Triple County Career Link

When you were younger, did you ever dream about having your own home business? Were you sidetracked somewhere along the way and now find yourself caught in the 40-40-40 rut?

40-40-40 Plan (Rut)

40 minutes going to and from work

40 hours of work per week

40 years of life spent working slaving away for someone else?

When things get unfairly tough at work, do you still dream about your own home business – what you would do, how you would run your own home business, how you would treat your employees, what kind of money you would make, what product you would sell? Then when you decide to make a change in your life, do you look for another 40-40-40 job, putting your dream of your own home business on the back burner again for more of the same?

Do you know the end results of the 40-40-40 plan?

1% are wealthy enough to retire in comfort

3% are barely able to survive

27% are dead

69% are dead broke

Since you are still reading this article, I am going to assume you are looking for a change, moreover, a change as quickly as possible. So, let me share some of the wisdom I have gleaned from looking for a home business opportunity.

The two major focal points when looking for a home business opportunity are ones that will:

· optimize your efforts and time

· produce optimal financial rewards

Below are seven simple criteria to consider when looking for a home business opportunity:

1. Look for a business opportunity that offers a product or service that is, or will be, used daily by every household and/or business…

Think about products or services in your house that probably everyone around the globe uses on a daily basis. For example, services such as utilities, communication, appliances, etc., or products such as shoes, clothing, soap, etc.

Now think bigger – a product or service used on a daily basis AND that would represent a paradigm shift. For example, a paradigm shift was created in global communication when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Before 1885, no one had a telephone, nor had they ever heard the word “telephone”. Today, how many people do you know that do not have a telephone or cell phone?

2. Search for a home business opportunity that offers a product or service that has a global market…

It’s a small world. Plain old common sense would tell you that a home business opportunity with a product or service that has a global market would produce warp speed revenue when compared to one that is only within a local, regional, or national area. For example, the revenue produced from Microsoft with a global market is light years greater than that of a local shoe repair shop.

In addition, as you research this global home business opportunity, you will want to make sure that you are not required to stock products. It is time consuming to order products, receive and send out the products, manage backlogs, etc., not to mention the additional costs out of your pocket for shipping and mailing. You also encounter product changes or upgrades that makes your stock obsolete. So, avoid these types of home business opportunities like the plague.

3. An absolute must! Find a home business opportunity that incorporates leverage in its pay plan…

A business opportunity that incorporates leverage in its pay plan provides the best of both worlds. Leverage is a relatively simple concept. The best example is probably Ray Kroc and McDonald’s. Ray Kroc set up franchises for McDonald’s that agreed to pay him 3% of their profits.

In essence, McDonald’s sits back and collects 3% of the profits resulting from others exerting their time and their efforts. Let’s say, just for discussion purposes, that Ray Kroc sold 100 franchises and each produced profits of $50,000 that year. 3% would have produced $150,000 for Ray Kroc, yet he personally exerted no effort or time himself. What he did do though was brilliant, as he applied leverage by selling franchises, and became quite a wealthy man as a result.

Leveraging your home business will minimize your time and effort while maximizing your financial rewards. In a relatively short period of time, your home business will take on a life of its own, and you will be on the fast track to healthy wealth.

To find a home business opportunity that will rocket you into financial freedom, the company should incorporate leverage, not only in their business plan, but also in their financial rewards, preferably on a weekly, monthly, and annual basis – one of which should be residual. Residual is important because you want some form of steady income that you can depend on.

4. Search for a home business opportunity with a company that has live 24/7 support available…

Perhaps you have experienced the nightmare of attempting to make an automated payment where you could not figure out which button to push next, or what they meant by their selection choices, and you were unable to talk to a real person to get your question answered. The frustration even compounds when there is a deadline involved for a continuation of service.

Repeat customers comprise 75% of businesses, and satisfied customers will be the main reason for their repeat business with you and your product or service. Even in this automated society, the person-to-person contact is preferred, at least by the customer. Therefore, your success is dependent upon a home business opportunity with a company that has live, warm bodied live support 24/7 – whether it is support you may need, or support your customer may need.

Another important aspect of a home business opportunity with a company that offers live support 24/7, is the global perspective. What is morning for you may be the next day for someone else on the other side of the globe. To be honest, I am hard pressed to think of an international company with live personal support. Locally, they are even hard to find! So, when you locate a global home business with a personal touch, you have found a true gold nugget.

5. Seek a home business opportunity with a company that has a proven success record…

A lot of people, and a lot of companies offering their business opportunity, will tell you anything they think YOU want to hear in order to separate you from your money. When you talk to someone about a home business opportunity – turn the tables. You interview them.

Don’t be afraid to ask the hard questions like what they are making on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis with their home business. Ask them how long they have been running their own home business. Find out how many hours a day, week, or month they spend working their business. Ask them to give you examples of how they market their home business. Especially important is to ask if they have to spend additional money for items such as business cards, advertising tools, etc.

An example of a company with a proven success record is Xerox. Although Xerox is not a home business, it has a proven success record. In fact, they were so successful that their name is not only an icon, but the name “Xerox” is synonymous with the word “copy”.

6. Look for a home business opportunity with a company that incorporates training from experts and other professionals…

The majority of people on the Internet do not know how to harness the power of the Internet and turn it into wealth machine for themselves. Most people do not know how to market a home business. Therefore, a home business opportunity with a company that incorporates professional, expert training, taking you from the basics through the advanced stages of a marketing system, including how to use software programs, marketing tools, etc., is a virtual gold mine.

If you are unable to reach your target audience – those most likely to be interested in what you are selling-you will not be able to reach the number of people necessary to truly become successful. Simple promotion of your website may generate a few sales here and there, but you need an effective marketing plan in order to bring visitors to your website and increase your sales volume.

One thing to understand is your marketing efforts need to go beyond simply submitting your website to the search engines. While this part of marketing is important-if you don’t submit your website to the search engines no one will be able to find it in a search-it is certainly not the only marketing you should do. In fact, if search engine submission is the limit of your marketing efforts, it will take you quite some time to draw enough visitors to your website for you to achieve success. In fact, when you are first starting your online business, you want to reach as many potential customers as possible.

When you build your advertising platform, it is also important to identify your target audience. You don’t want to waste efforts promoting your website to those who are not likely to be interested; the key to a successful online business is working hard and expanding your marketing efforts in order to reach those who are most likely to buy your products or services.

Choosing the Right Online Business Idea: Identify Your Specific Needs and Goals

In order to choose the right online business idea you have to first identify your own specific needs and goals. Do not choose a business idea because it worked for your brother, cousin, or best friend because their needs are different than yours. You need to personalize your business so that it will be able to meet your expectations; for this reason you need to analyze and evaluate exactly what you want from your business. You need to set specific and realistic goals, not just simply saying you want to make a lot of money. How much money do you want to make? What is your time horizon for making that money? How do you plan to market your business in order to meet your goals? All of these factors are important in order to identify what kind of business will meet your needs and help you achieve your goals.

It is also important to choose an online business idea that interests you and falls within your area of expertise. Many people make the mistake of choosing a business because they have been led to believe it has the potential to help them become wealthy quickly. It is essential to understand that wealth never comes overnight for anyone; there is always a great deal of work necessary for anyone to reach that level in any business. That doesn’t mean it never happens-there are always exceptions. Sometimes a person just happens to be in the right place at the right time and happens to get lucky.

Choosing the right online business idea is not a decision anyone should make quickly. What you need to do is look over each possibility and compare it to your goals, aspirations and expectations before you make a decision. You also have to look at it in terms of the time you have available and the type of investment you may need to make in order to achieve the level of success you desire. Only when you have followed all these steps are you ready to make a final decision.

Finding the Right Online Business Opportunities: Read and Research First

One of the most important aspects of any online business is making sure you conduct enough research to make an informed decision. With so many online business opportunities it’s important to take the time to research what is available instead of attempting to make a quick decision that may turn out to be the wrong one. It’s every easy to think you have enough information about a business opportunity to make a decision, but unless you take your time and compare several different opportunities you do not have enough information to make an informed decision.

Is it really that important to research online business opportunities before you make a final decision? That depends-ask yourself another question: how important is it for you to make money with an online business? If you’re looking for something to gain a little experience and earn some extra money it probably isn’t very important to conduct a great deal of research. On the other hand if you are looking for an online business opportunity that will generate enough money for you to earn a substantial part-time or full-time income you will need to research several opportunities before you have enough information to make the right decision.