Work At Home Business Options

Archive for February, 2011

Can You Make Money from Home as an Entrepreneur? 10 Ways to Know if You’re Ready by Rita Canada

Could you make money from home as an entrepreneur? As you leave behind your kids, your hopes, or your dreams for another day at the office, you catch yourself wondering if it’s possible. When you see work at home moms and entrepreneurs loving the work they do and enjoying the lifestyle they created, you may be contemplating if you’re ready to make money from home too.

If your situation is similar to mine at all, you may have started out enjoying your career, the status or even the money that would help you and your family reach your personal and financial goals. But instead, the quality time with family, financial security and future you dreamed of seems more distant every day. You know that the possibilities of becoming an entrepreneur and making money from home could be the solution.

You also know that you’ll need a lot more than a sense of disillusionment to become a successful entrepreneur. You’re going to need a solid plan and the ability to follow through on that plan.

As someone who does successfully make money from home and is enjoying the lifestyle I dreamed of, I have come up with 10 ways to know if you’re ready to make the transition and become a successful entrepreneur.

1. You’re a true leader. An innovative leader who can tackle any challenge head-on with a positive mindset is well-positioned to become a successful entrepreneur.

2. You’re committed to your success. Failure is not an option and you are committed to following a plan proven to help you gain success.

3. You want to create financial stability for yourself and your family. You no longer want your income to be dependent on your monthly paycheck, the economy, or corporate decisions beyond your control.

4. You are not enjoying your current quality of life, and long for the freedom to stay home with the kids, travel when you feel like it, or pursue your favorite hobby. As an entrepreneur, you can create the income, the time and the freedom to enjoy the lifestyle you choose.

5. You know you need to gain and sustain a healthier lifestyle. As an entrepreneur, you’ll have the flexibility to make time to care for yourself, get the rest you need, eat healthier meals and exercise.

6. You want to lower your work-related stress and stop worrying about money. When you live the entrepreneurial lifestyle, you have control over your daily routine and can choose how much money you want to earn.

7. You want to genuinely help people and make a difference in their lives.

8. You’ve hit a ceiling in your current career or pay scale, but you know you could accomplish more if the opportunity was available to you.

9. You are committed to personal development and are coachable. You may not have the knowledge, skills or experience in all areas, and are open to learning best practices that will help you to soar with a spirit of excellence.

10. Most importantly, you have access to a business opportunity with a proven plan that can realistically bring you the results you need.

If the items on the above list resonate with you, you may be ready to embark on your own entrepreneurial journey that will enable you to earn income from home

While the desire for success is key, it is important to remember that you will also need access to a business opportunity with a proven plan for success in any economy. Direct sales is a great option. Look for a business that’s as strong a leader as you are to put you on the right path to make money from home.

To discover a legitimate home business opportunity that can offer you give the financial freedom you’ve always dreamed of, I invited you to visit http://www.stepuptofreedom.com and fill in the form for information. You’ll receive detailed information and a step by step plan for launching your way to success!

Natural health expert and Entrepreneur Rita Canada helps busy Executives, Entrepreneurs and Work at Home moms detox their bodies, lose inches, get in shape, and feel great so they have more energy for their life and business. She also helps those who desire to transition find their way to financial freedom. She previously held several Presidential and Vice Presidential Executive appointments, and is currently a Diamond Leader in her direct sales company, a mother and a founding member of a Foundation that benefits children in Africa.

Article Source: WAHM Articles

When you are with a Direct Sales Company, part of your business success comes from customers placing re-orders with you.

I often hear Direct Sales Consultants saying that it all boils down to customer service. In my opinion, that is only partially true. There are other things that you need to be doing in addition to providing top notch customer service.

Let’s look at a few ways that you can get customers, to keep coming back to you for their product orders.

1. Post Sale Follow-Up: Customers want to know they are important to you. It is your job to go out of your way to make sure your customer is satisfied with their first purchase from you. After your customer has received their first purchase, make sure you follow up with them to make sure they are 100% satisfied with their purchase. If not, work promptly to correct it.

2. Company Catalogs: Every time your company changes their catalog, make sure your customers receive a new copy. I find that most of my customers prefer receiving a hard copy of our catalog vs. an online copy. You can do this one of four ways:

a. Mail out a new catalog to your customers via postal mail.

b. Mail out a postcard letting customers know that you now have new catalogs available and how they can request a new catalog from you.

c. Send an email if you have permission from your customers to contact them via email. Let them know a new catalog is available and how they can request a new copy from you.

d. Call your customers up by phone and let them know that you have new catalogs available and ask them if they would like to receive one.

3. Monthly Customer Newsletters: I recommend that you do a monthly newsletter to keep in contact with your customers. You can announce party host specials, customer specials, recruiting specials and new catalog releases. If you are going to do a monthly newsletter, make sure you have some informational content within it. Customers don’t want to receive newsletters that are nothing more than spam advertisements.

4. Open Houses: Hold a Open House bi-yearly party in your own home or other location. Invite your customers to the party so that they can see and touch new product releases. Offer some refreshments, games with prizes and some product sales specials.

5. Business Cards: Include a business card with all shipments of products. I make all of my business cards into refrigerator magnets and feel that business card magnets yield me better results than just a plain old business card. Customers will put them on the front of their refrigerators which keeps you and your business in front of them.

6. Business Coupons: Offer a coupon with all customer purchases.

example: Thank you for your purchase! Please take 10% off your next purchase before (date). I find that when you include an expiration date on your coupons, you are more apt to get another order from your customer. Try dating your coupons for 90 days.

7. Re-order Stickers: If you are selling consumable products, purchase some re-order stickers and place them on the packaging of your products. Make sure your contact information is on that sticker.

I think it makes smart business sense to pay attention to the customers that you already have. If your current customers like doing business with you and your company, they will happily refer new customers to you.

This article written by Shelly Hill, copyright 2010, All Rights Reserved.

I would like to thank Corrie for her guest blogger post here on Work At Home Business Options!

Goals are essential to see growth when it comes to your business. If you don’t set them you likely won’t increase your income and take your business to the next level. It’s important to set daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals to grow your business.

The best thing you can do is start with a yearly goal and work your way to a daily goal. When you do this you’ll know exactly what it will take to reach the end result. When the end result is achieved you’ve reached success.

Once you have your goals written down it’s time to start working them so you can achieve each one of them. One of the best ways to do that is to hire a Virtual Assistant. It doesn’t matter if you’re in direct sales, coaching, or any other type of business a Virtual Assistant can help you achieve your goals.

No matter what type of business you run, it’s important you do certain things to grow. Those things could include a blog, article marketing, and social networking. These are all tasks a Virtual Assistant can help you with on a regular basis. When you outsource these tasks, you’ll have more time to spend working your business. You’ll have more time to do the tasks only you can do. You’ll also have more time to spend with your family.

While the tasks listed above are generic, you can give your Virtual Assistant specific jobs that are related to your business. For example, if you’re a coach, she can help you set up your sessions, she can transcribe your notes from these sessions, and she can help you put together group coaching sessions. If you’re a Direct Sales rep you can have your Virtual Assistant set appointments with people you want to share your business with, she can help you place orders, and she can help you send thank you notes to those that that have placed orders with you.

As you can see from the tips above it’s possible to run a successful business when you use a Virtual Assistant in your business. Review the tasks you do on a regular basis and outsource the ones you can and feel comfortable with. When you do, you’ll find you have the ability to grow successful.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant business. If you find these tips are easy to perform you should consider writing out tips that cover your entire business. If you’re ready to start outsourcing, go to http://www.virtualfreedom4you.com to see how Corrie can help you make it happen.

When I talk to others who are with one of the Direct Sales companies, I am often told that they hate making business phone calls and that they “view” the telephone as their enemy. Matter of fact, most of these consultants told me that they will delay making business phone calls as long as they can. With that said, these same consultants are the ones who are usually complaining that business is not good.

If you are not used to making business phone calls it can be scary, but that fear can be turned around into something you enjoy with a little practice and a change of mindset.

First let’s take a look at your mindset. When I asked these people why they hated using the phone about half of them told me because they feel like they are ‘pestering’ people for orders or for booking a home show. First let me state…you are not pestering people if you only make one or two calls to them. All businesses large and small use telephone marketing in one form or another. Instead of viewing the phone as your enemy you need to view it as a powerful marketing tool.

You are doing nothing wrong when you call a customer and ask for a sale (order), ask a person to book a party or to ask a potential recruiting lead if they want to join your company. All great Direct Sales leaders will tell you that you need to overcome your fear of the phone and use it as a tool to build your business. At worst…the person will just say ‘no’ or they will hang up. When that occurs, just move on to the next one.

Second…how can you overcome that fear? You need to practice! I always recommend to consultants that they first practice their sales pitch with a spouse or family member. If you have a hard time with words, make yourself a set of flash cards with all of the points you want to make during your sales call presentation. Once you get comfortable speaking with family members you can move on to speaking to friends and acquaintances and then proceed on to complete strangers.

Overcoming your fear of the telephone does take some practice and hard work…but, it can be done! If you want to build a successful Direct Sales business, you will need to view the telephone as an important marketing tool and put that marketing tool to work for you!

This article was written by Shelly Hill, copyright 2011, All Rights Reserved.

Do You Need More Bookings? If so, check out that site!

Thank You Chris for sharing your article & material with us!

Are Your Direct Sales Recruits Burning Up Your Valuble Time? by Chris Carroll

Do you sometimes feel burned out from recruiting all the time? Do you feel like you just spin your wheels from replacing those that never really do anything with their business? Do you sometimes feel like you give and give and train and train, but it is not working? Do you have more small sellers that take most of your time than big sellers that only need you once in a great while?

Well you are not alone!

So how do you get out of the rut of recruiting the small, personal use sellers verses the bigger “this IS my business” sellers that want to work with you and learn?

Here is a trick that I use. Pre Qualify your Leads!

What does that mean, you ask? Well what it means is that you are going to spend some time with your potential person and ask the a lot of questions about WHY they want to join this business.

Questions like:

HOW are they going to work the business.
WHEN are they going to work their business.
WHAT is their plan for their business.
WHO are they going to sell to.
HOW much knowledge do they have in the direct sales industry.
HOW involved will they be in your team?
WHERE are they going to sell, share or show their products and lastly
WHEN are they available to go to 3 parties with you as their training and/or HOW are they going to be trained if they are not available or your
business doesn’t do parties.

By asking lots of questions, you are not putting them on the spot, but you are letting them know that they are joining a team that is serious about their business. If they are going to be selling/buying for personal use, let them know that you are available as much as possible, but you do focus on those that are serious about the business and work it 100%. Your recruit may just see the light and become a serious business partner. Make them welcome to
email you or join your yahoo group for information, but know You as an
effective leader are spending most of your time with committed reps.

Are you going to lose some potential reps? Maybe. But the ones
you end up with will be with you for a long time and will be committed to their
business. They will have your time and focus because you are not off trying to help someone that is not committed that will leave your company in 3 months anyway. That in the long run will be more profitable for you and your business.

Take a look at your downline and see where you spend the most time
and energy. Are you really making a difference to the personal use reps? Or can you make a bigger difference by devoting your time to those that crave your leadership!

Copyright Chris Carroll ~ All Rights Reserved

Chris is a work at home mom that has made direct sales her business of choice and enjoys sharing information and tips with others. You can find her at her business site http://DirectSalesTalk.com . She has also partnered with a friend on a product review site for small business owners at http://TwoClassyChics.blogspot.com .

Article Source: WAHM Articles

Do You Need More Bookings? If so, check out that site!

If you are looking to make money with a home business and you are considering joining one of the Direct Sales Companies, there are a few things you need to consider before going down the network marketing path.

Most recruiting consultants with a Direct Sales company will tell you that you can make a lot of money by joining their company and working the business on a full-time basis. While that is true for some people…the real truth is…only a small percentage of those in network marketing make thousands of dollars each month. Furthermore, for the few who do make the larger amounts of money in Direct Sales, those people have been in the business for a couple of years. You will not make millions and you certainly won’t make a lot of money overnight.

Working a home party plan type of business takes a lot of hard work and it does cost money! If any recruiter tells you that business is so good and that customers run to you without you having to do anything…that is a lie. Customers never magically find a home business consultant. You will have to spend consistent time each and every week promoting and marketing your business for it to be a success. Furthermore…you will have on-going business expenses such as ordering new catalogs, order forms, mailing supplies, samples and if you are promoting that business online, you will have internet expenses as well. Having a home party plan business isn’t always cheap.

In addition to the expenses there is the “time” factor. Will you have a minimum of 15 hours a week to work on your business? You will need to call up people you know to try to get party bookings and orders. You will need to spend time on advertising, marketing and networking for your business and after all of that is done, you will be responsible for conducting parties in your hostesses homes. If you want to make decent money you will need to recruit and train those who join your team. All of this can add up to 15+ hours per week! If you have the time…then a Direct Sales company may be for you.

The upside to having this type of business is that if you are willing to commit the time, energy, hard work and money to working and marketing this type of business…it can eventually make you a full-time income. For most consultants, it takes a minimum of 1 year before that full-time income is generated.

Can you make full-time money in a home party plan business? Yes you can! However, you will have to work your butt off to make it a success and you will need to choose the right company and leader to work with you to achieve business success.

This article written by Shelly Hill, Copyright 2011, All Rights Reserved.