How to Stay Focused on Your Home Business Goals
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-10596
When you are the owner of a home business, you
will find hundreds of distractions that vie for
your time, energy and focus.
Common distractions include: children, family,
friends, neighbors, pets, phone calls, mail,
household chores, video games, television,
neighborhood children, visitors, and so many more.
As an owner of a home based business, you must
always remember your purpose in bringing your
profession home. What was your reason for wanting
to own a home business? Was your goal to work
from home so that you can share in the lives of
your children? Was your goal to be out from under
the rule of a tyrannical boss? Was your goal to
have the freedom to work when it is convenient
for you? Was your goal to make tons of money
working for yourself?
Here's a few good tips that will help you stay
focused on your home business:
TIP #1:
Whatever your reason for going out on your own,
you must keep your reason in the forefront of
your mind. If you forget your reason for starting
your own home business, you will not be working
for yourself for long. It is far too easy to let
circumstance drive your activities --- and when
circumstance is in the driver's seat, you are
more likely to crash and burn.
TIP #2:
Remember --- your own business is a lot like a
real job. Some people go to work to play, some go
to socialize, and others --- most often those who
are paid in a commission or tip environment
--- go to work to work and to make money. When
you work for yourself, your salary is directly
proportional to your productivity. Therefore,
wouldn't it make sense to stay focused on getting
as much done in as short of a period as possible?
Go to work to work and to make money. Leave
playtime and recreation for when your workday has
ended.
TIP #3:
When you are dealing with family in the course of
your workday, it is important to schedule your
activities as much as possible. With small
children, you must take time when you must, but
you should also work hard to make sure you
dedicate a specific number of hours to your
workday.
With older children, it is much easier to tell
them that you will be working between the hours
of x and y. Your children and your friends must
understand that certain hours of your day are
devoted to the activities of your business.
TIP #4:
Don't permit your friends and extended family to
run over you. Many people get the blind idea that
if one works from home then they are not actually
working.
Well-meaning people may try to fill your doorway
to bring advice about getting a real job. Others
may simply believe that if you are at home, then
you are fair game for chitchat and socialization.
You must stand firm. You must make certain your
friends and family understands that when you are
working, then you ARE working! If they wish to
socialize with you, then they need to do it
during the hours that are not dedicated to your
home business.
You are the only one who can stand up for you.
Your friends and family will seldom be able to
appreciate your dedication to your home business,
unless you make the effort to make sure that they
have the same respect for your business that you
do.
TIP #5:
You should allot a certain portion of your day to
email and to regular mail. For example, allot one
hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon
to handling your written communications.
Unless you dedicate certain times to the handling
of these communications, you will soon find
yourself on the downward slope of decreased
productivity.
TIP #6:
When you find yourself spending too much time
doing non-productive activities, then you should
seriously consider finding a third-party service
provider who will assist you in those
non-profitable business activities.
As an example, you might be in the mail-order
business. You might believe that your time is
best spent writing ad copy and setting up your
advertising, but you find yourself spending far
too much time taking care of your books to take
care of your advertising in the manner that you
should. In this event, it might make more sense
to hire a bookkeeper to handle your financial
records for you.
CONCLUSION:
In the end, the success of your home business is
entirely and completely reliant upon you and the
decisions that you make.
You had your reasons for deciding to start your
own home based business. You must always keep
your reasons in the forefront of your mind. You
must always be able to rely upon your own self
and your dedication to the success of your
business.
Your friends and family might be annoyed that
they cannot come visit upon their own whim, but
when success comes to you and your business, they
will better appreciate you for putting your foot
down when necessary.
Success is within your reach, if only you can
stay focused on your goals. You must decide to
reach for your goals, and then, you must have the
discipline necessary to reach them.
About The Author:
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http://profit-today.blogspot.com/2005/11/promoting-your-business-with-copper.html
Promoting Your Business with Copper Wire? Think Again!
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-10596
So many people launch their first or second
business with the misconception that they can
survive without advertising. It is their fear of
failure that almost single-handedly assures their
failure. They fear spending the money that they
need to get and keep their business running
during those early years of their operation.
Let’s face it, when you start in business, money
is usually pretty darn tight. So, you must figure
out how to get off the ground without throwing
your money down the drain. Every single red cent
is important enough to hang onto with a tight
fist.
NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO REINVENT COPPER WIRE
I am reminded of an old joke a friend used to
tell about himself.
My friend had always told me that both he and his
brother were the inventers of copper wire. He
insisted that the two of them were fighting over
a penny one day and managed to stretch it out
into the first strand of copper wire known to
mankind.
Indeed, now is not the time to try to reinvent
copper wire.
ADVERTISING IS A NECESSARY COMPONENT OF A
SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS
The point of advertising is to notify your
customers of the existence of your business. It
is necessary to tell people that you are in
business and to tell them what products and
services you are offering.
Unless people know that you are offering a
certain product or service at a certain price, no
one will knock upon your door to buy your wares.
If you fail to attract customers and dollars,
your business will die. Therefore, advertising is
a must for the success of your business. Sure,
word of mouth can take you places, but it can
only take you so far. Advertising is designed to
pick up where word of mouth leaves off.
ATTRITION IS A DEFINITE FACTOR TO CONSIDER
Attrition is a factor in all businesses. A
business is able to pick up so many customers and
dollars on every advertising or promotion
venture. Yet, a certain portion of your old and
new customers and dollars will drop off over time.
You simply cannot rest on your laurels. You must
continue to generate new business and new dollars
or your business will die.
EZINE PUBLISHING DELIVERS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF
COMMERCIAL ATTRITION
If you have ever published an online ezine, then
you will have seen attrition first hand.
You can spend all week advertising your ezine and
note that your efforts have generated for example
500 new subscribers. Yet, by the end of the week,
your subscriber base has only climbed by 250
subscribers. What went wrong?
Well, this is how it works. Keep in mind this is
only an example to make my point, but if you have
ever published an ezine, then you will know I am
right on the money with this observation.
In one week:
· 500 people sign up for the first time.
· 40 of those people unsubscribe after the very
first issue because they do not like the content.
· 30 people quit after the first issue because
their only purpose in subscribing in the first
place was to get the freebie you had offered to
new subscribers.
· 30 of those people unsubscribe because they do
not remember subscribing to the ezine in the
first place.
· 80 email addresses bounce due to ISP email
filters.
· 20 people bounce because they did not pay their
Internet bill.
· 35 people have simply changed their email
addresses without submitting a change of address
to you.
· 15 people have quit the Internet altogether.
In the final analysis, 100 of your new
subscribers, or 20% of your newcomers are gone
after one week. Another 150 subscribers were
long-time subscribers who are gone for other
reasons.
If you make the mistake of stopping your
advertising, your ezine list will eventually wind
down to one subscriber --- you. In our example,
150 long-time subscribers disappear every week,
and there is nothing you can do to stop it. You
must absolutely keep a fresh flow of new
subscribers coming into the ezine in order
to stay ahead of the attrition curve.
STAYING AHEAD OF THE ATTRITION CURVE
An ezine or a business, what is the difference?
Not much. Your business will suffer the same fate
as the ezine if you do not advertise. I don’t
know how to make it any more clear than this.
Yes, you must be careful not to throw your money
away on advertising that does not generate
results. But you cannot afford to throw the baby
out with the bath water.
Carefully, pick your advertising, study your
results, and put your money back into what is
working for you.
In conclusion, you must decide. Do you want to
advertise your business, or do you want to watch
your business die? The decision is yours and
yours alone. Well, what are you going to do?
About The Author:
--------------------------------------------------
Stone Evans Will Personally Build A Money Making
Website Just For You That's 100% Ready To Take
Orders And Pull In Massive Residual Profits Today!
Get All The Exciting Details And Signup Now At:
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-10596
--------------------------------------------------
NOTE: You have full permission to reprint this
article within your website or newsletter as long
as you leave the article fully intact and include
the "About The Author" resource box. Thanks! :-)
Major False Claims Act Victory for Whistleblowers in Iraq Fraud Case: Fourth Circuit Reverses Custer Battles Decision
In a major victory today for whistleblowers reporting fraud in the Iraq reconstruction effort, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a trial court's decision that took away a jury verdict from the whistleblowers or relators in this qui tam case under the False Claims Act.
The Custer Battles case has been a hard-fought one, which until this decision had produced one of the odder results found.
With hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars spent on the Iraq War and Iraq reconstruction, and with the False Claims Act supposedly protecting U.S. taxpayer funds from fraud, the whistleblowers filed a qui tam case under the False Claims Act that alleged fraud in certain contracts that addressed, among other things, replacing Iraqi currency in the Iraq reconstruction effort.
After the jury awarded a verdict to the whistleblowers, the trial court overturned it. The trial court did not view claims presented to the Coalition Provisional Authority (“CPA”) that was created and funded by the United States as the same as claims presented to the U.S. Government, even though the CPA officials were U.S. Government employees, and U.S. dollars were lost. Today's decision by the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's decision and corrected that odd result.
This is a very positive development for whistleblowers reporting fraud in Iraq and elsewhere, as it corrects a strained interpretation of the law that has allowed fraud to go unaddressed. We congratulate everyone associated with this effort.
The Court's conclusion from the decision today is quoted below:
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