How To Work Successfully From Home

Working from home poses its own challenges for people who do, namely working in a somewhat lonely environment, deciding on whether to shower, dress for success or simply working in our PJ’s. Either way, whatever we do, it does require some form of control and measure to get things done in a timely matter.

The biggest issue work at home entrepreneurs have would probably fall into time management and staying on track of our goals. After all, it is only too easy to get sidetracked with important visits, movies, game nights, shopping, outings and what not.

I’m sure that if you fall under the label “self employed, working from home” you have your very own demons to wrestle with at times (or had in the past at least).

What were your biggest issues and how did you grasp them in the end?

When I first started out in my first home business, I always dressed up, brushed my teeth, combed my hair and did everything else I was supposed to do to run a successful home business.

After all, working from home is no different than working for a boss, except of course that we are the boss. Or so I thought… soon enough I learned that following the same behavior to get ready for work than if I was actually going to an employers premises didn’t really work out as I hoped it would.

All the nice suits, cool hairstyle and mint fresh breath didn’t get my work done, did it.

No, I learned that instead of living that pre-cut life of doing things this and that way, I was better off to focus on the actual tasks at hand and really stay the course.

Since nobody is watching over our shoulders except perhaps our spouses and clients (if we have them) it is a challenge for many entrepreneurs to stay on course of their self imposed work schedule.

Perhaps that is why it is so easy to make excuses, since we “only” work for ourselves.

To do that you would only kid yourself and risk your own lifeline and success. After all, if we make too many excuses nothing good will ever come out of it.

Don’t you agree?

So what is the secret to keeping the focus without falling prey to daily distractions while working from home?

Personally I think the most important part of running a business from home is to set targets. But not just any targets. They have to be in bite sized chunks to stay manageable. It also helps to factor in distraction time every day.

In the years I have been online I finally learned that no matter how many tasks you set yourself every day, you will fall short of them on most days due to unforeseen distractions. As long as you allocate extra time for this, you won’t have any issues. I also learned that setting myself too many targets never works out so I keep them in a manageable way.

What works for me is to take 2/3 of my working day and plan it out while leaving the rest free for the less important work that has to be done regardless. This has worked really well for me over the past year.

Maybe you have your own tips on how to work successfully from home.

My Meeting With Wendy Piersall Of SparkPlugging

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of meeting Wendy Piersall of Sparkplugging (formerly eMoms at Home). It was a real pleasure to meet with her in person after being online friends for about a year now.

Wendy is very altruistic and would love to help everyone work from home. She recently made major changes to her blog and even changed the domain name from emomsathome.com to sparkplugging.com. She has done amazing things with her blog and I highly recommend you go check it out.

I may talk more about some of the things we discussed at a later point in time, but the main thing I took away from meeting Wendy is that she sincerely wants to help people learn how to work from home for a living.

Before I go, here is a picture of the two of us from earlier this week:

A Few Simplified Thoughts on Branding

image by jbarreiros
Have you ever wondered why actor and actress names are what they are?

Actress names in particular once boggled me to no end. Take for example, Elizabeth Taylor. She must hold a world record in remarriages, but what’s her name, no matter what? Elizabeth Taylor. Why on Earth does it work that way? Because with actors and actresses, their stage names are their brand.

All the fame and star power they earn is represented in their stage names. If those stage names change, they’ve damaged a huge part of their branding and the sellability of any movie or show in which they star thereafter. If you’re an actor or actress, the size of your paycheck depends greatly on whether or not you can get viewers to movies or television shows, so this damage is grievously undesirable. Therefore, it doesn’t matter what their real names really are, or if they change once they marry. They never change their stage names because it would be dumb and costly to them if they did.

Your business can be branded the same way. While your business model may not be dodging paparazzi or walking down the red carpet in a million dollars of jewelery, the end result is the same. A brand can pad your future paydays because it’s recognized and actively sought by customers in your niche.

Branding yourself isn’t hard to do. Find out what you are, then brand it. There are a few things that can help, and possibly have that brand do some of your selling for you.

• Your company name: Take some time in choosing it, because if it’s catchy (like ‘Google.com’, which I mentioned last week), the fact it’s memorable can help put your cash flow in the black.


• A logo: These are helpful, but not enormously necessary. There are plenty of examples of people who grow wealthy without one (particularly the one-man entrepreneurs working on the Net), but if you have the money, consider getting one designed.


• A tagline: These usually appear under the company names, and is a catchy sentence you want to represent you. They are usually repeated by the big companies over and over, and if you can think of a company name and hear the ring of the sentence they use to describe themselves, you know what a tagline is.

Once you get them, and they start selling for you, look into trademarking them immediately. You don’t want someone to come along, realize that tagline, logo, or company name that’s making you so much money after all your hard work isn’t trademarked and take them from you or abuse them.

And last but not least, remember branding works both ways. You can become branded to something awful, like Microsoft to its oversized and cantankerous software, if you fail with such consistency it becomes the general perception that you fall short. This is not desirable, so be sure to have your product or service in order before you begin.

I’m not the world’s biggest branding expert, but the basics of branding aren’t hard to understand. Your brand is the something recognizable about your business that can help you sell or make money. It can also chase potential customers away if it become associated with something bad, so don’t let that happen.

How Branding Can Drive Traffic To Your Site

In last weeks post I talked about The Importance of Business Branding and how branding can help you to get more business and higher paying jobs. This week I wanted to follow up on that and show you ways in which your branding efforts can help to send traffic to your site/blog.

The obvious, most expensive option of traffic generation is to pay for advertising. Ads are commonly used for advertising purposes as we all know. Just think back on what I briefly touched on last week in regards to those annoying ads we often see on TV, or hear on the radio.

Generally small business owners shy away from spending top dollar for an advertising campaign, simply because they don’t have the funds.

So what can we do to get that coveted flow of traffic happening and how in the world is branding going to help with this?

Position yourself as the expert

This is actually easier said than done because first of all you will need some experience to pull this off. On the other hand I personally do not peddle products of which I don’t have a clue about. I used to, back in my online greenhorn days, but since then I have learned my lessons and stay true to myself and my experience.

It simply isn’t worth being a hypocrite.

But let’s assume that you are indeed an expert in your field. You have plenty of hands on experience and know your way around the topic. You’ve gone through failures and hardship and you know exactly what others think who first come into contact with your field of expertise, since you have been there before.

If that is the case, play it with all your might. Once you have the expertise you can do away with the humble hat and step into the limelight.

Now is your time to shine.

Just like in showbiz, much of the initial marketing message is lost on your readers. This is mainly due to the fact that most of us have an extreme short attention span. So play it up, garnish your “expertise” with colorful streamers, balloons and music.

Doing this will guarantee to bring you traffic!

It is in our nature to be associated with fame, success and the limelight. Why else are we so enthralled with soaps, Oscar nominations and what not?

After all, it is recognition we crave and what better way to be recognized than to be picked up by any media because of our association with ….(insert your favorite celebrity here).

Use your alternate ego

I bet most of us have an alternate ego within. You know, the voice that says no, when we say yes and the other way round. Since most of us are civilized people, our alternate ego is often “not so MR. nice guy”.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: my alternate ego is a mixture between Jennifer Garner in Alias and Buddha. Kind of like Ninja meeting eternal bliss. LOL

Recently we have seen an increased amount of bloggers who tell it like it is. They are sick of seeing blogging noobies get hurt and have made it their mission to change our views about Internet marketing and the whole make money online industry.

I tell you what. It works. This is branding in its rawest form and although some people are offended by this whole approach, I think it is simply brilliant.

Creating controversy amongst yes sayers always works. While we might be offended to start with, these controversies actually prompt us to think outside the box. If you are an entrepreneur, then you will agree that doing this can only broaden our vision and our knowledge.

I think it is suffice to say that this approach will not only get you noticed, but also funnel a ton of traffic to your site.

A word of warning: you will need a strong resolve to stay the course against all the onslaught of opposition that will no doubt come your way. After all, you will be swimming against the current pretty much alone. Especially when you first start out.

Branding works – get ready for action!

Branding in all its various forms will always bring traffic and business to you if done correctly. You can’t afford to be chopping and changing your brand after you are getting known around “town”. Yes, every now and then we all crave a make over, but before you take this step, ask yourself whether this will be beneficial to your brand or not.

Soft or hard, both work in their own ways

Whether you have a lot of money to burn and feel fine with paying thousands of dollars for advertising every month, to establish your brand, or whether you want to go the soft approach that takes more time but hardly any money is entirely up to you.

If you do take the soft approach, expect to spend a good portion of your time to network with others in your field. Whether this is via social networks, forums, clubs, membership sites or blogs, is irrelevant.

What matters most is that you dedicate yourself to your brand and build it block by block until the foundation is rock solid.

Have you got anything else to add? Please feel free to share your views and thoughts on this post.

The Importance Of Business Branding

Branding is all around us in many forms and faces. Whether you are shopping, watching TV or browsing the Internet, everywhere we go these days we are directly influenced in our decision making process by the effects of branding.

Most people aren’t even aware that their minds are gently (or in some instances aggressively) influenced by clever marketing. They end up buying this and that because something they heard or saw stuck with them. It could be a tingle that keeps playing every time you switch on the radio, or that huge electrical store who annoys you with their repetitive ads.

I’m sure you’ve had your own fair share of getting annoyed at some of these ads, but when you think about it, we often tend to drift toward exactly those businesses we always get annoyed about when we need something in particular.

This is due to a combination of smart marketing and business branding.

It starts with the look

We too can achieve this by branding our name or business name all over the Internet. So how do we do this without spending thousands of dollars like the big corporations do?

It’s easy. We use a blog. My preferred choice is the WordPress platform because it is the perfect content management software (CMS) to design a WordPress blog that actually looks like a website.

This site can be your very own branding tool and with a bit of money invested ($100-$500+) you will be able to get a unique site that is your face for the world to see.

First impressions always count, whether we meet someone in person or see their works on the Internet and those initial seconds can be the difference between a long term contract or no work at all.

Regardless of the business you own, you need a proper portal (portfolio) in which to represent yourself. While this might be a given for some, many business owners oversee this most important point.

Your vision counts

Try to find a designer who can take your vision and put this into reality with a custom made theme. I recently did a total make over on my Portfolio site and ended up paying under $300. This was well worth the investment because since the changeover I already gained 3 new clients!

In effect the theme has already paid for itself several times over.

Regardless whether you are working for yourself in a one man/woman show, or are the CEO of a huge corporation, if you have a web presence, you need branding!

Here is what you’ll need to consider before contacting your designer:

• What color scheme do I want for my site (a mixture of 2-3 main colors work best)
• What kind of navigation do I need (traditional blog design, newspaper design, simple page with no sidebars)
• How do I portray myself? Is it more with a direct approach, or more subtle with occasional hints at who I really am?
• Do I want my photograph, a logo, a slogan or all of these combined on the site
• What is my maximum budget?
• Is the site going to be stationary (set) or will I actually use it to blog on too?

The more you can work with your designer in regards to the final result, the better he/she can work with you. It really pays to contemplate these things before you rush into any decision as your site/blog will be your online business portal (portfolio) for a long time to come.

Make it last.

Conclusion

Branding my name from early on into my business has helped me to gain recognition from top Internet marketers. Using a professional design has furthered this to catapult me into a bigger league now and this is being reflected by the new clients I attract.

In my next post I will actually go into the second stage of branding and what you can do as a blogger, business owner to draw traffic to your site. This is something that can be done by anybody, irrespective of money or time.

As long as you are aware that one of these commodities will need to be invested, you will be fine.

If you have questions, or like to know how you can get your own theme, feel free to comment below.

Do Not Let Your Stresses Get The Best Of You In The Business World

Guest post by Stanley Popovich

Do not let your anxieties get the best of you in the business world. It is important to know how to handle your anxieties and stresses. As a result, here is a list of techniques and suggestions on what to do in managing your business related stresses and anxieties.

Take it one day at a time. Instead of worrying about how you will get through the rest of the week or coming month, try to focus on today. Each day can provide us with different opportunities to learn new things and that includes learning how to deal with your problems. Focus on the present and stop trying to predict what may happen next week. Next week will take care of itself.

Learn how to manage your fearful thoughts that may be difficult to manage. When experiencing a negative thought, read some positive statements and affirmations that help lift your spirits and make you feel better. Remember that your fearful thoughts may be exaggerated so balance these thoughts with realistic thinking and common sense.

Sometimes, we get stressed when everything happens all at once. When this happens, a person should take a deep breath and try to find something to do for a few minutes to get their mind off of the problem. A person could take a walk, listen to some music, read the newspaper or do an activity that will give them a fresh perspective on things.

When managing your fears and anxieties do not try to tackle everything at once. The best solution is to break your fears or problems into a series of smaller steps. Completing these smaller tasks one at a time will make the stress more manageable and increases your chances of success.

Remember that no one can predict the future with one hundred percent certainty. Even if the thing that you feared does happen there are circumstances and factors that you can’t predict which can be used to your advantage. For instance, let’s say at your place of work that you miss the deadline for a project you have been working on for the last few months. Everything you feared is coming true. Suddenly, your boss comes to your office and tells you that the deadline is extended and that he forgot to tell you the day before. This unknown factor changes everything. Remember: we may be ninety-nine percent correct in predicting the future, but all it takes is for that one percent to make a world of difference.

Take advantage of the help that is available around you. If possible, talk to a professional who can help you manage your fears and anxieties. They will be able to provide you with additional advice and insights on how to deal with your current problem. By talking to a professional, a person will be helping themselves in the long run because they will become better able to deal with their problems in the future. Managing your fears and anxieties takes practice. The more you practice, the better you will become.

Take a vacation day to relax. Many people work two jobs nowadays. Sooner or later, the long work hours will catch up with you and take a toll on your health. Take the day off and do something you enjoy. The better you can manage your stresses and anxieties the better off you will be in the long run.

About The Author:

Stanley Popovich is the author of “A Layman’s Guide to Managing Fear Using Psychology, Christianity and Non Resistant Methods” which is located at http://www.managingfear.com/

Coping With Your Stresses And Anxieties In The Business World

Guest post by Stanley Popovich

Everybody deals with anxieties and stresses in the business world, however sometimes our anxieties can get the best of us. As a result, here is a list of techniques that a person can use to help manage their daily stresses and anxieties at their job and/or in the business world.

Sometimes, we get stressed when everything happens all at once. When this happens, a person should take a deep breath and try to find something to do for a few minutes to get their mind off of the problem. A person could take a walk, listen to some music, read the newspaper or do an activity that will give them a fresh perspective on things.

When facing a current or upcoming task at your job or business that overwhelms you with a lot of anxiety, divide the task into a series of smaller steps and then complete each of the smaller tasks one at a time. Completing these smaller tasks will make the stress more manageable and increases your chances of success.

Challenge your negative thinking with positive statements and realistic thinking. When encountering thoughts that make your fearful or depressed, challenge those thoughts by asking yourself questions that will maintain objectivity and common sense. For example, you are afraid that if you do not get that job promotion then you will be stuck at your job forever. This depresses you, however your thinking in this situation is unrealistic. The fact of the matter is that there all are kinds of jobs available and just because you don’t get this job promotion doesn’t mean that you will never get one. In addition, people change jobs all the time, and you always have that option of going elsewhere if you are unhappy at your present location.

Remember that no one can predict the future with one hundred percent certainty. Even if the thing that you feared does happen there are circumstances and factors that you can’t predict which can be used to your advantage. For instance, let’s say at your place of work that you miss the deadline for a project you have been working on for the last few months. Everything you feared is coming true. Suddenly, your boss comes to your office and tells you that the deadline is extended and that he forgot to tell you the day before. This unknown factor changes everything. Remember: we may be ninety-nine percent correct in predicting the future, but all it takes is for that one percent to make a world of difference.

In dealing with your anxieties at your job, learn to take it one day at a time. While the consequences of a particular fear may seem real, there are usually other factors that cannot be anticipated and can affect the results of any situation. Get all of the facts of the situation and use them to your advantage.

Our anxieties and stresses can be difficult to manage at our place of work and in the business world. The more control you have over your stresses and anxieties, the better off you will be in the long run at your job and other business endeavors.

About The Author:

Stanley Popovich is the author of “A Layman’s Guide to Managing Fear Using Psychology, Christianity and Non Resistant Methods” which is located at http://www.managingfear.com/

Product Launch Blueprint

I know I just mentioned the Product Launch Formula the other day, but I had to let you know about the Product Launch Blueprint videos. Recently, Jeff Walker released an AWESOME two part series on Product Launches called “the product launch blueprint”.

The reason I am mentioning this is because I just finished watching the videos and Jeff is giving away some great secrets about having a successful product launch in them. Go see for yourself by clicking here!

When you are done watching them, come back here and let me know what you think.

Keep Your Priorities Straight

When you start an online business it’s easy to let your priorities get out of balance. One of my biggest weaknesses is staying balanced. That is why every now and then I like to write about staying balanced.

It is easy to let work and business take an unhealthy priority in your life and this is especially true when you are trying to make a living online. It is easy to put in that extra hour on the computer and skip that game of basketball you were planning on playing with your kid. It’s easy to stay up late at night working on your social networking profile and be too tired the next day to take time out of your day to write your spouse that love note you were going to surprise him/her with. It’s easy to work an extra hour writing that blog post, instead of working out at the gym…

You need to keep your priorities straight while you try to make money online. Otherwise you will risk losing the things that are most important to you.

Which brings me to a change in my priorities for the next few months…

The last 4 weeks I (and my family) have been fighting off colds and the flu. I have decided that in order to take care of things that I need to take care of before our baby is born in May, I am going to being spend much less time online the next two months.

I am not going to be spending as much time writing for the next two months. However, I will still be taking submissions for guest posts. Also, Ryan, Monika, and Trent will still be posting regularly on this blog.

You will still great advice on this blog, just not as much of it will be coming from me the next two months.

Keep your priorities straight… you and your loved ones will be glad that you did!

Create A Business Plan For Success Online

When you start out online you need to make a solid business plan. A business plan is your roadmap for success.

My father told me to create a business plan a long time ago and at first I didn’t listen to him (I should have). My father has made a REALLY good living helping new companies develop successful business plans designed to get these companies government funding. He is an absolute expert at what he does. I wish I had listened to his advice about making a business plan early on because he really knows what he is talking about.

However, you don’t have to make the same mistake I made.

All you need to do is find a good business plan template and fill it out. You can get a good business plan template for FREE by going to SCORE’s template gallery and downloading their business plan for start-up businesses. You don’t have to answer all the questions posed in the business plan template to have a successful business, but the more questions you answer the better understanding you will have your business.

Some of the questions covered in the business plan will be things we discussed earlier in the Getting Started series. Some of the questions are new questions that will help you better understand ALL the planning that you can do to create a roadmap for your success.

Creating a business plan will help speed up your quest for online success.

How To Pick The Right Niche For Your Online Business

In the previous post in my getting started series we talked about the importance of knowing what you want. In this post we are going to discuss how to pick the right niche for your online business.

A while back I wrote about how to pick the right niche for your blog. The same process can be used to pick the right niche for your online business. Here is a quick outline of the steps you need to take (you can read all the details here):

1. Make A List Of Your Passions

2. Make A List Of Things You Do Well

3. Merge The First Two Lists

4. Choose Your Favorite 3-5 Niches

5. Determine The Traffic Potential

6. Determine The Money Making Potential

7. Make Sure You Have Time For The Niche

The Most Important Things To Remember When Choosing The Right Niche For Your Online Business

You should choose a niche in a target market that you CAN and WANT to spend a LONG time serving. While you can have online success by going from one niche to another and you can have online success by creating products in niches that you are not passionate about it is much easier to build a business by sticking with one niche market that you LOVE and catering to that target market. I am going to say that again , because it is SO important:

It is much easier to build a business by sticking with one niche market that you LOVE and catering to that target market.

To help target the right niche, you need to decide who your ideal customer is. You can do this by answering the following question:

Who will I enjoy serving?

Target your online business for a niche you would LOVE to serve (click here to read a previous post I wrote about the importance of choosing your customer first).

You want your online business to be enjoyable and easy. One of the best ways to do that is stick with a niche you are passionate about.

If you REALLY want to make big money online AND enjoy it, then do what you LOVE.

Planning The Online Business Of Your Dreams

How To Plan The Online Business Of Your Dreams

In the first post in my getting started series we talked about the importance of planning out the business of your dreams. Before you come up with a business plan you have to know what you want to accomplish with an online business.

In other words the first step to creating the online business of your dreams is to define the online business of your dreams.

You can’t create the online business of your dreams if you don’t know what it looks like!

The best way to define your ideal online business is to ask yourself questions that will help you create a clear vision of your ideal online business.

Here is a small sample of the kinds of questions you should ask yourself:

• Why am I starting a business?
• Why do I want to make money online?
• What am I willing to do to make money online?
• How much money do I want to make per year with my online business?
• How many hours a day do I want to work?
• Do I like to deal with customers?
• What are my strengths and weaknesses?

When you ask AND answer questions like the above question you can get a picture of your ideal online business. With that picture in mind, you are well on your way to creating the online business of your dreams.

PS. Here is a bonus question for those of you who are religious:

What online business can I create that will best serve God?

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