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Do You Know the 10 Secrets to Success in Operating a Home Business?

The numbers of people of people getting involved in working from home is staggering! Those who are know the secrets to success are succeeding beyond their wildest imaginations.

Statistics suggest that more than 600 people A DAY are getting started in some kind of home-based business. The reasons varying, but chief among them are time and money freedom.

People want to do what they want, when they want, without having to ask someone else permission (such as when you have a boss!).

The decision to be self-employed is the best decision I ever made in my life AND it can be that for you as well!

By implementing these secrets to success, my life has totally changed (for the better!) precisely because I have a business that is allowing me to live the lifestyle I desire without having to worry about how long I’ll be able to sustain it financially.

The Work From Home movement is is a HUGE trend! However, unfortunately, a large percentage of people who launch a home-based business get discouraged early on, make very little money, and they quit.

In years of coaching and mentoring people involved with me in my business, I’ve discovered 10 secrets which, when implemented, almost guarantees a new business owner success. I’m thrilled with this opportunity to share these with you!

#1. Expectations In Line With Commitment.

Today, partly because of the seemingly endless “get rich quick” schemes you can find on the internet, newspapers, and in many business publications, people are being told a lie (AND they’re buying it!).

Unfortunately, this is not a million dollar business! This is “La La Land”!! This is a hobby. Hobbies don’t make money. Hobbies actually COST you money.

EVERY business that is successful takes time and some capital investment! Every business has a product or service to sell. Obviously, that’s how money is made in a business.

So to suggest no selling is involved is at the same time to suggest there is no business!

The first secret for success in your business is to align your expectations with your commitment.

Consistency and persistency is at least as important the amount of time you put in, although you should give it as much time every day as possible, especially in the early days when you’re just getting started.

There is a older gentleman who's part of my organization. He currently works as a Walmart® greeter. He has this job because he wants to supplement his retirement income.

He got started in a home business because he wants 1) to quit the Walmart® job, 2) doubled the amount of the supplement to his retirement, and 3) eventually be financially free.

Given the compensation plan of my company, I showed him that the money he would need was SO realizable in a relatively short period of time.

So I started working with him to help him put together a plan for achieving his goals. I was trying to get him to commit to 2 hours per day to work the business.

He said, “Two hours as day!” That’s way too much. I can’t commit to that. I have too many other things I want to do with my time.”

I asked him how many hours a week he worked at Walmart® and how much he was getting per hour. Basically he was working about 4-5 hours/day, getting paid $8/hour which comes to around $960/month.

As his coach and business partner, it was time to do some serious reality testing!

I pointed out that he was quite willing to do something for 4-5 hours a day that most definitely would NEVER give him the financial freedom he was seeking.

And yet, he had on his door step a business that for 2 hours a day, working part time at home, could make him an extra $1500 - $2500 + per month in just about 2-3 months!

No business will build itself. It takes work (not just any work, but the RIGHT kind of work!). And it takes commitment to the right kind of work everyday.

Consistent and persistent work will definitely yield the desired financial results.

#2 Steady Source of Qualified Leads or Prospects.

Probably THE biggest secret to success in any business is finding people (or even better, having people FIND YOU!).

You're looking for people who want your product(s), are serious about your business opportunity, and really want to move their lives in a different direction – people who have some problem they want to solve or challenges they need help meeting.

If you have to “drum up” leads and then convince them that your product or business opportunity is the best available, you’ve already lost.

In my experience I’ve found that a huge number of these so-called “leads” had no interest at all in what I had to offer.

However, if a lead or prospect comes to me because they’re looking for what I have to offer or because they’ve reached the conclusion on their own that ––

they will beat down my door to --

So, you MUST have a way to generate highly qualified leads (people looking for what you have and wanting it now!) and you have to have a process that helps them find you.

It’s one thing to get a lead or prospect. It’s quite another thing to qualify them, but you must do this first or you’ll be wasting lots of time with people, trying to talk them into something they simply don’t want.

In one of the secrets still to come in this eCourse, I’ll discuss more of the “how to’s” to get this happening in your business, so I’ll leave this secret for now (but do stay tuned!)

#3 Simple and Duplicatable

Any successful business model knows this secret – ESPECIALLY a home-based business.

It must be incredibly easy for ordinary people to operate. Many people who come to home business opportunities have only a high school diploma. Most people do not have MBAs, nor do they want one.

For the most part, people who are is considering getting involved in a home-based business are simply looking for some extra income, and some day, down the road (if everything works out) they’ll quit their job and do this full time.

They don’t want a bunch of “hoops to jump through” – complicated spreadsheets to understand, involved training to go through, meetings or seminars to attend, or a whole new set of business principles and vocabulary to master.

They just want to make some extra money, working part time, from home, without it effecting their current job or lifestyle.

Now this does not mean “dumbing things down” for the lower common denominator. But it does mean sticking to the essentials and the basics of building your business.

I’m involved in a network marketing business. The essentials for me are simply two: 1) retailing the products to interested customers, and 2) recruiting people to be part of my business team. That’s it! When I do that and then teach my team how to retail and recruit, everyone succeeds.

Now obviously, underneath those two simple activities is a wealth of stuff to get on top of, but sometimes we get the cart before the horse.

I know that when I’m effectively leading my team, I am retailing our products, thus creating a solid base of satisfied customers. I am also regularly sponsoring large numbers of people who want to join the business.

Then when I turn about and teach my team how to do what I’m doing they will get the same results and thus everyone wins.

The more involved and detailed parts of any business can be mastered over time. In fact, I’ve found that for me I never really learn something until I need it to help solve a problem or deal with a challenge I’m facing.

My guess is that it’s the same in your business. If you excel in the simple basics of the business, whatever your business model is, everything will follow in due course.

#4 Consistent Advertising Budget

The single biggest, ongoing expense for ANY business is it’s advertising budget. No advertising = No business.

Now the budget does not have to be huge, but it must be consistent. And it’s also important to know where to spend your advertising dollars so you’re getting the most bang for your buck!

From secret #2 above, hopefully you understand that your advertising money should be spent on one thing and one thing only – generating a steady flow of highly qualified leads.

And you want to make sure the advertising is driving them to you, rather you having to go out and beat the bushes to find them!

Both online and offline advertising can be very effective at doing precisely this. Personally, I’m a huge fan of online advertising because it goes on 24/7; there are no geographical boundaries; and you can continually update and improve the advertising you have on the internet.

It’s also relatively inexpensive compared to print ads. I just love the fact that when I get a new idea or I find something new I know will appeals to my target audience, I can have it to them in a matter of hours!

An important part of your advertising is to continually track several aspects of its effectiveness:

We can assess the impact of an ad within a matter of 24-48 hours, and have a new and better ad up online almost instantly. This is a huge advantage over print ads.

However, print ads do work. If they didn’t you would not have Fortune 500 companies spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to run their ads in newspapers and magazines around the world!

I have a new team member in my organization who has a job as graphic designer for a sign company.

Following the advertising genius of the old Burma Shave® highway signs from years ago, he has made a series of signs about our products and business opportunity.

He’s been posting them along highways in his home state and is having great results of people calling him.

The first goal of a print ads is to get people to read the ad, and then second, to respond to it.

There should always be a call to action; for example, call this number for a free sample of our products, or go to this website and fill out a form to receive a free special report, etc.

Another powerful source of advertising is TV and radio; however the sheer cost of this kind of advertising is prohibitive for most people. However, if you find a way to do this, remember give a call to action.

People who contact you from advertising you’ve put “out there” have already passed one part of the qualification process. They’ve taken action and have contacted you. They have raised their hand and said “I’m interested” or “Tell me more.”

What you do with a lead once they’ve contacted you to move them through your sales and marketing process, and eventually help them make the decision to become a customer or to become part of your business team is a topic for another article.

Secret #5: Automate As Much as Possible

Marketing research has discovered that it takes about 7 times of contact with a new prospect for them to even know we exist.

This obviously doesn’t mean harassing them to the point of them not wanting to hear from you again.

But it does mean you need to have a way to continue making them aware of you, your products, and your business.

In another article I’ve addressed the kinds of frequent contacts that are most effective and really do the job. Here I want to discuss the “mechanics of staying in touch. “ This is the secret of automation!

This secret is closely related to the advertising secret above and to secret #2 about insuring a steady flow of qualified leads and prospects.

You want to put your entire lead generation, advertising, and sales and marketing on automatic pilot. That way it just happens without you having to continually think about it, except to make it better!

Now you must continually think about it, but not whether or not it’s happening. The more you automate, with the RIGHT information and with the RIGHT messages, the quicker your business will grow.

In previous business venture of mine I was providing training workshops for educators and corporations. I am also the author a number of books dealing with effective learning technology - how people learn and how we can help them learn better.

Following is a brief description of the automated process I put together to help prospects, who were somewhat interested my topic. I first of all wanted them learn more about me and my background, the materials I had produced, and my my training and consulting services.

The goal of the entire system was to bring to me highly qualified people who were ready to buy.

You see, the whole point of all of this was to get a prospect to take themselves deeper and deeper into my material and to the possibility of them hiring me to provide a workshop.

Never once did I have to twist someone's arm to purchase one of my products. I have had to try to convince people to hire me. Nor did I have to send out hundreds of e-mail and keep track of who should be getting what and when. The automated system did it all!!

Until they called me, I let the automated system move them through my sales and marketing process, sorting and qualifying them, so when they actually called me I was talking to people who were ready to set up dates for their workshop.

The automation of everything you can is a huge secret to your success.

Secret #6: Develop Effective Communication Skills

Secret # 6 and secret # 7 are two sides of a single coin. Here I’ll focus on communication. The secret to being a good communicator is simply to become a great LISTENER.

We often get it backward and that it’s about us developing great skills of speaking, or being able to express our thoughts and ideas clearly and in a compelling manner.

But the truth is that that none of this matters unless we first listen to the person or persons with whom we want to communicate.

Getting to really know another person, what’s important to them, their beliefs and values, their family situation, where they work, and their dreams and goals is critical if you want to really connect at a deeper level.

In order to create a successful business, it is absolutely essential to know how to create relationships with others – not just make a sale.

Relationships create trust. Relationships create a willingness to risk trying something new.

Effective communication involves paying attention to both verbal and nonverbal clues. If you’re face-to-face with another person this is easier because you can watch their “body language”

in addition to the words they are using. Pay attention to their posture, facial expression, gestures, body movements.

If you talking on the phone with someone, pay attention to HOW they say what they’re saying – inflection, tone of voice, pitch, volume, and yes, their vocabulary.

Making a connection with another person is vital for real communication.

In order to make a real connection it’s important that you mirror and match their language, both the verbal and nonverbal aspects. This insight comes directly from a program called neuro-linguistic programming.

For example, if they are talking in an excited tone of voice, match that in how you’re talking with them. If they’re relaxed and soft spoken, match that. If you’re talking face-to-face, also mirror their gestures.

All of this is to create an identification with them. When people identify with each other, their communication is deeper, more meaningful, and much more effective.

Secret #7 Develop Sales Skills

When investigating various work from home or home-based business opportunities, you're often told there is “no selling” or “no sales skills are involved”.

Again, this is “La La Land”! If you’re not selling something (a product or service) you don’t have a business. The very definition of a business is that something is being sold.

Without sales no money is made, and there will be no survival of the “business” without significant subsidy from some place.

I believe that the aversion we often have to selling is that we don’t like being sold to! We’ve all had the experience of being in a store or having a tele marketer on the phone who’s sales method is badgering us in an attempt to break down our resistance and they finally make the sale.

They really don’t care about us. All they’re after is the “close”. When I encounter this approach, I leave the store or hang up the phone. I feel manipulated and angry because I was not dealt with as a person of value (beyond my economic value).

However this is NOT what I’m talking about when I talk about the development of sales skills. I’m really talking more about the art of persuasion. This is the seventh great secret of running a successful home-based business.

Secret #8:Build Immediate Cash Flow

Every business has expenses of doing business. These range from monthly website hosting fees, to printing of business cards and stationery, to postage, to printing costs, to paying for expertise, to

Secret #9: Personal Development

Your business will only be as strong as you are as a person. One business consultant (Mark Hughes, founder and 1st CEO of Herbalife) said that we should spend more time on personal development than we do on our business.

The truth is that the only thing that can mess up your success (especially in a home-based business) is what goes on between your ears. It is critical to your success that you learn to control your thoughts and manage your emotions.

Secret #10: Time Management

This is sometimes referred to a your DMO (Daily Method of Operation). The secret here is to have one! In other words, make sure you have a clear plan every day you work our business on exactly what you do. You must treat your business like a business not a hobby. When you treat it like a business, you’ll get a business income. If you treat it like a hobby it will cost you. Hobbies generally don’t make money.

The biggest secret I learned was to make sure that the bulk of mine time is spent on income producing activities. When you don’t have a boss answer to, it’s easy to spend lots of time doing such things as filing, organizing your desktop, shopping for supplies, etc. Now, don’t get me wrong, these things are important, but they’re not going to earn you a dime!

Early on I learned the importance of scheduling everything. I schedule meal times. I schedule a time for running errands. I schedule time for filing, organizing my office, daily accounting, reading and answering e-mail, etc., but I never do these things during the peak hours when I can be earning money. During these peak times I am laser-focused on marketing, talking with people, following up with people who are interested in learning more about my business, advertising, anything and everything that is directly related to bring in income.

Getting involved in a home-based business is a fantastic adventure. It can totally change your life. If you have questions or would like any help in getting started, please contact me. For me, getting started in this is the best financial decision I ever made in my life.

About the author:

David Lazear is a mentor, coach, and consultant for mentors, coaches, consultants, and trainers. He is an associate of Mike Klingler and Ann Sieg at the Renegade University and Renegade Professional. David has written some 15 books and created numerous resources for home business entrepreneurs, coaches, and consultants.

Contact David Here!
Phone: 773-525-6650