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Home Business Guide –
Your "Let's Get Started" Plan

This page provides both small and home business entrepreneurs with a home business guide or "getting started" plan.

In searching for a home business or small business opportunity, have you ever felt any of the following?

• You're bewildered by by the plethora of small and home business opportunities "out there".

• You're tired of all of the hype and obviously bogus home and small business "get rich quick" promises.

• You're scared to death of being scammed.

• You want a clear, honest, and simple presentation about what a business opportunity you're considering can really do for you.

• You don't want to have to pester your family and friends about joining your business opportunity, buying your products, or taking advantage of your services.

• You want a clear, honest, and simple presentation about what a business opportunity you're considering can really do for you.

• You're afraid of identity theft so you don't want to give out your personal information to an unknown person or company.

• You want a business with minimal "getting started costs" and immediate cash flow potential.

• You'd like a screen for sorting the good business opportunities from the bad.

• You don't want to get involved in some kind of "pyramid scheme"?

• You need guidance on what to look for when choosing a small business or a home-based business.

Well, the GOOD NEWS is that you’re in the right place! I’ve put together a no nonsense, no “bull” home business guide to help you navigate the troubled waters of the home business industry. The home business guide contains three main parts.


Small & Home Business Guide Part 1:
"What Do I Need To Commit To For Success?"

TIME COMMITMENT. The most important thing about the time commitment is that you treat your business like a business not a hobby that you do when you want to, when you feel like, or when it’s convenient.

Many people start their business on a part-time basis then later, when the business really starts to grow, they move to full-time. This home business guide suggestion is that you commit a minimum of 15-20 per week, if you’re working part-time. That will let you get enough done every week that you can create some serious waves!

It’s critical, once you've decided how many hours a day and week you’ll commit to working your business, that you schedule that time in your day planner or whatever other calendaring system you use.

If this time is not scheduled and on your calendar, other things will take you away from this important time for working on your business.


FINANCIAL COMMITMENT. There are generally three areas of financial commitment you need to be prepared to make: 1) enrollment fees for joining your chosen company, 2) your initial start-up costs, and 3) monthly operating expenses.

This home business guide suggests that you start by putting the financial commitment in perspective. Take a look at the chart below comparing the financial commitment involved in starting a typical franchise business (in this case a McDonald’s franchise) and a typical home-based business.

money chart(Source for McDonald’s information is www.mcdonalds.com)

That’s pretty interesting, don’t you think?!?

Let me make a few additional comments on the three areas of financial commitment I mentioned earlier:

1. Enrollment. Most companies will have some kind of enrollment cost in order to join the company. This can vary depending on the level at which you want to join.

One of the companies I’m with has a $65 level where someone can get started. This is affordable for almost everyone. When I recruit people to join my team at this level, my first goal is to help them put together a plan for moving up the company’s compensation plan.

They could start at a very affordable place and, if they executed the plan we put together, they could, over time, move to much higher levels of compensation!

2. Initial Start-up Costs. Any business incurs these expenses. In the case of a home-based business these expenses involve getting yourself set up with key tools needed to run a business from home

These can include such things as: a merchant account (so you can process credit cards), promotional flyers, business cards, additional office equipment, computer software, and various internet services.

3. Monthly operating costs. The single most important monthly expense is your advertising budget. If you’re not advertising your business you won’t have a business! You need to decide on a monthly figure you can commit to EVERY SINGLE MONTH without fail.

This does not need to be a huge figure. I have people on my team who spend $50/month on their advertising, but they do it every month without fail. That $50 dollars is allowing them to build a powerful business.

Of course there may be other monthly operating expenses depending on the nature of your business.


TRAINING COMMITMENT. In my experience, this is equal to the importance of advertising. This home business guide suggests that your training commitment should involve at least:

Participating in training events to educate yourself on your industry and your specific business (e.g. training conference calls, attending special conferences and training workshops, and one-on-one coaching and mentoring calls)

Your own personal development program (e.g. videos and CDs you purchase to improve your skills)

Do you know how you learn best? Not everyone learns in the same way. We all have multiple ways of learning. It’s critical that you find a training system that matches how you learn.


Small & Home Business Guide Part 2:
Is "A Business Opportunity I'm Considering The Right Fit For Me?"

Following is a mini-exercise to help you evaluate your feelings about any business opportunity you’re considering or researching. Most people fail to research and plan for starting a home business, and therefore often find themselves disappointed and discouraged very early in the game.

Use the following chart to assess and evaluate ANY business opportunity you’re considering. Look at the business model of any company you're thinking about as you go through this exercise.

Directions:

1. List the name of each business opportunity you’re evaluating across the top of the chart under “Biz Opt”.

2. For each business opportunity (“Biz Opt”) across the top place a ranking number (between 1-10) for the side categories in the rows going down. Make sure you have a number for each category.

Here’s the ranking scale:

1= “uh oh” - too bad”, not good
5 = “hmmmm interesting”, not bad
10 = “wow - impressive, a real winner

[NOTE: You may use any number between 1 and 10, but again make sure you put one number in each column you’re using for each side category.]

3. Do further research if you simply don’t have enough information to assign a ranking number for a given category.

4. Don’t over analyze. Trust your your “gut feeling” as you do this.

5. When you’ve completed the ranking, total the columns down and circle the high number.

6. Now it’s time to interpret the results and articulate any implications you feel from the exercise. Only you can do this. Use the following questions to assist you:

• What immediately grabs my attention as I look at my ranking chart?
• What do I find surprising? What’s exciting? What bothers me?
• Which of the side categories are the most important to me? Why?
• Which side category really doesn’t matter to me? Why not?
• Based on my ranking chart, what are my next steps?
• What have I learned about myself from this exercise?

I’d like to introduce you to one of the businesses with which I’m involved. I got involved with it because of it’s high scores on the ranking chart above. I invite you to take look at it for yourself– CLICK HERE!


Small & Home Busiess Guide Part 3:
"Where Can I Get More Help?"

As you know by now, I am a coach, mentor, and home business guide for small and home business entrepreneurs. Whether you’re just getting started or have been working from home for years, I have lots to offer you, based on my 20 plus years of being self employed.

Some benefits of working with me as your home business guide:

I’m a member of Ann Sieg’s “Renegede Marketing Team” and am prepared to share with you what I’m learning from Ann and her associates. It’s VERY powerful.

I am an associate of Joel Broughton in "The New Rich Report" a state-of-the-art Internet marketing system for ANY business.

I can teach you how to set benchmarks and track all aspects of your business, such as your sales calls, your advertising campaigns, and your conversion ratios. This is key to knowing if what you’re doing in your business is taking you where you want to go.

I’ll provide you clear direction on how to stay focused and get into consistent action that works. Consistency and persistency is the secret to success.

I can provide you clear guidance on how to build a marketing system to attract prospects to you rather than having to go out and “beat the bushes” to find them.

I am your personal home business guide support system 24/7. I’m here to work with you and help build your business, whatever it is.


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