Home Business Diary

What is the secret to business success?  When I first decided to work from home, business success was an idea, a hope...a dream.  With a long career in the academic world, what the heck did I know about business?

The journey that I share here at this blog with you has been the most fascinating of my life. It's hard to believe it was just over a year ago.  Along the way, I have met many other people who were starting their business just like me. 

Some of them have already had their businesses take off, others aren't there yet but making sure and steady progress and some are going nowhere.  What is the difference?

Some of the things I have come up with are going to sound like no-brainers, but I'm going to list them anyway.  Sometimes we miss the things that are the most obvious -- I know I've missed a few.  Just check out my first six months in business if you want the definitive business plan for disaster!

Okay, so how do you go about maximising your business success?

1. Do your research.  The people I've met who are getting results, did their homework first. 

They found their "niche" and learned about the people who would be interested in their product or service. They thoroughly checked out network marketing companies before choosing the one which best reflected their interests and talents. They developed a realistic idea of what it means to own a business and what kind of time, money and skills would be required.

2. Put in your time.

Starting a new business takes hours and hours of your time.  Yes, it is possible to work a four day week - but not at first!  If you are holding down a full time job, have a family and trying to start a business all at once, give yourself a break.  Realize that it's going to take a bit longer for you to get where you want to be.  That doesn't mean it won't happen. 

 If it takes 100 hours to write enough quality content to bring prospects to your business, how soon you get there will depend on how soon you complete the hundred hours.  I may get there faster since I am able to work full time at home. But the formula is the same for both of us.

I've had fellow business people ask me, "What are you doing to get Google rankings that I'm not?"  My first question is, "How much content do you have up?"  The answer is frequently between 10 to 20 pieces.  That's a great start, but it isn't enough to start the real excitement 50-100 pieces will bring. And that's still only the beginning.

3. Get coached.

There's a lot of great training available on the internet about marketing, building a customer base, customer relations, product development; you name it. Decide on a program or coach that addresses your current skill level and stick to it. It can be tempting to follow two or three mentors at once, but this is a mistake.

The programs may be equally good but the most likely outcome is that you will be overwhelmed with information and not make good use of any of it.  Put your blinders on for a while when all the free offers come your way.  Once you have found a good coach and/or training program, stick with that until you are ready to add more. Get all you can from Program One and then look for a second program which will take you from your new, more advanced level.

4. Get the training that fits your learning style.

You may learn best on your own and can get all you need by reading really good books on the subject.  That's how Mike Dillard of Magnetic Sponsoring and Black Belt Recruiting trained himself.  He read everything he could get his hands on about the network marketing business and then filled in the blanks by creating his own materials.

You may need visual hands on training.  This is my style.  When I first put up this blog, the format was different and I had the advantage of following the visual step by step tutorials offered by Mike Klingler's Renegade University to show me exactly how to do it.  This week, Squarespace has upgraded the system.  The new features are wonderful but I've spent all weekend figuring it out.  Mike is putting up a new tutorial for his students, but I didn't want to wait.  It sure made the point for me that I learn best with visuals.  It took me far longer to tweak the new system by reading the manual than it did to start from scratch when I had the tutorials!

You may need a business success coach who can give you one on one guidance.  In a large training system, you may not have access to someone who can look at each of your articles or consult with you on your business plan. Many people need a coach to hold them accountable and keep them focused on the next step.

Success comes from focused and diligent training, not bouncing around from program to program and neglecting to follow through.

5. Dream big but stay real.

Business success comes to those who have the vision and the ability to hang in there long enough to make it happen. You know all the sayings, "You can't get something for nothing," "Anything worth doing is worth doing right," "Success doesn't happen overnight." 

You are likely to put in a lot of work for a long time without seeing any tangible reward for your efforts.  When the rewards come, they 'll come in thimbles not bucket loads.  If you are applying the correct business principles and stick with it, you will succeed.  If you are prepared to wait for success, it will come faster than you think! 

Life and the Universe have a sense of humor.  If you expect success overnight, you'll probably wait years.  If you expect it to take a while to attract business, or to make your first sales, it'll probably happen before you thought it would.  Plan for a six to twelve month wait before you achieve significant results.

6. Take action.

All the planning, training, organizing and investing won't amount to a thing until you take ACTION.  Learned something new? Use it, share it, publish it.  Got a new lead? Write them, call them, send a bouquet of flowers -- anything except let the name stay on your computer and never do anything with it.

7. When a good opportunity presents itself -- take it.

The people I know who are having success in their business are opportunity seekers.  They take calculated risks. They don't throw their money away, but they are willing to invest in something that is sound, even if it is a sacrifice at the time.

The people who are not experiencing much success will usually have some reason they couldn't attend a class, fly to a seminar, write the content.

Only you can make this happen.  If the door opens -- walk through it!

8. Hang out with successful business owners.

This isn't as difficult as I thought it would be.  Very successful business people are not locked up in Ivory Towers like I imagined.  Instead, they are out and about, making themselves available to newbies like you and me.  Why?  Because they are constantly on the lookout for the next amazing business partner. 

Most profitable business people are incredibly generous - they aren't likely to achieve mega success by being selfish and obnoxious.  Not only do you benefit from their willingness to share their expertise, but the success oriented mindset is contagious. 

When I first started my business, I was hoping to make six figures a year.  In the last couple of months since I have had the honor of keeping company with some of my biggest inspirations, I realize that my mindset has changed.  Slowly, my financial goals have altered.  Yes, I want to have the financial freedom to take care of my family, our retirement, and enjoy a perk or two.  But I also want to be able to make a difference in causes that are important to me.  My financial thermostat is reset!

9. When you get an idea, take action

Have you ever come across some new invention and realized you had the same idea but never acted on it?  You probably had no idea how to come up with a prototype, patent it, package it,  or market it and so it remained an idea.  Now someone else is making oodles of money.

As I prepare the launch materials for my e-book, I have approached some marketing gurus to see if they would be willing to be interviewed as a part of the bonus material for people ordering the book.  Mind you, I have no equipment to do this recording, but I know I'll find a way.

So far I have asked Ann Sieg, Mike Klingler, Eben Pagan and Christian Mickelson.  I plan to ask Mike Dillard when I meet up with him in the next month.  Ann, Mike K and Christian all said "yes" immediately.  I haven't yet heard from Eben.  The point is, I was prepared to be told that there simply wasn't time in these busy peoples' lives to do an interview with me.  But I set up a proposal anyway. 

For each person, I outlined the book, the target market for the book and how doing an interview about this book would be of benefit to their business.  In each case,  I let them know I would be promoting their business in the book regardless of their availability for interview.  In other words, I let them know what was in it for them and their customers.

Successful entrepreneurs guard their customer list with their lives.  They do not promote junk.  They have worked too hard to attract these customers to them and develop a loyal following.  So if you are proposing a joint venture of any kind, you must present the value it will give before your idea will even be considered.

Who would have thought these people would have found value in something offered by someone as new to the industry as I am? I never would have known if I hadn't TRIED.

10. Take action, take action, take action, take action...

When you go back over this list, you'll find that every point really is to move forward by taking action with your business.  Otherwise, it will always remain a beautiful dream of what could be. 

If you do something about each new thing you learn, put each new strategy to work, followup with each customer; the dream will be your reality and, maybe more important, you'll be helping other people start those first steps toward their dreams.