Beware – Self Professed Home Business Guru’s & Experts

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

It’s Just Not About Selling Your Products

When it comes to having a Direct Sales home business, its just not about selling your products to your customers. Direct Sales and Network Marketing is also about building relationships with your customers, party hosts, team members, etc.

Many times a consultant gets too focused in pushing the product sale that they forget about building a trustworthy business relationship with the customer/client.

One of the ways you can build a relationship with your customer is to keep in contact with them. Let the customer know that you appreciate their business and that you are there for them when then need additional items.

When I work on building a relationship with my customers and clients, I like to talk to them about some generic personal topics…such as: Are they married, have children, hobbies, holidays, vacation plans and so forth. By allowing some personal chit-chat when you are conversing with customers/clients, this opens up the door to some ‘personal’ relationship building.

Studies have shown that customers/clients are more apt to do business with you or refer their friends and family to you…if they feel like they have a good business & personal relationship with you. It reminds me of the old saying “Customers will do business with those they know & trust” so its your job to get to know your customers and to let your customers get to know you.

When you take the time to build relationships with those who you come into contact with…this will lead to future sales, additional party bookings, new team members and so forth. Relationship building is well worth your time & effort and should be done on a consistent basis.

How do you like to build relationships with your customers and clients?

Shelly

Direct Sales – Eliminating Tasks That Waste Your Time

When it comes to a Direct Sales home business, we often find ourselves too busy to complete all of our daily business, personal and family tasks. One way to solve this problem is to eliminate the tasks that are not yielding you the results that you seek.

I recently sat down and made a list of all of my tasks in any given day…I separated this list into 3 categories: Business, Family and Personal. Once I had my lists compiled, I re-examined them to see what was working and what wasn’t working and decided to change the things that were not yielding me the results that I needed.

Business- I decided to lighten my load and not take on any more business projects. I also decided to delegate some tasks to others to free up more of my time. You can do this yourself by hiring an assistant…a virtual assistant would be a great way to go if you are doing business online. A VA (Virtual Assistant) can answer your emails, write & draft up your newsletters, handle some of your social media networking and update your blogs and sites for you. In my case…I decided to unload some of my business tasks to others.

Family – I am pretty good at keeping up with my family obligations since I no longer have children at home. However, I found that even adult children can interrupt your day with things they want you do to for them. To solve this problem, I have left my daughter know that between the hours of such and such…I can not help her unless it’s an emergency. I also observed on my list that my housework from time to time would slide so I could work on business projects. I have now decided to pencil in 1 1/2 hours a day to work on housework, cooking meals, running errands, making family phone calls, etc. When it comes to handling all of my family tasks, I find that a schedule and list making…is the way to go for me.

Personal – In my personal area I found that I wasn’t taking enough time out for myself every day. When you don’t take care of YOU…everything else suffers. I have always allowed myself 1 hour of personal time every day. After looking over my list, I have realized that its not enough. So…to solve that problem, I now give myself 2 hours a day to do whatever it is that I want. This can include going out for a walk, gardening, crafting, shopping, whatever.

I guess what I am trying to say with my blog post today is that I feel its important to sit down and make 3 lists every other month. Go over your task lists and review them to see what is and isn’t working. If you are participating in any tasks that are not yielding you the results that you want…it is time to elimate or change them.

Shelly

Proper Times To Make Business Phone Calls

As a home business owner myself, I can tell you that I absolutely hate it when I get a business phone call before 8am or after 9pm EST.

What I have learnt over the years is that you should never make any type of customer/business phone calls to a persons home before 8am or after 9pm unless you have that customer/clients permission to do so.

It is perfectly fine for you to accept phone calls any time of the day or night that you see fit…but it’s not okay to call people up at inappropriate times because it ‘fits’ into your business schedule.

Furthermore, If you don’t know the time zone that your customer/client lives in…then your best bet is to try to call mid-day or early evening your time…that way you are not calling too early in the morning or too late at night in their particular time zone. (North America Time Zones)

Nothing will irritate a customer/client more than being waken from bed at 7am to take your call.

When making business calls, use common sense.

Shelly

Defining Work At Home Job vs Work At Home Business

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

Proper Online Networking Skills…

I have been networking my home business online since 1997 and I have been working from home since 1989…so I have been networking for a long time.

It never ceases to amaze me how poorly home business professionals act online in regards to networking on forum boards and on social networking groups.

Let me just say this…when it comes to networking, first impression is everything!

When you are networking on forum boards and social networking sites (facebook, twitter, ning, myspace, linkedin, etc) you need to remember to act appropriately on these groups.

Way too often I see folks only join these groups to just spam advertisements and then they leave. They come back and spam another ad and it becomes routine to them.

Networking is not about spamming your business ads 24/7 to those you meet online. Networking is about building quality business relationships with others who are also running and promoting a home business.

To build a quality relationship, you need to communicate effectively, participate in non-business and business discussions and more importantly, limit the ‘in your face’ advertisements.

~ Shelly ~

Direct Sales – Online Vendor Fairs Part 3

For the past few weeks I have been giving you an brief overview about online Direct Sales Vendor Events. Today, I will finish up by telling you how to find a good DS Vendor Fair to participate in.

To find online vendor fairs, you need to visit various work at home mom (wahm) forum boards and/or web sites, work at home web sites or Direct Sales web sites. You can also find some by doing a web search on google for the keyword Direct Sales Vendor Fair.

Most vendor fair hosts do charge you a small amount of money to participate, usually $3.00 to $20.00 to help cover the costs of the chat room and advertising of the event. However, you will find a few free ones if you look for them.

When it comes to signing up and participating in an online vendor fair, there are a few things you need to look for.

1. How is the event being advertised? If the host site is charging you to particpate, they are equally responsible for helping to advertise the event.

Look online or ask them directly how they are advertising the event? Is this advertising online and/or offline? Text Ads, Banner Ads, Social Network Ads or forum ads?

Once you have that information, INVESTIGATE and make sure you are seeing those advertisements. Why? In my 5 years of doing online vendor events, way too often I have seen host sites take your money and then never advertise the event, they are clearly doing this for profit. If they are charging you…you have the RIGHT to expect that they are advertising the event. (and not just ads on their site).

2. Are the times posted for the Vendor Fair Time Slots, convenient? What I mean is this, are the time slots great ones that can be utilized by all time zones?

Example: a 9am to 12 noon EST time are NOT good time slots because West Coast Shoppers are still in bed or busy that early in the morning.

3. Fair Spots should run 30-60 minutes in length. Anything under 30 minutes is a joke in my opinion. I once attended a fair that the vendors had 10 minute spots, are you kidding me? By the time they got done with their intro, they cut them off and moved onto the next vendor. Anything over 60 minutes loses the customers attention.

4. Is there a variety of companies being represented? If you sell jewelry, you don’t want to present your items on the same day that 8 other jewelry consultants present their products. There needs to be a variety of vendors with a variety of products.

I once attended a vendor fair online and in a 6 hour period of time, there were 5 candle company consultants…this was candle company over-kill.

5. Reputation and Word Of Mouth. You should always ask other consultants online if they have ever heard of XYZ site and if anyone has ever participated in one of their vendor events. Why? Reputation! Over time, a good vendor site will build a strong following that produces the results that you seek. A newer site will not have the same results as an established one. So, you should ask other consultants who do business online for their recommendations and experience.

In a nut shell, particpating in online vendor events can prove to be a great extension of your business to garner in some additional product sales. However, you need to participate with vendor sites who know what they are doing.

Important Reminder: Just as its important for the host site to advertise and promote the event, its equally IMPORTANT that you help to advertise the event too. A vendor event can ONLY be successful if both the host site and ALL of the vendors help to promote the event.

Shelly

Work At Home Job Leads: Oct 22

I wrote an article recently about being prepared before you actually start looking for a work at home job. It’s important to take this step because you’ll have a better chance of finding an at home job. It’s stressful as is so being prepared will take away some of that worry.

Read Preparation Is The Key To A Successful Work At Home Job Search

Good luck with today’s job leads!

Internet Search Consultant (Chinese Speakers) – Researched
P/T Client Services Representative – Researched – Tempe, AZ
Customer Service Sales Associate – Researched
Freelance Writer
P/T Scheduling Rep – GA
Freelance Writers – Researched
Hospitality CS and Reservations Specialist
Fiction Book Editor
SEO Web Content Writing – Onsite & Remote TX
Homebased Salesperson – Detroit
Customer Service Representative

~Sophia

Turn Your Passion For Web Design Into A Home Business

If you are looking for a home based business that requires dedication, hard work, creativity and a passion for web graphic design…then perhaps being a freelance graphic design artist is for you.

Web graphic designers are in high demand all over the world, especially on the internet. Designers put their talents to work on blogs, websites, advertising banners, buttons and logos, as well as designing covers for Ebook publishers.

Let’s take a look at the different ways you can make some money online by doing graphic design work.

Designing Websites – Every day there are thousands of new websites being published online. These website o wners are looking for professionals to help design their website graphics, templates, logos, buttons and banners.

Designing Blogs – One of the hottest forms of website publishing these days is blogging. If you are not familiar with blogging, a blog is a website based log or diary. It can be a personal or business blog and is usually updated by the owner. Millions of bloggers are hiring professionals to design their blogging templates, headers and graphics.

Online Newsletter Publishing – You will find thousands of professional companies now publishing their own online newsletters which are sent out via email to their customers and/or subscribers. If you can design a newsletter with a few simple graphics, this would be an easy way for you to earn additional income. The majority of companies that hire a freelance graphic designer for these types of projects, will also provide you with the text content of the newsletter. All you need to do is format the newsletter, add a graphic or two and send it back to the company for its distribution list.

Ebook Cover Designs – Professional and amateur writers are publishing their own books online…this type of book publishing is called an ebook. You will find that most authors want a custom made graphic for the cover of their ebook, the more original the cover, the more money you can make designing one.

If you are creative and have knowledge in graphic design, you can find thousands of people and businesses online who need your graphic design services. You will want to be prepared and draft up a design portfolio and samples of your work ahead of time, so that you are ready to apply for freelance job opportunities.

Copyright © 2009 Shelly Hill, Work At Home Business Options, All rights reserved. This article may not be reproduced or reprinted for publication.

6 Responsibilities Of A Direct Sales Team Leader

As a Direct Sales Manager, I can personally tell you that managing a large team can be a difficult balancing act. It all boils down to being organized as a leader.

I recommend that you create a business schedule. On this schedule, you want to mark off blocks of time, where you will be working on specific tasks, relating to managing your team. Here are the 6 tasks you need to focus on.

1. Communication.

As a leader, it’s your job to communicate with your group. This communication can be done by phone, email, postal mail, and in-person local meetings. I recommend that you communicate with your members once a week.

2. Motivation and Encouragement.

Dream boards are excellent tools for staying on track and providing motivation. Teach your consultants how to use dream boards. It could be as simple as…when you wake up in the morning walk over to your dream board and say out loud with confidence while pointing to the items “I want to drive a Mercedes Benz”. “I want to put a down payment on a new home within 6 months,” and so on. When they are done, have them list their goals for today only. They are going to learn how to grow their business one day at a time, so the goals should be attainable. Encourage them to forge ahead to make it happen.

3. Professionalism.

As a leader, it is your job to set forth a professional example. A strong and healthy team is built on professionalism. I recommend keeping your relationship with members on a business level.

4. Share Your Knowledge.

If you are building a downline, it is your job to help train them. You can hold one on one or group training sessions at your home or at another location. The more time you spend educating and training your team about the business, the more successful they will be.

5. Time.

Give the gift of ‘time’ to your team. You need to realize that a certain amount of time every day needs to be spent on working with your downline. This can be in the form of training, answering emails, taking phone calls, publishing a newsletter, assisting them with parties and offering your help when they need it.

6. Reward and Appreciation.

Reward your consultants for a job well done. When they reach goals or milestones within the business, reward them with a gift that you have personally selected for them. This shows that you appreciate them and their hard work. In addition, it can provide a great incentive for them to acheive the next level.

Managing a team isn’t hard nor difficult, it just requires your time and some organizational skills. If you build a strong relationship with your consultants, they will respond in a positive way.

This article is Copyright © 2009 By Shelly Hill, all rights reserved. If you would like to reprint this article, please contact us.

Next Page »