Home Business Tips - Getting Your Priorities in Order
A lot of people think that the biggest mistakes you can make with your home business concern tactical problems such as a poor web page, poor advertising, bad sales copy, and so on. And while those things are all important, the real problem that home business owners have is that they don’t have their priorities in order. So that you understand what I’m talking about, I’m going to relay to you a true story about a friend of mine. I will leave out the names so as to protect the innocent and not so innocent. After you read this, you’ll realize what I mean about priorities.
A friend of mine wanting to start a home business. I asked him what he wanted to do. He said to me, “I don’t care, just as long as I make money.” Well, there was his first mistake…no business plan. You have to have a business plan no matter how simple your business is. Without a plan, you are absolutely going nowhere. Okay, so I got him on track there. We finally figured out what he wanted to do.
Next was the actual implementation of what he wanted to do. He immediately wanted to jump into creating a product, setting up a web page and so on. This is where I had to give him another “hold the phone” moment. He didn’t understand what the problem was. So I asked him one simple question. “Do you know who your target market is and what they want?” He looked at me like I had two heads. I explained to him that before you create ANYTHING you better make sure that your target market even cares about it. So I got him into doing niche research.
This process continued, every step of the way. At each stepping stone, I had to back him up as he was putting the cart before the horse. He wanted to do things before their time. Now, when you’re first starting out, you’re not going to know these things. That’s normal. Hopefully, this article will have gotten you to start thinking in terms of getting your priorities in order. You can’t sell something unless you know that what you want to sell has a real demand. And then, everything comes from that.
To YOUR Success,
Steven Wagenheim
Looking for a solid 4 step plan to building your own business…FREE? Pick up my free report at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/4steps.html and get started TODAY!
How Do You Know When It’s Time to Quit?
How do you know when it’s time to quit your day job? I have met quite a few full-time internet marketers who always ask me why I fly across the country to seminars to hang out, only to go back to a 9-to-5 day job the next day. Despite averaging $10,000 per month income this year, I know it’s not time for me to quit. So how do you know when you should quit your job?
The very first thing you need to do is separate your day job and your internet income. It’s easy to say you average $10,000 per month (like I do) when a portion of that is from your day job income. Find out if you can really live without that day job income… deposit your paychecks DIRECTLY into your savings account instead of checking. Do not let yourself touch this money.
If you can keep this habit going every month for a year, it means not only did you survive for a year on your own, but you have a year of income to support you during those slow months.
Don’t forget about health insurance. The LACK of health insurance is the number 1 cause of bankruptcy in the United States. Not mismanagement, not the economy, but lack of health insurance. You might have complained about your day job taking $500 or $1000 out of your monthly paycheck to give you healthcare, but if you are self employed and are uninsured, you can easily run up a $10k or $20k medical bill if you get very sick, need an operation, or get hit by a car. Do not risk it, and do not risk your family, by being without health insurance.
Most of the full-time internet marketers I’ve interviewed have a secondary income stream to fall back on. Some at least have part time jobs, some still live with their parents, others are retired and still receive half-pay from work. Others support themselves by doing away with NECESSITIES… they fail to pay for health insurance, or the rent instead of owning a home.
It’s easy to chase the dream of doing less work for the same amount of money, but if you are still young and able-bodied, why not do a tiny bit MORE work by staying at your day job, and get your house paid off early? Fill up your retirement fund by age 30 or 40? You will be a lot happier if you maintain a normal life now and stick to your regular activities, so you can goof off later in life.
About the author:
Robert Plank, internet marketer, PHP programmer, and 23 year old homeowner, made an average of $10,000 per month every month in 2008. Check out his marketing ideas worth STEALING at: http://www.robertplank.com