Having helped countless home based business owners, one of the hardest things that I find myself having to tell people is that this industry may not be right for them. Often times it has to do with the mentality that people have when they choose a home based business program.
There are two primary reasons why people choose to start a business from home as a means of earning and income:
1) Hype- Unfortunately the model for nearly every home based opportunity is to show how easy it is to make millions of dollars by making a list of your family and friends, then simply sharing the product and opportunity with them.
2) Greed- There is absolutely nothing wrong with making a great living doing what you love and helping people in the process. However, we are often drawn into these opportunities because of the “easy money” or “lottery” appeal.
The fact is, building any kind of business (networking or otherwise) is real work, even when you have the right tools. Despite what many amateur and novice net-workers believe, millions are hardly ever made by those who just signed up at the right time and believed they’d ride the wave to riches.
Before you choose to get involved in one of these types of opportunities, take this brief overview to decide if you have what it takes and to see if it really makes sense in the first place:
- Understand that you will not build a massive organization with your “warm market”; it is a statistical fact that has been proven time and time again. Some of you may WANT to go sell to your friends and families? But eventually you’ll realize that you will have to learn the art and science of marketing to the “Cold Market” sooner or later. This is truly where you’ll find those people who are ALREADY looking for and are in need of what you’ve got, rather than trying to leverage a preexisting relationship with a group whom you can then “pitch” with your products/services or opportunity. Most who sign up as a result of this type of marketing do so out of sympathy or guilt anyway.
- Prepare to invest a minimum of 5 hours a week in education and training by mentors that have a proven record of success, and more importantly are doing EXACTLY what they are teaching. Truth is, there is so much promise of being able to “Attract Wealth” through “thinking”, but there is very little out there that can truly teach you the “How” and help you gain the skill set that is mandatory to really demand riches. You must learn how to provide real sustainable value for others before money will EVER begin to find it’s way to you. By the way, many of these “mentors” who can teach you the how, may not be a part of your particular company.
- You’ll need to set up an office space in your home and schedule time where you will be working on your business without interruption. This must be done on a consistent basis as should be the case with ANY business. Despite the “hype” around a company being in “momentum”, you yourself will never experience what true momentum is like till you can put in consistent time, effort and energy and are using techniques that bring people to you who are already looking for what you’ve got. Another really key aspect for me was learning how to set up an “Accountability System” with members of my team. There are 5 key components to doing this right, which I’ll cover here very soon.
Businesses eat cash before they start to pay you back in any large amount. You’ll need to budget several hundred dollars a month towards marketing your business and prepare yourself for slow consistent growth. If money is in short supply and you don’t have the ability to invest in your efforts, now may not be the right time for you. There is one element that is appropriate to plug in here… and it’s that the “several hundred dollars per month” that I just mentioned DOES NOT have to come out of your pocket, once you learn how to get your business to pay for everything it needs! More on this later.
After nearly ten years of being in home based businesses, these four points are probably the most important to both consider and understand before choosing to embark in any home based venture. When I look at the people that eventually fail and drop out of their businesses, it almost always has something to do with one or all four of the above topics.
As I have stated many times in all of the articles that I have written; there is a fortune to be made in the home based business arena if you have the right tools and just as importantly, the right mentality. If you truly have a desire to make your business into one that can support you and your family, keep in mind the four points that I have laid out in this newsletter.
Don’t expect to make millions overnight, that can and usually does take years to reach. However, arriving at a six-figure income in your first year is possible and quite common if you implement all four items that I have discussed.
Should you have questions about any of this material, you are more than welcome to reach out for support.
Master Marketer – Business Growth Specialist
Kraig Ward
RetainReps.com
1 Comment
July 17, 2007 at 9:48 pm
Great post. I am going to link back to it from my blog at http://TerryDeanGroup.com/blog
I am going to grab your other post as well.