Marketing in a Recession? YES!

Is the current tough market the right time to be slashing your advertising budget? Not if you want your business to survive the economic downturn and lay the groundwork to thrive when the economy improves! Tough times may actually provide us our best opportunity to reach out to our customers with little or no competition because so many of our competitors are doing just the opposite of that in an attempt to save money.

During good times everyone has the money (and bravery) to seek out clients, creating an atmosphere of extreme competition where reaching the consumer with your message proves to be exceedingly difficult. NOW is the time to have faith in your product or service, to reach out to your customers and to secure your success now and into the future. And there are easy and cost effective ways of doing so.

There are some simple things that you can do. Everyone knows about the internet, but not everyone knows the free ways to get exposure on the internet. You can write an article about your industry, or a product, and submit it to one of the many sites that accept them. At the end of your article, you mention your business and have a link to your website. Each site has it's guidelines on how the articles are to be written, so make sure to follow them. This will help establish you as a leader in your industry as long as the information you share is helpful and not self-promoting.

Guerilla marketing is great in slow time. Have some flyers or postcards made. One of your employees or friends can design it or you can find an affordable place to do it for you. During your slow time, have your employees go to a busy area and hand them out. Now you are putting your message directly into the hands of prospective customers. Make sure you have an attractive offer that will entice people to visit your business. Obviously, this is mainly for businesses with a store front, but you can do guerilla marketing online as well.

Guerilla marketing is done differently online. With blogs and social networking sites, there are opportunities to market your business in a different setting. You can create blogs and check the response you get from each entry which can help you check what the market is interested in at any given time. Or you can find blogs that have an issue that your company can help with. Respond to the blog with your company information. You can set up an account with a social networking site, giving more information about your business and connecting to other businesses to network and exchanges leads.

 

Cross promote with other businesses, in other ways. If you're feeling the pinch of the economy, most likely other businesses in your area/industry are feeling it as well. Find other businesses that don't compete with yours and see about exchanging some flyers or a banner promoting each other's business. Or if your business is online, do a link exchange with other businesses. Do not over due the link exchange or Google may lower your organic search results. Be selective in who you work with both online and in the brick and mortar world.

Press Releases can be a very effective way to bring attention to your business. If you have something that impacts the community, then you can have someone write a press release for you. If you hire someone to do it for you, make sure they know how to write and distribute it. Again, remember the topic must be something that impacts the community and not just a self-serving piece promoting your business.

These are just some of the ideas that will help your business grow in any economy. There are plenty of marketing options out there. You just need to find the ones that work for you.

About the Author:
Rob Bedell is an expert in the media industry and has worked in the industry for over 15 years. He has worked with some of the largest media companies in the world, Tribune and Knight-Ridder, as well as helping restructure and rebuild other companies in the Los Angeles, CA Metropolitan area. He now owns a marketing company that helps small to medium sized business, making sure that their marketing pays them back. http://www.bedellmediaconsulting.com

 

Emotional benefits of choosing a small focused niche

Virtually every work at home guru, always advices their followers to choose their niche wisely. The common advice is it should be something you enjoy, has profit potential, low to moderate competition and isn’t too large.

Now all this sounds like general common sense from a business standpoint but until you make the unfortunate boo boo of choosing the wrong niche, and then start over in a better one, you can’t appreciate this good advice.

Choosing the right niche puts you the right mental and emotional state. If you choose a niche that is broad and has little interest to you, you will fail. You will be stressed, and as feelings of failure continue to develop, you can seep into depression and give up on your work at home goal entirely. However, if you follow the advice of the gurus and do your research to find a small niche to focus a website around, you increase your success rate by more than half.

Part of the reason why you are more successful is because you are less stressed.

1.You are working within a niche that you already have a strong interest in. This helps you to create content and your marketing campaigns easier. This already gives you an edge over your competition

2.Your mind is focused on one thing; this makes it easier to get tasks done. If you run a site with multiple themes and topics it can be hard to decide what to do next. But when you have one site that offers advice on one thing it makes so much easier to sit down and focus.

3.You know your visitors needs. The number one problem with flea market sites (sites that host too many topics) is they don’t know what their visitors want. They may not even know what types of visitors they’re attracting. Without having the knowledge of your visitor’s wants and needs it is very difficult to prove to them that you are what their are looking for.

This translates to a loss of sales.

But knowing your visitors and what they expect from you is bliss. You know how to design your site, what type of content to provide, in what type of voice. You know what products to offer and in what price range. It’s just great.

There is less guessing when you choose a suitable niche, less stress, and less of an emotional strain. Take the time to do the research; your nerves will thank you.

5 Simple Rules To Website Design

For years, we have been told that when going to an interview you have 10 seconds to make a lasting first impression. There is no difference when designing your website than making the first impression in an interview. You are making a first impression with the internet visitor who has searched for what you are offering in your website design. The first impression can make the difference between in a paying customer or just a visitor to your website.
Here are just 5 simple rules to keep in mind when designing your website.

Rule #1. Limit the use or do not use flashy banners and advertisements at the beginning of you website. There is a time and place for the banners and advertisements.
There is nothing more annoying than clicking on a website to see cartoon characters and advertisements for other products flashing in front of your face. This can be too much for your potential customer. Your customer is there for a purpose and if the blatant advertisements or flashing banners turn them off they may just hit the back button before they find what they are looking for.
The only exception to this rule is determined by the purpose of you website.


Rule #2. Make sure your website design make it easy for the visitor to find the navigation buttons. If a customer has to search for a navigation button to find information about the company or the navigation buttons are not working, the visitor may get frustrated and leave you website.
As a rule of thumb, your navigation buttons should be on the left side of your web page because the majority of people read from left to right. Think about reading a newspaper or a book. You look at the headlines then you read from the left to the right.

Rule #3. When visitors are browsing your site, have a clear indication for the visitor of where they are on your website and how to get to other parts.
You may want to put a link on each page that the visitor clicks to take them to the home page or another page relating to the information currently viewing. In other words do not confuse your visitor or your visitor may just click off the website totally.

Rule #4. When designing your website pay close attention to loading time, the time it takes your web pages to load. You can reduce loading time by reducing graphics on each page. A good website design should load under twenty seconds.
The longer it takes the pages to load the more frustrating it can be to the visitor. People want it yesterday not today and definitely not tomorrow.

Rule #5. Use a font that is common to all web browsers and easy to read. You have to think of your market. If you are selling a product or service that is used by older individuals you may want to increase the font.
Most of us are not going to get younger and with age, we find our eye sights are not what they use to be.
In addition, different web browsers display fonts differently. Therefore, you want to use a universal font compatible to the popular web browser for better viewing.


Bonus Rule #6. Make sure the information on your website is up to date, and relevant to what you are offering. If your website is selling 32", LCD Flat Screen TVs you should not be offering products to repair your driveway. I know that is extreme but people want to know they are visiting a website that has up to date information and is relevant to what they are searching for.
These are just a few rules of website design. There are many other things to adhere to when designing your website for optima visitors.
When designing your website look at it from the customers' or visitors' standpoint. Would you want to visit this website? Would you want to purchase a product from this website? If you answer "no" then correct the problems.
If you deal with customer service, you need to do as they do. Get out from behind the counter and see what the customers see from where they stand. If you go "ugh", that is not good and you need to make some changes.
________________________________________
About the Author: Pat Turman is a successful mid-level manager and internet entrepreneur. She co-owned a quarter million dollar e-retail store selling golf equipment for women, runs numerous online businesses, and manages a company with revenues of over a million dollars. She holds a BBA from an accredited University and numerous awards and certificates. www.eznichewebsitedesign.com

1. How long can a text link be if it should improve your rankings?

How long can a text link be if it should improve your rankings?
The words that are used in the links to your website have an effect on the search engine rankings of your website for these keywords. For example, if very many websites use the word "blue widget" to link to your website, it is likely that your website will get a high ranking on Google for the keyword "blue widget".

How many keywords does Google consider?
It's absolutely certain that Google considers the words in the links to your site. The question is, how many words or characters does Google count in a link? Is there an optimal length for text links? Blogger Shaun Anderson did a test to find the answer.

The test set-up
Shaun Anderson created a long text link with 50 nonsense words. Each of the nonsense words was 6 characters long. For example, he might have used a link like this:
wergsd woivsd mliwdc woiuby 3245sc plorxc werxcd ...
Then he added that link to the home page of a website that has good rankings on Google.

After some time, Shaun did a search for a keyword that the linked website ranked number one for and added the nonsense words to the search. By doing so, Google would only list the site in the search results if links to the site contained the nonsense word.

For example, if a website has a number one ranking for "buy used cars in dallas" then the website will only be returned by Google for "buy used cars in dallas wergsd" if Google has indexed a link with the text "wergsd" that points to the website.

The result: the perfect length seems to be 55 characters
Out of the 50 words in the link text, Google counted eight. Everything after the eighth word was ignored. Eight words that consist of six characters make 48 characters. The seven spaces between these six words add up to a total of 55 characters.

What does this mean for your website?
You should make sure that the important keywords come in the first 55 characters of the links that point to your website.

As many websites use the title of a web page to link to it, you should also consider the way you write your web page titles. If your important keywords are at the beginning of your web page titles, chances are that these keywords will also be used in the links to your site.

If you want to know if your web page titles are correct and if you also want to know if all other elements of your web page are ready for a top 10 ranking on Google, you should analyze your website now.
Article Courtesy of Axander.com
Visit Axandra.com

Pushing through a hard work day

Ever have one of those when you wish you didn’t turn on the computer cause it only reminds you that you have to work. We all have. Working from home doesn’t mean you’re always going to gun ho to work. Without a doubt, you’re going to have an off day. So what do you do when one of those days creeps up on you? Take the day off!

What some people forget is we are not bound by the same 9-5 clock as our offline counter parts. It’s ok if once in awhile you take a day for yourself. In fact it’s encouraged.

A recent study showed that the number one mistake made by new work at home enthusiasts wasn’t working too little it was working too much. Many surveyed admitted to feeling burnt out and overworked. Why? You’re your own boss. There is no one forcing you to be at the office. Most of us don’t have to answer to anyone in particular. If you need time off you can take it, no questions asked.

You can see a movie in the afternoon, sleep in till noon, or punch in at 2am; there is no set time frame.
Why do so many of us work instead of play? One reason lies in dispelling the stereotypes that internet marketers and other web business owners are lazy. It still isn’t considered a real job, thus in order to prove to others that we do in fact have to work for a living we tend to push ourselves over the edge.

Another problem is we have to rely on ourselves first to get things done. Being your own boss means more responsibility. You are now doing the job of at least 10. However, this can easily be solved. There are numerous ways to automate certain aspects of your business, such as setting up an autoresponder for your email campaigns, setting up an automated payment system, and of course outsourcing tasks.
There are dozens of ways to make your work at home business run more efficiently.

Sometimes the best way to push through a hard day is to push it aside. Take the day off and give yourself a chance to do something fun and relax. Don’t worry, your business will still be there when you get back.

Choosing a niche? Think small.

If there’s one thing internet marketers try to drill into newbies it’s to pick the right niche from the get go. But what exactly is the right niche?

I’m not surprised when people fail to make money in their niche. A great part of the problem is most people don’t know what a niche is.

When people think of a niche they immediately think of an entire industry, like health. Healthcare is not a niche. Health care is a sector; in order to build a website within the healthcare industry you would have to find an issue in that industry and address it. For example, Diabetes in teenagers is a niche. Weight loss for men over 40 is a niche. You could build a website on either one of those topics and be successful.

A niche isn’t an industry; it’s a group of people who share similar concerns within that industry. Pregnant women are not considered a niche. However, women over 30, who are pregnant with their first child is a niche.

When you are choosing a niche pick an industry and then pick a small segment within that industry. Instead of trying to tackle a golf website, try creating a website for the beginner golf hobbyist.

Why think small? For starters it’s easier. If you were to try and create a website on golf in general, you would be overwhelmed very quickly. A beginner doesn’t have the same needs as a pro. Thus they expect something unique to their needs when their searching for information. When you try to cater to everyone ( which usually happens when you choose a broad niche) you end up with a flea markets website. These sites are difficult to manage on your own. Most of us can’t afford to hire a team of experts like eBay does to pull off a huge venture.

Second, you earn more. The thing most people forget when they work from home is they are working in a global market. You aren’t restricted to your location so you can afford to think small, and you should. Small, clearly defined niche sites earn more because their prospects aren’t confused. Confusion is the number one reason people walk out on a sale online. Remove confuse and you increase your sales potential.

People within your niche come to your website and they feel as if it was made for them, it solves their issues. What’s more it attracts more people like them, people they can relate to. This builds a sense of community and trust. They then are more willing to purchase products you offer/recommend and subscribe to your ezine, because they know your sites is for them.

We make the mistake of thinking bigger is better. It doesn’t work that way online. So how do you define your niche?

1. Pick an industry ie Fashion
2. Pick an age group: 25-36
3. Pick a budget: 100-500
4. Pick a gender ( this is optional): men
5. Pick an issue: What are men age 25-36 struggling with in the fashion industry
Create your niche: How adult men can create an expensive looking wardrobe too impress their girlfriend for under 500.

By asking yourself specific questions, you get specific answers. You now have a small niche that can be profitable online. You can partner up with affiliate programs that sell budget clothing for men. You can write an ebook on how they can save when shopping. And you can add an Adsense forum where men can discuss their fashion dilemmas.

Remember in order to be successful online you don’t want to attract everyone, just the people who fall under that niche category. By doing your keyword research properly you can pinpoint what keywords desperate buyers are using to find answers.

Picking a niche is the most important thing you will do first off. It doesn’t have to be difficult, just think small.

Use THIS TOOL To Help You Make Big Decisions

Great work at home website no visitors

Is there a worse feeling than working hard for nothing? I can’t think of one when it comes to working from home. Perhaps you can relate.
You build your website. You’ve spent hours coming up with a great web design; you created a great sales letter, and your content deserves a gold star, but months later you’re not making any more than before your web launch. Why?

If your website is so good shouldn’t it just be eaten up? This would most likely happen if people knew about it.

I was so naive in the beginning. I thought people would be leaping to my website. As if by some form of magic people would just figure out that a new website is up. There’s no such radar. You have to promote your site. And this is where people fail.

It’s one thing to create a website, it is another to try and convince people they should visit it opposed to your competition.

Believe it or not, most people don’t know what makes them stand apart from the crowd. Creating a unique selling point is one of the difficult things to do for work at home business owners.

You like your business, you think it could be helpful but you aren’t quite sure what makes it special.

Why do people struggle with this? Because 9 times out of 10 people define themselves with their business. Asking them what is special about their business is equivalent to asking them is special about themselves personally. Most people can’t or don’t want to answer this question because most people don’t stop to consider it.

If you can’t think of yourself as something to brag about, it makes it hard to brag about something you’ve done. That includes the blood and sweat that went into putting up your work at home website.

It goes back to that insensible modesty I was discussing earlier. Sure you want people to visit your website but you don’t want to spend hours attracting people.
They figure people will realize how “awesome” it is once they visit. But you have to get them to visit first.

So how do you get over that “I’m not special feeling?”

1. Realize that even if you are operating a business within a competitive niche, no two businesses are alike. You have something unique to offer. You write your articles with your unique voice and your customers are getting a different experience when they visit your site. So just by being you, your business is already individual.

2. Just because you may have personal self esteem issues doesn’t mean your business should suffer. Look at your business objectively. From a customer’s perspective what does your work at home business have to offer? What’s in it for the customer? Try not to bring yourself into it. Just consider your business on its own. Imagine you didn’t own it, would you use the service or buy the product. Having visited other similar websites what makes it stand out from others.

3. Understand that this is DO OR DIE! You don’t really have a choice, you have to get visitors to your website, and thus you need to invest the time into creating marketing campaigns that highlight the benefits of your website.

For shy, modest people coming up with a unique selling point can be difficult. It can be hard to distinguish yourself in a crowd, especially when you personally feel lack luster. But in order to get people to visit that great site you built you have to understand that your business is worthy of the attention.

Get Quality Visitors TODAY!!

http://couchchange.blogspot.com/2008/10/are-you-dangerously-modest-about-your.html

Adelaide Kwaning

Best work at home day

My ideal day is—everyday. Everyday I wake up knowing I’m going to have an awesome day. I’m a cheery person as is, so it doesn’t take a lot to make me smile. It does take a bit to impress me though, but that’s another story.

But I’ll admit even chipper me can have moments in my ideal day that aren’t ideal. Days when my work at home business just isn’t going the way I want it to, days when I can’t seem to communicate effectively, moments when it seems like I’m fighting with my business rather than just working. I don’t mean days when the printer is jammed, or all my emails can’t be received, but days when emotionally I feel like asking myself, “why am I working so hard?”

When you work from home you learn really quickly to put others first-- your customers, your clients-- sometimes I’m left asking myself what’s in it for me. What am I getting out of it?

It doesn’t take long to remember, I put up with the jammed printer, the ridiculous deadlines, even the minor butt kissing for my long term happiness. I need to do this. It’s not really a choice for me. I have very few other options. But it’s also a personal challenge.

Each day something less than perfect happens, I have to collect my patience, dive into the problem solver within me and see if I can turn things around. I also learn that sometimes you have to let go, that even in a work at home business you can’t control everything. Sometimes you have to throw in the towel.

Working from home teaches you things about yourself that you would otherwise not have a chance to learn. Sure you’re working, you’re busting your butt for a so called better life but you are also developing yourself personally. You’re cultivating your imagination. It takes of lot of that to get through a day sometimes. You are learning to reach out to people in a genuine manner. Fake doesn’t sell well online. And at the end of the day, even if you haven’t reached your sales goal, you can still pat yourself on the back.

Every day is a good day, or at least I know if I can just get through this one the best day is coming right up.

Adelaide Kwaning

Five Key Marketing Strategies for Web Business Growth

If you expect to achieve sustained growth for your Web business and you don't have a plan in place to get you there, you might as well forget it. Growing a profitable Web Business is a strategic process that requires long range vision, careful planning, precise execution and patience. It's vital that you know exactly what you want to accomplish and that you have a detailed blueprint to follow.

Of course you need to have a website that is optimized and tested to convert traffic, and then you need to devote time to developing and executing short-term and long-term promotional strategies. These strategies must stand on their own as well as work together to get you the best results.

Here are five key strategies you can use to advance your business and improve your profit margin:

#1. Always Look For Opportunities to Increase Sales
Let's face it, sales drive business and sales come from customers; therefore, the hunt for new customers should be phase one of an ongoing three-phase marketing approach that every online business owner should embrace.


Phase two is to follow up with these new customers from time to time, and introduce them to additional offers. The objective of this second phase is to get them to buy from you more often.

The final phase of this three-pronged strategy is to offer expensive items, or bundle multiple items into higher-priced packages. This will give your customers more opportunities to make larger purchases.

#2. Find the Best Use for Your Marketing Budget
After you have identified your market demographic, fixed your goals and decided on a promotional strategy for reaching potential customers, the next step is to figure out how to maximize your budget and get the job done without over spending. Even though the exact process will vary from business to business, the principle remains the same.

You want to expose your product or service, as often as possible, to consumers who will derive the most benefit from it. Studies show that the average consumer will see a promotion about five to seven times before taking action on the offer.

So instead of blowing your budget on a single opportunity to reach your select group, it is much wiser to get everyone's attention with repeated promotions. Use as many different forms of advertising as you can afford and squeeze the most out of your marketing dollars.

#3. Invest in a Virtual Assistant
This is an opportunity to outsource various redundant tasks to someone who is capable, reliable and trustworthy. The big advantage to you is you'll have more time to devote to activities that generate income and help you grow your business.

A virtual assistant works from his or her office as an independent contractor and is responsible for whatever administrative or operational responsibilities you assign. Compensation can be agreed upon at an hourly rate, per assignment or by retainer.

If you are not yet at the stage where you can afford to pay a virtual assistant, you can consider a suitable barter arrangement with a subscriber or a customer. You can also ask a family member or a friend for help. You can't do it all yourself and you shouldn't even consider that option for the longterm.


#4. Use the Power of Email to Convert Visitors Into Customers
Email marketing is one of the most economical and reliable ways to build a relationship with visitors and eventually convert them into buyers. It is an effective tool for staying in touch and developing the level of comfort and trust that is necessary before they will agree to do business with you.

You can use email to convince your subscribers of your expertise in your niche. The more they come to accept you as an authority, the greater your credibility will become and the easier it will be for you to make sales.
Plus, email is a very handy tool for keeping customers abreast of new products, special promotions and the latest announcements about your business.

#5. Develop a System for Everything You Do
Make sure to design methods and procedures that simplify and expedite important aspects of your business operation. Very often these systems will evolve from trial and error, but when they have been perfected they should become standard procedure.
The most efficient systems are those that get you to your objective as quickly as possible, for as little money as possible and with the least possible effort.

The above strategies are vital to the success of any online business. Together they save you time, money, effort, and provide a pathway to sustained growth and expansion. Just be consistent in the marketing practices you implement and the results will come out in your favor.
________________________________________
About the Author: Hermas Haynes is the founder and webmaster of eBizInfoCenter - a popular resource where you can find many more marketing strategies, tools, articles and ideas for advancing your web business.

Do you have work at home success envy?

I’m sure you, at some point, have received an email containing the bragging rights of an internet marketer. They usually go on to talk about how some 19 year old cracked the code to making millions online, or how some homeless man went from zero to millions by using a certain program. Now most of these are written in a way for you sit up, pay attention and eventually invest in the product being promoted.

However, a number of days when seeing such an email I didn’t want to learn the techniques. I wanted to crawl back in bed. After working so hard, it only makes you feel worse to read someone else’s success story. Especially when you use the program, you work your butt off, and you’re still not able to brag.


I then realized, product aside, these emails actually serve a useful purpose. They inject a mild sense of hope into those who are struggling. It’s nice to know that someone else is successful. And once you actually start being happy for other people’s work at home success, yours becomes more attainable.

It’s no use wasting energy being envious of others; it’s better to use their success story to pump you up. Hey that could be you! Instead of deleting the email because you are too jealous to read it, see if there are any valid tips in it. Maybe the program or service can be of use to you, or find out more about the person who’s giving away their success secret. Do they post tips anywhere else that you can learn from?

Having work at home success envy will only slow down the success of your business. You’re too busy trying to beat others to find out how to do it. And you’re turning your back from important resources and tools that can carry your business forward.

The next time you come across a genuine success story don’t stick your nose up at it. Take a moment to be happy for the person. Then say thank you. I mean it, being thankful for someone else’s success increases your own chance. You suddenly become more open to learning how to make your work at home business a success.

Write YOUR Own SUCCESS Story

Adelaide Kwaning

Working from home: Feeling left out

If there’s one thing about working from home it’s that it’s lonely. You’re in your house for so many hours of the day trying to establish a great business, and even though you’re busy you’re also lonely. This loneliness comes in many forms. And there are several ways those of us who work from home can start to feel left out.

1. No more direct colleagues. Even if you outsource or collaborate, you are longer talking to people on a regular basis face to face. There are no more water cooler tales, or lunch gatherings with others in your work force. You can’t hire a bunch of people to work in the same room with you but you can host community work sessions.

This is when people meet at least a couple times a month and work together on their business. They bounce ideas off each other, collaborate and network. There are probably several lonely work home agents in your city, why not try to get together.

2. Out of touch with your friends. It is easy to become slightly obsessed when you work from home. You want a fledgling business and the last thing you want is to become a lazy business owner, so a number of folks prioritize their business before relationships. In the mean time they’re pulling farther and farther away from their friends and loved ones. Then they wonder why they didn’t hear about their friend’s newest romance, or aren’t invited to the yearly camping trip.

Wanting a successful business is no reason to put everything else aside. One of the benefits of working from home is you get to set your schedule. Maybe you won’t be able to attend every event, but you can meet your friends for lunch or dinner. You have an advantage so use it; make time for your buddies.

3. Too new to be cool. One of the worst ways to feel left out is within your industry. As much as internet marketers want to believe they are welcoming, the truth is, they won’t let just anyone into their clique. Everyone wants to be belong within the forums and social networking sites but it can be hard when the only people that get any attention are those who are already successful. Only the profitable are popular.

However, just because your website is new doesn’t mean you can’t make waves. You don’t have to go in their acting like you own a huge multimillion dollar business you can use your novice status to your advantage. Several internet marketers love newbies. They are fresh and don’t have a know-it-all attitude.

Learn from those who are popular and profitable. How did they get there? Ask questions and network by taking a genuine interest in their success story. Internet marketers may be cliquey, but they do like to help, especially those who are up and coming.

Another thing to remember is there are hundreds of online web forums and social networking sites. If you feel like you don’t belong look for another one. Since different people hang out in different sites, you are sure to find one that is more your style.

Feeling left out is one of the worst things to experience when you work from home. You can’t concentrate and you can’t get the help you need. Use the tips above to help you shake that lonely feeling.

Start Socializing the EASY Way

Adelaide Kwaning

Are you dangerously modest about your work at home business?

Yesterday, I discussed my concerns about not facing the facts and refusing to admit you need help when you work from home. After all no one wants a failing business. We all want one that is successful. However, how do we respond to our success?

It’s one thing to get things wrong, but what about when you get things right? Your work at home business is fraught with challenges, so when you are able to meet these challenges it’s worth cheering about. However, many people don’t.

It’s one thing to bury your head in the sand to hide from your failure, but it’s another to do it due to success. But even I will admit that an almost embarrassing sense of modesty has compelled me to, at times, hide from my success.
Well, maybe not hide, but you do become dangerously modest and unwilling to toot your own horn. In fact you may be doing the following

1. Reluctant to accept you actually did something well.
2. Afraid you will lose your friends if you become too successful
3. Addicted to dissatisfaction, where you believe even when you do something successful, it could have been better
4. Unaware of your strengths, even when you are applying them
5. Nervous about reaching the top or becoming one of the top players because you fear having a target on your back
6. Too busy striving to celebrate your own victories
7. Overwhelmed with the prospect of expanding your work at home business
8. Worried about becoming arrogant
9. Forgetting to be grateful for your skills and determination
10. Bashful to express your enthusiasm of your found and applied talents
11. Guilty when others you know are struggling
12. Constantly playing up your weakness instead of your strengths
13. Oblivious to the fact that you are successful.



The list could go on, but all of the above are things that some work at home business owners experience. And if you can relate to at least five of the above you may have a fear of success.

It’s a very real fear, and it’s something that affects people’s work at home business each and every day.

It may not seem like a big deal but it is. I suffer with a modest case of this fear. Am I happy when things are going well? Yes, but on the other hand I sometimes can’t wrap my head around the fact that I’m doing it, and in worse cases I don’t know what I did to achieve that success. And this is where the real problem lies.

If we don’t take time to consider our successes, then we are less able to retrieve the skills needed the next time we are faced with a similar challenge. What’s worse is people who are afraid to acknowledge their success, subconsciously do things to sabotage it.

For a lot of folks it’s hard to understand why anyway would be afraid of success, but studies show that it is a greater risk to your work at home business than the fear of failure.

We all have our own personal reasons for being overly modest. Often it stems from our past-- being told we’re not good enough, putting the happiness of others before our own, stifling your confidence to help an insecure friend or family member. There are several reasons. But it’s time we started valuing our strengths.

It’s time we cheered ourselves on.

It’s time we realized we are more than capable.
Otherwise all our success will simply wither away.

Adelaide Kwaning

Working from home means getting out of the sandbox

Sometimes as a work at home business owner, I can become surprised of my success. But what’s odder is when people, myself included, can be surprised when they fail. It’s not inevitable. At some point you will create a marketing campaign that might just bomb, or write something that will have critics (your reader) thinking, “I’d wipe my ass with this, but it’s full of enough crap.” Sometimes were just off the mark. We’re human, so why do we get so personally defensive when something just doesn’t turn out the way we expected.

Ego, of course plays a huge role. As work at home business owners we just don’t want to admit that we’re not perfect. We don’t feel like we can afford to. Online if you miss the target you’ve basically lost revenue from potentially thousands of customers. Yes, it’s a little bit of blow to our ego to say “wow, I mucked that one up.”

But after I stopped thinking that I have the best at everything, and started realizing that failure is great teacher, I got over myself and started earning more.

But you can’t do that if you’re too afraid to take your head out of the sand and face the facts. That’s what many struggling home-business owners do. They don’t check their stats, they don’t seek help, and they are reluctant to admit that things aren’t going well. Honesty is the best policy when it comes to working from home.

I’m talking about being honest with your customers (that’s common sense) but being honest with yourself. You’re not where you want to be and it’s time you stopped pretending you are.

Next, admit it to your family. If you’re pretending and hiding the fact that your business isn’t profitable yet to your family it will only affect your work habit, which will help to speed up the process of your fading business.

Notice how I said yet in the sentence above. The truth is anyone can become successful once they admit that they aren’t, that they have more to learn, and they put in the right work to turn things around.
But refusing to admit the fact will worsen the state of your business, and eventually, your personal happiness.

Get Started on the Path to Success Here

Adelaide Kwaning

Capturing ideas for your work at home business

If I had a dollar for every time I neglected to write down an idea I’d have a lot of couch change. When you work from home you constantly need to be coming up with new ideas. This comes easy to folks like me; our minds are a factory of ideas and suggestions, for others it may take you a little longer. These types of people are usually better at executing the idea.

But however you are, when you come up with a new idea write it done right away. Sure you may not have everything thought out in that moment but you do have something that you can work with. Or at least something you can investigate further.

Who knows your research may lead you to decide to chuck the idea out the window. But as long as you have it, you can come back to it.

Don’t think “I can remember lots of things.” When you work at home you can easily forget even important tasks, if they are not written somewhere because you have so many things to do, so something like an unpolished idea is very vulnerable to getting axed out of your memory.

Don’t sit and ponder whether or not it’s a good idea, simply find some place to store it where it will be in your vision. Then decide how you plan to employ your new found idea.

Not writing down ideas is the fastest way to throw money out. So get yourself a notebook, create a computer file, or at least get some sticky notes and keep all your brilliance close at hand.


Adelaide Kwaning

Building your work at home business with Twitter and Linkedin.com

So I’ll admit I can be a little slow at times when it comes to jumping on board to new things, but I blame that on my overly analytical side. I like to know what I’m getting myself into before I find myself neck deep in what is, more or less, crap. So when I heard many of the top marketers were signing up for sites like Twitter.com and Linkedin.com , I decided to have a poke around the websites. Good thing I did. Here’s one thing I wouldn’t hesitate doing. If you don’t already have a Twitter or Linkedin account get one now.

Linkdin.com is the largest business networking site in the world. Think of it as Facebook for serious business people. There are not a lot of pop culture distractions on the site which is why it works so well for networking with others in your industry and finding jobs. The people there already know what they want—expanding their business. It’s also a lot friendlier than many of the social networking and online forums around today.
Once you sign up and have filled in your profile you can begin adding contacts from your address book. You’d be surprised just how many people already have an account. You can then make new contacts through contacts you already know. I managed to land a pretty big marketing campaign after a few days of signing up. It’s a great site for finding work, customers, and clients.

Twitter is a little different. It’s not as jazzy as some of the social sites out there but that’s what makes things work. When I first signed up I found it kind of boring I thought “this is it?” I wasn’t too impressed. Then I took the time to see how other people were using it. Basically with Twitter all you can do is type in what you are doing, for example: “Adelaide is writing an article about two great sites.” But for the average person that can get really boring, really fast. However, if you work from home and are looking to promote your website it can be very helpful. You can let followers know when you’ve published an article, launched a new sites, found a great resource, anything pertaining to your business.

These sites let you connect with people in a way that’s a little different than the options already out there. Twitter for example is simpler, while Linkedin is a lot more direct,. This saves a lot of time when you are trying to network.
http://twitter.com/ladyadelaide