Are you willing to sacrifice that kind of time in order to have a better life for your family?

    So that’s what you have to think about  before you start a home business. It’s whether or not you’re willing to sacrifice some time with your family or sacrifice your pleasures. Spend less time in front of the TV or take some time on the weekend and do some work that will help you move forward in your business. Or maybe you have more immediate desires to start your home business because it’s an urgent need for money. You have to realize that when you start home business you really need to have a very strong Why or why you’re doing it in order to get through the days -when you’re starting the business and when you’re struggling to get clients or you are starting to figure out something on the computer or you’re not going to your son’s baseball game because you have to do some work in order to move forward with this business.

    You have to figure out if you’re willing to sacrifice that kind of time with your family in order to make a better life for your family.

    So think about  your Big Why.
    Why do  you want to start a home business?

    Are you just tired of getting you know your current job. You don’t think it’s going to move you forward in your life. You won’t  get  the house that you wanted or the family life you want?

    Are you willing to sacrifice some time and some money probably just to get started on your home business?
    Whether or not, you that would sacrifice time to  get through the time that you need to work on make your whole business successful?
    So next time I think we’ll talk about some of the ideas for an offline home business  because I find that no one on the Internet is actually talking about offline business.

    Since we started as an offline home business,  I think we should go over some of the ideas and the things that you need to have in terms of being an offline home business. Some of the simple businesses you could have offline as a business as well as maybe  some consulting businesses you might be able to do.  So, we will talk about off line business next week.

    So, have a think about your Big Why.  Think about whether or not you’re willing to sacrifice your time and maybe a little bit of money in order to get started with your Home Business.

    Categories: Be Your Own Boss Tags: Tags: , , , , , ,

    Solopreneur Success Strategies Season Two on HomeBizStartup

     

    INTRODUCTION

    Welcome to season two of Solopreneur Success Strategies. This is Jane Gardner and we’re going to be talking about business startup. We’re going to be talking about starting running and growing your own home business whether offline or on.

    Monday is all about mindset. Tuesday is all about starting a home based business, Wednesday is all about selling, sales and your customer. Thursday is going to be about running your home business. Friday will be running your home business. Saturday is all about putting systems in your business and Sunday is all about strategy. So subscribe to this daily podcast and help you get started running and growing your own home business For more information go to boahb.com. [27.7]

    SHOW

    Hi this is Jane Gardner. And welcome. This is all about you because we’re going to be talking about how to start run and grow a business in season two of Solopreneur success strategies. So I’m going to be giving you some tips and tricks in five minutes or less on the various subjects from mindset on Monday, Tuesday is about starting your home business, Wednesday is selling and sales and your customers, Thursday is going to be about running your home business and Friday is about growing your own business. Saturday is about systems as we mentioned in our introduction. Sunday is all about strategy. As it is Sunday today, I’m going to give you some strategy to think about for the idea of starting a home business. So today, I wanted to just to introduce you again to myself. I’m Jane Gardner. I have a Web site Jane-gardner.com where I talk about sales and I’ve had my Solopreneur success strategies podcast there as well as the web- tv show and we talk about your message and your brand and who you are and how you sell. I have started a Web site called boahb.com which is the business about home business membership where you’ll be able to go in and start learning how to run and grow a home business.

    But today I’ll just talk about myself and why I think I can help you. I’ve worked in engineering firm with my husband for the last 20 years. We started in about the 1990s when the Internet was just in its infancy.

    Our business was always very local based and wide in terms of our clients. Now in terms of where we are in western Canada, we basically do renovations and retrofits and some new construction. My point to all this is that most of the time we are a “word of mouth” business that is local. So if you have a good “word of mouth” on your business then you get more business. So that’s a tip for you on starting a home business in the local area.

    Always make sure that you have good word of mouth about your business.

    In about 2013, I decided there might be time for me to go out and help other people start their own home business and find out what the resources and tools and the ideas and mindset that you need in order to start a business. So that is why I am here now. We’re going to do Season two of Solopreneur success strategies just talking about starting running and growing your business as well as putting together a strategy for your business.

    So today I just wanted to talk about the first strategy that I want to talk about which is if you’re thinking of starting a business consider it as to be a business that you will start part time. You will not quit your day job in order to start on business even though you know it might be a successful business until you start selling in your home business. You really should consider testing your idea and doing some research as well ,as of course, trying to sell your service or product to your market.

    I would certainly suggest today that you consider buying the book “Reluctant Entrepreneur” by Michael Masterson.

    It’s a great book to read to realize that you need to be able to test the market before you actually start a business in order to see whether or not they’re interested. So one of the ways I test the market is by having this podcast and seen how many people want to listen in. One of the ways that you can test your product or service is to do something like this and do a podcast on the subject. You’d be surprised what kind of people are interested in it and you can find your audience there as well. So that’s one thing you can do certainly for free. It’s just a matter of using their time and getting the voice in order to learn how to create a podcast. So we’ve given you one tip.

    First don’t quit your day job.

     Recommend to get the book “The Reluctant Entrepreneur” by Michael Masterson to give you some ideas.

    I’ll be giving you some other ideas from that book in order to get you going and thinking about starting your whole business. And of course on Tuesday I believe is starting your home business will be given you more tips about how to research and find out how are whether or not you should start the business you’re thinking of.

    The other idea is why not do a podcast and see whether or not there is a market out there if there’s people who are will listen to you about your business. That’s the other tip.

    Certainly in my business about home business we can certainly learn about how to do the research very easily in order to find out about your market. We’ll be talking about other ways to find out whether there’s a market out there for your business. But today I just wanted to introduce myself on Sunday.

    Monday will be about mindset when starting the whole business and I will give you tips and tricks to think about selling on Wednesday. Thursday will be running a home business , Friday is growing your own business and Saturday is systems. On Saturday, systems will help you to save time and money. Sunday will always be about strategy.

    So today we talked about having this strategy to realize that you shouldn’t quit your day job. You should do this new business you’d like to start part time and see whether or not there is a market out there by selling it and testing whether or not you can sell the product or service out there. So we’ll talk a bit more about that next Sunday. But for now this is Jane Gardner on Solopreneur Success Strategies. This is season 2 and we’ll be getting into the nitty gritty and down and dirty for starting your own home business and running and growing it. So thank you for listening. I hope that this podcast will give you some ideas to think about and subscribe on Itunes.

    [7:41.6]

    Categories: Be Your Own Boss, Solopreneur Success Strategies podcast Tags: Tags: , , ,

    What should I know about starting a Home Business?

    You should be aware of the regulations that might affect the business you are interested in running from home.

    I know rules and regulations are boring.

    However, the government whether overall or local has the power to close your business down once you get started.

    Whether your business is in your local community or on the internet or both, there are always rules.

    Other than the government wanting their taxes from your revenue and the government wanting to make sure your business work environment is safe for your employees, your neighbours whether living in the home beside yours or apartment across the way from yours will be the biggest issue which some people don’t consider when starting their business.

    Your neighbours can complain about the new traffic coming to your home office. Your neighbours can complain about lack of parking from your client visitors taking up spaces. Your neighbours can complain about the increase in noise or the increase in smells etc. from your new business. The neighbours go to local authority who can fine you depending on the bylaws or rules in your community. In an apartment complex, all these complaints can apply and you could be evicted if there is rule on no businesses in your apartment bylaws.

    We started back 20 years with our own home-based local engineering business when home-based business bylaws were only just being created but we have always made sure we are a quiet neighbour by making visits to clients residence a priority and clients come on infrequent basis to your home office.

    Believe it or not, even if you have a business always on the internet, if your neighbours notice increased deliveries they can complain to local authority.

    So, always be a quiet neighbourhood business. 🙂

    Categories: Start a Home Business Tags: Tags: , ,

    How to Start A Home Business Quickly!

    At the Business of At Home Business, we help you with the “Other” business around your Idea for a home-based business. Whether you want to work full-time or part-time, we can help you focus on your home business idea and increase your revenue, productivity and efficiency in running your home business.

    When you are ready to grow your home business past the local market and get online, we have expertise in our membership on creating an international presence on the internet so you can connect and grow your business to a worldwide market.

    Many Babyboomers believe that it is possible to get a business quick on the internet. 

    But nothing could be further from the truth.

    However, it is possible to build a lifestyle business that will allow you to have the freedom you want in your life while creating a business that supports that lifestyle. 

    Here’s a huge problem you face right now.

    It’s not having the knowledge to setup and grow a home business quickly.

    But that’s not the end of the problem…  What makes this even worse is the fact that they need money in their life right now!

    Which means you feel overwhelmed and stressed with all the skills you need.

    And, worst of all, many babyboomers looking to start a home businesss can’t get past the myth that it is possible to get money quick on the internet.

    All this can make trying to figure out how to create the foundations for a home business quickly so you can grow a nightmare!

    So, if you’re a babyboomers who want to make extra money for your retirement, then this is exactly what you’re looking for.

    Categories: Be Your Own Boss Tags: Tags: , ,

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