When it comes to a work at home business, it’s important to evaluate on a regular basis what is working for you or what is eating up your production time.

Many people do year-end evaluations, but it would be great if you can do it twice a year. One of the things about working your business is being aware of the ever-changing times. I’ve come to a point where I’m finally admitting to myself that community forums are dying or phasing out and it’s time to move with the changes.

Decisions aren’t always easy, but you can hash it out with your business buddies. The main point is you want to keep your business growing and thriving and not sitting and idling.

When was the last time you examined what’s working or not working for your business?

~Sophia

Today I would like to share a home business tip with you that I feel is very important…especially if you are networking and/or doing business online.

When online, you will come across many self-professed work at home experts and guru’s but you need to be careful in who you trust.

I have been networking and working online for 14 years and I can personally tell you that I have run into way too many to count folks who claim to be an expert in home business, business coaching, training, etc. Most of these times, these folks have had NO professional training and ‘think’ that after 1-2 years of running a home business, that it qualifies them to be an expert. As you can see…it is a big problem online.

My tip & advice to you today is this…if you are thinking about buying someone’s ebook, coaching or training services, you really need to check this person out. Ask them for references, educational/training background etc. You can not take their word on it nor can you figure out if they are legit or not.

Anyone can make a name for themself online…good or bad and when it’s bad…it takes some time to come out.

So always proceed with caution & ask for references and check them out before signing up or purchasing anything from home business guru’s or self-proclaimed experts.

Shelly

Recently I went out and bought a new steno book because my old one had information all over the place. You couldn’t tell which one was my current password to my cPanel let alone to which website it belongs to.

If I should suddenly die, my husband would have no clue how to access any of my accounts or make any sense of the many passwords I have casually listed in my steno book. He didn’t even know the username and password to our online banking! It’s not a surprise because I take care of all our household bills and he really doesn’t have a reason to know, but that isn’t right. He should know regardless.

And if you have business partners or people you have appointed to take control, they should have the necessary information to access your business accounts.

It’s not something we often think about, but…

Who’s going to take care of your business if you die?
Will they continue to run your business for you?
Do they have access to your online accounts?

I wouldn’t want my husband to be burdened with all of this. I want to make it as accessible to him as possible. My new steno book will be filled with all the information he needs and in an orderly manner. It will be updated as necessary.

Maybe this should be called a “Will of your Business”. Are you prepared for the unexpected?

~Sophia

I think one of the hardest thing some people deal with is differentiating the terms work at home job and work at home business. These two terms are different and shouldn’t be use interchangeably. Even the words job and scam are often used broadly and are thrown around far too casually.

Work at home job refers to working for a virtual employer. Jobs include customer service, transcription, writing, IT support, virtual assistant, and so on.

Work at home business refers to MLM, direct sales, and other business or money making opportunities or programs.

Unfortunately, every day someone is misled. Terms for work at home jobs shouldn’t be used when one is promoting a business, yet many business people think it’s a smart tactic to use to build their team. Lying or providing misinformation doesn’t make you a smart business person; it makes you dishonest and that can’t be good for you or your business.

Far too often when people ask for a work at home job and specifically state no investment or upfront fees they mean they don’t want a work at home business opportunity. They want specific tasks, set hours and set pay.

The truth is work at home job and work at home business are not the same thing and they are treated and done differently.

~Sophia

Customer service is vital to your business and reputation online. This is what makes you stand apart from your competitors. Customers make or break your business. Screw it up and you literally tossed your credibility out the window. If you err in business and we all have because we’re only human, own up to it and fix it! Pronto! Don’t ignore repeated emails or phone calls and then make up excuses because it simply won’t fly. Even worse, don’t blame your customer. The customer is always right.

Good customer service is making your customers happy so they will become regular customers and purchase or use your service again. Happy customers are your word-of-mouth. They spread positive feedback about you and your business to their friends, business associates and acquaintances.

Large companies or businesses really can’t afford to not offer good customer service because eventually it will catch up to them, but I know small business owners can’t afford such disservice.

Here are five sure-fire ways to always achieve great customer service.

1. Your ability to listen and understand your customer’s needs
The worse thing is turning a deaf ear on your customer’s wants and needs. It will only upset and frustrate them. Offer what they need and not what they don’t want.

2. Your ability to listen and resolve your customer’s complaints
Acknowledging and validating your customer’s complaints proves you are listening and receptive for a resolution that is fair for both parties.

3. Your ability to be helpful and knowledgeable
Offer suggestions. Most times they are only looking at one aspect. You can help them by providing options or offering additional information.

4. Your ability to not over promise and under deliver
If you can’t guarantee it, don’t promise it!

5. Your ability to show how much you appreciate your customers
Give something extra like a discount on their next purchase or give a complimentary gift. Even a simple “Thank You” note goes a long way.

~Sophia

It’s amazing what things you read make you take notice of you or your business. Some times I feel the article is talking directly to me, but that’s probably due to my paranoia and it’s really not a bad thing, but a helpful thing.

People interpret others in different ways through different things.

- How you are viewed by your website
- How you are viewed by your online behaviour
- How you are viewed by your articles
- How you are viewed by how you network and communicate with others

While these are all legitimate views, they are not always necessarily a true reflection of a person. Thank goodness for that!

A website can tell a lot about you.

If you have a spammy-jammy-scammy looking website, you’re either a scammer, a poor website designer or you have poor taste. Think about it for a moment. Remember the last scam website you looked at? What did it look like and I’m sure you can imagine what kind a person a scammer would look like.

How about a traditional, private person? Their website looks conservative and simple using a monochromatic scheme with a hint of colour. A person who’s not detail-oriented or organized may have a website that looks thrown together without much thought.

Your website is a store front. It either welcomes people or pushes them away. It does say a lot about you, your business or your work ethics or maybe it doesn’t say enough.

But does it say what you want it to say about you?

~Sophia

A website tracker is a very important tool for any webmaster even if you don’t have your own domain name or pay for hosting.

There are four main reasons using a website tracker is imperative even if you’re not promoting anything online.

1. Many people who own their own domain name and use pay hosting will often have a stat tracker included. Depending on your hosting company, many who uses cPanel will show you stats.

These statistics show where your visitors are coming from (search engine including what keyword phrase they used to find you, from another website etc.), track pageviews, show the most popular pages, top referring sites, top search engines, top search phrases and much more. Basically it shows what your visitors are doing or clicking on your website.

You will also see computer specifications such as IP address, country, browser types, resolutions etc.

2. Website trackers will also benefit you in your ad campaigns. It will track unique and returning visitors. How many times your ad was clicked, sales and so forth.

3. Website trackers displays top keyword or keyword phrases that can help you in your article marketing and ad campaigns. Use these keywords or keyword phrases in your articles.

4. What I really like about site trackers is not just the great website information you get, but it also alerts you in finding people who have plagiarised, scraped or stolen content from you. Too many times I have found my content stolen from viewing my statistics.

Here are some website trackers you can look into to add to your websites or use your favourite search engine to find what you need.

- Google Analytics
- Add Free Stats
- Stat Counter
- Site Meter

~Sophia

Whether it’s a Direct Sales business, other work at home business or you work in a brick and mortar office when it comes to presenting a service or product it has to be top-notched or you’re not going to be able to make the sale.

I sat in on a presentation when I was on holidays in Hawaii this past June and it was a very impressive presentation that had me alert, listening and participating.

Don’t bore people to death with a monotonous voice. Here are 10 tips I think a good presenter should follow.

1. Look relaxed. It’s understandable if you’re nervous, but put those nerves aside. Stand straight, feel confident and be confident.

2. Be passionate and excited about what you’re presenting, but not to the point that you’re force selling. Show enthusiasm and energy and speak from your heart.

3. Be competent in your deliverance. Loud enough voice that everyone can hear you, use different tones in your voice, facial expressions, gestures and so on as these all make up how people will perceive you.

4. Know your facts. This should be easy and a no-brainer.

5. Be engaging with people. Get people to respond to you verbally. Get people to help you demonstrate.

6. Be prepared as during a presentation anything can happen out of the blue. Don’t get rattled. Expect the unexpected.

7. Have eye contact with your audience. Avoid focusing in on just the middle. If your audience surrounds the room, pan your eyes from one side of the room to the other.

8. Be aware of your surroundings by listening to the little chatter in the background. This is a good way to nip the uncertainty or question in the bud. It shows you’re listening and involved with your audience and not just your audience involved with you.

9. Add humour and share stories. People relate to other people when they know someone else has walked in their shoes.

10. Smile.

To your success,
~Sophia

When it comes to finding a leader in the same business niche as you, what do you look for? I’m sure the common traits to look for from many people would be honesty, trust, straight-talker-no-bull attitude, knowledgeable, authenticity, professionalism and so on.

As you journey through your own personal and business growth you will come across three types of leaders.

A. The real experts in their niches
B. The “leader” in sheep’s clothing
C. The “leader” who rides the success coattails of others

How do you know the real deal from the fakes? There are some clear signs and these are what you should be looking out for.

1. Articles are fantastic sources of information about specific topics, but it’s also the written work and words from a knowledgeable business person. How does it read? Is it understandable and does it drive the point home for you? Some people can be great writers, yet they hold back on their knowledge like they are afraid to share their most successful secrets. They will only provide common sense knowledge which really is not sharing information at all in my humble opinion.

If they rehash or regurgitate a lot of their old material for newer articles then it’s a sign they aren’t expanding their knowledge.

Subscribe to their article feed or new article alerts. This way you can keep up with all the new articles they have written. In time you will be able to see if what they are writing is really content worthy.

Keep up with their blogs and blog comments. Again this will reveal whether they are truly knowledgeable in their business niche. Do they add value to what’s already being said by a blogger? Do they offer a different perspective? Or are they readily agreeable most times and reiterate what is already being written even when misinformation is presented?

2. Social networking sites can tell a lot about leaders. Niche forums are so wide-opened all you need to do is visit them daily and focus in on two leaders in same niche for comparison.

A leader you want to follow openly engages in all discussions from business related chat or informal chit chat. Not only does it show them as a leader, but it shows them as a real person someone can identify with. Leaders aren’t afraid of controversy nor do they stay away from business discussions. Ask them anything and they are willing to share and talk; they aren’t vague in their responses.

Many leaders also work on personal development. They are always learning and striving to be better all the time. They motivate and inspire, they have clear goals and they think outside the box. They are creative and original.

Fittingly so eventually you want to be business leader A. You want to be able to stand on your own two feet. No riding on someone else’s successes or pretending to be someone you’re not.

Follow your leaders’ footsteps as a guide. Always strive to learn more today than you knew yesterday and be true to yourself.

To your success,
Sophia

Anyone and everyone who works at home will at least face some type of distraction every so often. Working on the computer offers a lot of distractions…surfing the net, engaging in social network sites, instant messaging and email are the main factors why people get off track.

Here are some ways you can keep yourself on track.

10 Suggestions To Kill Work At Home Distractions

Working at home and being there for your children is a luxury. Who wouldn’t want to be in my shoes? The downside, there are many challenges and distractions.

As a business owner, I can be more flexible than your telecommuter who has a virtual boss hundreds of miles away, but sometimes that flexibility is more of a disadvantage than an advantage.

Here are 10 suggestions to put an end to these work at home distractions.

1. Phone
Let your voice mail pick up your phone calls. If you’re not expecting an important call, turn down the volume so you can’t hear who’s leaving a message.

2. Television and Radio
Television and radio are the worse offenders of background noise. Some music can influence your mood and put you in a non-working frame of mind.

3. Email, Instant Messaging, Social Network Sites
Don’t keep your email programs, instant messaging, or social network sites minimized or opened. Enough said.

4. Children
They are one of the many reasons we choose to work at home, but they are pure distraction. Babysitters, daycares, play dates are all good options, but they may not be viable options all the time. Scheduling is very important. Set aside block times for work and for your children. Work doesn’t have to be 8 hour days.

5. Food
Stock your pantry and fridge with fruits and veggies for quick and easy healthy lunches and snacks. Avoid drinking alcohol. Always have water at your desk as dehydration causes fatigue, headaches, irritability and more.

6. Procrastination
We avoid it because it difficult to do or we don’t enjoy doing it. You have two choices:

A. Perform the task at your peak performance time when you’re really alert and work focused or

B. Completely scrap the task if it’s not important. Don’t hang on to the task or save it for another day.

7. Weather
I find it harder to work when it’s sunny and warm. I know I’m not alone. Know when to stop and don’t overwork. Distraction is not always a negative thing.

8. Work Attire
Many people have admitted to wearing their pajamas while working at home. Is it productive? I don’t think so. Get up, shower, get dressed, eat breakfast and start your day. These things get you moving and your blood circulating and it puts your mind in a work focused mode.

9. Work Schedule
I know when I oversleep I’m more tired and unmotivated throughout the day. Getting up early for me is the best. We’re all different in what works well. Find the time when you’re the most energetic and do your difficult tasks at that time.

10. Housework
There’s nothing wrong with a messy house; a dirty one is a different story. If you keep your house clean and neat then clean up is a snap. Laundry, dishwashing and other chores can be done in between your breaks. It’s all about utilizing your time in the most efficient way.

Working at home really requires a lot of self-discipline, careful planning and knowing what works for you. If you can do all that, then work at home distractions can be kept to a minimum or at the very least, none at all.

S McIntyre is the founder of WorkAtHomeSpace.com a free work at home resource focusing on work at home companies, daily telecommuting job leads, articles, business resources, networking forum and other work at home related topics.