If you have been searching for ways to make money online Im sure you have come across many get rich schemes. These are everywhere. The only person who gets rich is the one who created the scheme and only for a short while before that person gets caught. You should think to your self, if all of these schemes worked, then everyone would be making a lot of money online.
Instant gratification is something that most people want. I know, because I have been there. I have spent money on products that I thought would make me money quickly. Of course none of them gave me the money in the time they said they could. If you want instant gratification play the lotto and hope to get lucky, thats the only way to make money pretty much instantly. For the rest of us we need to remember that having an online business or just making money online can take a little while.
The first thing anyone wanting to make money online should put on his or her goal/to-do list, is to be patient. Thats the one thing people forget about when trying to make money online, is that it wont come instantly. This could make you a lot of money in the future. Just stick to what ever you are doing, this plus hard work should get you to the financial goals you want.
I like to think of success as wine. Would you drink wine right after it was made? Maybe, but it wouldnt taste as good as if it were aged for a while. This is true for success online and offline. Success takes time as does wine, so I like to live be this saying that I thought of: Success is like wine, it takes time to be great.
Travis Werbelow is the owner of http://www.youngnetprenuer.com, and can give you more information about making money online and at home. While you are there be sure to sign up for his newsletter, you will get a Free Secrets To Success Report, plus hundreds of tips to make money online and at home.
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For many, the American dream of owning a business is in queue right behind owning a home. I was a teenager when I owned my first business. Since then I have bought or started many businesses and helped others do the same. Here are some common mistakes I have witnessed or committed myself.
Paying too much
This results from the combination of all other mistakes. Many new business owners set themselves up for failure by paying too much, which results in higher loan payments, lower operating funds, and reduced borrowing capacity.
Letting your emotions rule
If you have always dreamed of owning a business, it is very easy to get caught up in the strong emotions invoked by seeing those dreams coming true. To counteract your emotions, take your time, do your homework, and enlist the help of objective advisors.
Paying for potential
You should only pay for the business as it stands at the date of purchase, not what it could be in the future. You will have to spend time, effort, and money to develop its potential. The seller chose not to invest these things, so he does not deserve to be paid for them.
Not evaluating yourself
Do you have what it takes to run this business? Try to match your strengths to the important duties you will be required to perform. Running a small business requires the owner to do many things. No one can be good at them all, so make provisions for those areas in which you are the weakest. Some tasks like payroll and bookkeeping can easily be contracted to outside vendors. Possibly your spouse, other family member, or a partner could do things that you cannot or do not want to do.
Not building a team of experts
At a bare minimum, you should enlist the aid of an attorney and a CPA. The attorney can prepare and review documents, help structure the deal, and make you aware of legal and liability issues. The CPA can provide a financial analysis of the business, and advise you about tax and accounting matters. You should consider adding a business valuation professional. His valuation report can be used to determine the reasonableness of the asking price, negotiate a lower price, and provide valuable information about the business, the industry, the competition, and the economic conditions.
Relying on bad information
You should verify all important information about the business. Your CPA can check financial information like receivables, payables, and inventory. Your attorney can review loan documents, leases, and contracts. Your business valuation professional can analyze the competition, the industry, and the economic conditions. Use independent appraisers to value real estate and equipment. Get a credit report on the business through your CPA or banker. You can do some of the investigating yourself to save money, but do not cut too many corners it may cost you in the long run.
Changing too much, too fast
Once you own the business, you will be tempted to start making wholesale changes from day one. You risk alienating long-time employees and customers. Unless the business is in bad financial condition and needs immediate action, its better to take some time to get to know the business, your employees, and your customers before making changes. This is a perfect time to solicit suggestions from employees and customers.
Buying a business because you like to do what the business does
One reason restaurants have a high failure rate is people buy or start them because they like to cook. Very few restaurant owners spend time cooking. Their time is spent managing staff, ordering supplies, doing paperwork, and handling daily crises. A small business owner must wear many hats including that of manager.
Not being interested in the businesss product or service
I made the mistake of thinking that because I am a CPA and smart that I could own and operate any business. I bought a business that sold high-performance auto parts to young men who drove jacked-up, four-wheel drive pickup trucks and went to the drag races every weekend. I did not do either and never understood why anyone would. I could not relate to my customers and went out of business in about a year.
Conclusion
Buying a business is a complicated, emotional process. By avoiding these costly mistakes, you can prevent turning your dream into a nightmare.
About The Author
\r David E. Coffman CPA/ABV, CVA has 30 years of experience working with and operating small businesses. His web site http://biz-buying-selling.com offers many useful articles, links, and other resources for potential buyers and sellers of small businesses.
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I was employed by the Yellow Pages for nearly 25 years as a sales consultant. During that time, I worked with over 3000 businesses and averaged 100 new businesses each year. I got a first-hand look at what the owners planned and implemented. It was an enlightening experience. Although my focus was on marketing, I saw the thinking process of retail and service businesses from an insiders perspective. They were a diverse group of companies; restaurants, dentists, car dealers, plumbers, carpet cleaners and too many to list. But they all had one thing in common. The optimism of entrepreneurship. Its a wonderful thing. The hope of success and striking it rich. Yet they also lacked some simple elements that I felt would also have led to their success. Today I am retired from consulting, but have begun my own business and hopefully learned from their mistakes. So let me pass them on as a lesson to those who are about to embark on a similar path.
MISTAKE NUMBER ONE: No Business Plan. How can you build a house or car or anything without a drawing or a plan? Where is the foundation? How will the contractor know where to place the windows and doors? Where is the budget for products, services, or marketing? What are the annual projections for sales and expenses? Where do you want to be in one, three, or five years? And yet most businesses have no such plan and therefore are driving forward blindly. Get a clue and have a plan.
MISTAKE NUMBER TWO: Lack of Research. When you decided to sell your product or service, did you research the competition and the marketplace? Did you examine all the other similar items and how they are marketed? Without a detailed knowledge of the other guys and how they operate, how can you be competitive and price yourself properly? Are you filling a need and providing features and benefits that are wanted in the marketing arena? Or are you just hoping someone will buy your stuff because its there? Always be researching.
MISTAKE NUMBER THREE: Under-Funding. Have you got enough money to survive the initial start-up and the ongoing bad times? Look at the house-building analogy. When was the last time a house came in cheaper than expected? There are always unforeseen costs associated with business ventures. Look at the expenses; insurance, staff, buildings, utilities, equipment, accounting, legal and other fees, internet, advertising, and taxes. Did you allow just enough for each? Well thats too little. Wheres the emergency fund for the unexpected costs? If you are serious about survival, you need that extra insurance fund.
MISTAKE NUMBER FOUR: Poor Marketing. This is my area of expertise and it scares me because of the response. When I worked in the Yellow Pages, a new business would tell me that they were going to rely on word-of-mouth for their advertising. Later, after they opened, I would receive a disconnect notice on their phone line. The company had folded. So heres the hard truth. You have to pay for some type of marketing and keep it in place to constantly attract new customers. Old ones will die, move, or change vendors. Choose several types of promotions, track the results and plan for new ones. Dont forget that you will always have competition and they would love for you to go away. So market your business.
MISTAKE NUMBER FIVE: No Flexibility. Suppose you decided to vacation in Miami but a hurricane was on its way. What would you do? You would probably change plans and go somewhere else. Its the same with business. You have to be ready to shift directions based on the customers and the evolving marketplace. It may requiring a revamping of products or services to adapt to the varying conditions. Those that cant alter their course will ultimately fail. The ones that can follow current trends and predict future needs will succeed. But the business must realize it can never stay the same forever. Be ready to change with the times.
There are probably many more mistakes a business can make, but these are the crucial ones that must be addressed. It takes planning and execution to achieve your goals. Many a business person would tell me that so-and-so was lucky to still be in business. I would explain that luck has very little to do with it in the end. Those that have been around a long time worked hard and did their homework. They also offered something of value at a fair price and filled a need. Its simple and timeless. And its yours for the taking if you avoid the five mistakes Ive listed and keep your focus on the customer, and not the profits. The money will appear if youve got everything else right. So good luck and remember, its a jungle out there and only the strong will survive.
Jeffrey Hausers latest book is, \”Inside the Yellow Pages, which can be viewed at http://www.poweradbook.com
He was a sales consultant for the Bell System Yellow Pages for nearly 25 years. He graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Advertising and has a Master\’s Degree in teaching. He had his own advertising agency in Scottsdale, Arizona and ran a consulting and design firm, ABC Advertising. Currently, he is the Marketing Director for http://www.thenurseschoice.com, a Health Information and Doctor Referral site.
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When that photo was taken, almost no one, other than those in the largest of businesses and universities had a computer on their desk. Today almost everyone in business uses a computer and we cant imagine the world without the technology that those seven people in the photo helped bring to us. They were at the very sharpest point of the technology spear.
Yes, I know that they were not the very best at creating software, but they were the best at building a software business. There is a huge difference between being the best at the technology and being the best at building a business that delivers the technology. Its a distinction every business has to grapple with, no matter whether it is in the highest or lowest levels of technology.
Back when that photo was taken, there were many small software companies. Some of them became very successful. They developed programs that changed the way we all work and think yet today, very few of those companies still exist. They have either been merged into other companies or have fallen on the trash heap of businesses that had one great idea and couldnt repeat their success. Microsoft and a few others prevailed and dominated an extremely competitive marketplace.
Your business is in the same situation as Microsoft was in 1978. It has the entire future ahead of it. It can either become better at building widgets or better at building a business that builds widgets (naturally, in order to build that company, it has to build a very good widget). The difference is where the primary focus and effort of the thought process is placed. So I now ask you the question, Which business would you invest in?
Larry Galler coaches and consults with high-performance executives, professionals, and small businesses since 1993. He is the writer of the long-running (every Sunday since November 2001) business column, \”Front Lines with Larry Galler\” Sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.larrygaller.com Questions??? Send an email to larry@larrygaller.com.
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Much has been written about salespeople from the perspective of how abrasive they are, how they are your best friend while trying to sell you, then never or seen or heard from again; how they will promise anything to get the sale, even when they know it is not likely to happen once the deal has been sealed; or how well they can glibly glad hand and make small talk. In fact, the truth is that to be successful in sales requires skills that do not include remembering the score from last nights ball game or the latest joke making the rounds of the internet.
In fact, those that succeed in sales share the following traits in common:
\r Belief in the product or service. The first thing a salesperson must possess is the belief that the product or service is valuable and worthwhile. If that does not exist, how can you ever expect a prospect to get excited about its potential if the salesperson is not able to transfer that enthusiasm for the product or service.
\r Curiousness. The successful salesperson is perpetually curious. Curious about what how the product or service is being used by customers, curious about the problems confronting prospects and how to best resolve them, curious about what competitors are doing. A salesperson that is not curious is not likely to last long as the ability to match product or service to prospect needs requires a constant refreshing of ones understanding of the prospects business, the product, and competitors advantages and disadvantages.
\r Systems Thinking. For nearly any product or service sold currently to a business customer, it is likely that more than one function or person within the prospects company will be impacted by the purchase. Understanding how the different functions interact, how one department creates outputs that become the inputs to another departments work, and how they are each evaluated or compensated is a necessity.
\r Assertiveness. No company can succeed if the salesperson is timid, fearful of being told no, or hesitant to talk to prospects. While there certainly is little use for overly aggressive or rude behavior, assertiveness is a core personality trait that salespeople need to have.
\r Charismatic. Given that selling face-to-face or at least selling through methodologies beyond simply ordering out of a catalogue with no personal interaction is still a requirement in many purchase decisions, a salesperson must have certain presence or exhibit some dynamism. That is not to say that you want salespeople to be a comedian or to be the life of the party, but they should be likable enough to not cause prospects to prematurely end the sales call because of personality problems.
\r Problem Solving. A salesperson needs to approach the situation from a perspective of solving prospect problems. Sometimes, the prospect may not even recognize that there is a problem that requires resolution since they do not have the perspective that the salesperson has, afterall, it has always been done this way and it is something we have learned to live with from the perspective of the customer. A strong salesperson will seek ways of connecting potential or existing problems and resolving them with the product or service. Additionally, the salesperson will also be called upon to problem solve when there is interest, but perhaps there are certain hurdles or obstacles that need to be cleared away before the sale can occur.
Selling requires a unique set of personality traits and is not for everyone, but it also is not beyond most people once they understand what the what counts factors are and how they are applied in selling.
David Zahn is a two-time author addressing the issues of entrepreneurship and consulting (\”How To Succeed As An Independent Consultant, 4th Ed.\” and \”The Quntessential Guide To Using Consultants\”) as well as being a frequent interviewee and contributor to articles in publications like, \”BusinessWeekOnline, Entrepreneur, BrandWeek, Training & Development, CTPostOnline, and others. For a free \”business readiness assessment,\” please click on http://www.startupbuilder.com.
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The first time I learned of the word c-o-l-l-a-b-o-r-a-t-i-o-n, was probably arounduhI dont know, maybe around the age of eight. My teacher had a tough time explaining its concept to me during a science project, Kevin, collaboration is not making your partner do all the work while you tie his shoelaces to the chair! To the back of the lab! How was I to know what collaboration meant then? But true to form, I got the hang of its meaning and put the musicians mantra of Practise, Practise, Practise to its limit but getting the smartest kid in the class to collaborate with me during all my math tests.
Today, collaboration seems to be the hottest act since Baywatch hit our television screens, for what seems like eons ago. But unlike Baywatch, collaboration produces results. It has become the epitome for almost all things Web 2.0.
But it shouldnt come as any surprise. After all, collaboration software (sometimes referred to as groupware though this is more commonly associated with business processes using shared databases) developers are tapping into something that is already innate within the human species; the uncontrollable desire to share, give and sacrifice. We are a communal and altruistic species. Believe it or not, we want to make the world a better place; donating ourselves in one form or another. Collaboration thus comes naturally to us.
Linus Torvalds understood collaboration only too well. And this led to the open-source operating system Linux, being born. Ray Ozzies understanding of human collaboration led to the release of Lotus Notes back in 89. Jimmy Waless understanding of collaboration led to the creation of the worlds largest and most up-to-date encyclopedia online (Larry Sanger may have a bone to pick with that, though).
But collaboration software was probably catapulted into the mainstream with the invention of e-mail. Its an excellent communication tool (dont let spam tell you otherwise), but as a collaboration tool, it isnt very productive. Passing attachments back and forth doesnt really cut it when a team is working simultaneously on a task. Todays files and documents are getting way to big to even attempt stuffing them in team members inboxes (remember the sneakernet days of carrying floppy-disks from one person to another?).
There are no hard and fast rules where collaboration is concerned. You can do it on a personal level, within or across organizations with established processes, from the bottom-up in an ad hoc way, or just communicating with clients and customers. Its also more than likely youll never always be working in a same team more than thrice in a row. Your business will tend to form and dissolve teams as quickly as sugar in hot tea. Bear this in mind when choosing collaborative software. You may own the latest and most up-to-date gizmo on the planet, but another organization youre corresponding with may not.
The Make-Up Of A Collaboration Software
There are three very basic functions a collaboration software embodies: Communication, Collaboration /Sharing and Management.
The communication tools:
The collaborative tools:
The management tools:
The new wave of collaboration tools populating the market today, spawned by the popularity of the Internet has an eclectic mix of features; applications catering to large enterprises right down to consumers. Some ASPs (Application Service Providers) offer a fully-integrated package, combining communication, sharing and management tools while other ASPs offer specialized services zeroing in on one specific segment of collaboration. With the nomadic lifestyles of most entrepreneurs today, mobility becomes a determinant factor in how collaboration software developers are building their products.
You may have heard then of Office 2.0. Office 2.0 is collaboration and production tasks managed fully online. Thats the simplest way I can describe it. With the surge of broadband access, this is a very viable future for the mass market to take to easily. Though still very much in its infancy, the potential for managing most or all your business processes online is very real. Synching various business tools and keeping track of all your business transactions could just be a matter of five mouse clicks and a task is completed.
Im sure youre already itching to know what the future of collaboration software holds for you, so lets start with some desktop clients:
Microsofts very own Groove
Colligo
Socialtext
Web-based software:
Microsofts Sharepoint
IBMs Lotus Notes
Joyent
Zimbra
Zoho
Google Docs & Spreadsheets
thinkfree
Atlassian
Goowy
GroveSite
37 Signals
near-time
itensil
For a more extensive list of Office 2.0 applications, I recommend youve a look at this database at itredux.com/office-20/database/. Visit those sites and see whats on offer.
So What Does This All Mean?
As an entrepreneur, saving a buck here and there, adds up to a considerable amount of savings for your business over a year. So if you can find avenues to do so, why shouldnt you?
Forget paying for proprietary software if there is a viable open-source alternative available or, consider using an ASP for your business. It will probably cost less than what it takes to run and manage a small IT department. Just ask yourself, how much of the productivity tools like Microsofts Office do you actually use? 50%? 70%? 10%? Think about it.
Does it make sense to purchase Microsofts Office Suite only for you to use Word or Excel? Would a more cost-effective option like the free Google Docs & Spreadsheets or Zoho be intrinsically more viable?
The dawn of Office 2.0 applications puts you in charge of the choice of tools you really need at a fraction of the cost of shrink-wrapped software. Sometimes offered to you for the unbeatable price of free. While true that many of the current applications are not yet primed for enterprise usage, SOHOs or SMBs, will stand to gain first. So why not take advantage of this cost-cutting measure?
Were moving in a direction where the Web itself will become an operating system of sorts where every aspect of business, social and personal activities will be done online. And that includes storage. Prepare yourself for it. Prepare your business for it. Exciting times truly lie ahead.
So really, who needs cubicles?
Copyright 2006 Kevin Singarayar
Found this article useful? Then subscribe to the Technopreneur blog at technopreneur.wordpress.com/ to stay on the cutting-edge of Internet technologies and emerging trends for Entrepreneurs. Learn the art of leveraging online technologies to boost your business growth and discover insights into booming trends for business expansion from Kevin Singarayar, your Internet technology evangelist.
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If youre approaching the magic time in life, somewhere between 10 and 20 years of working at your chosen expertise, youre ready to get paid. Not for your labor or the hourly wage you earn no matter how generous it is. Youve been doing that for years. If youre like most of us, youre ready to be paid for your knowledge. Wouldnt that be sweet!
I wish I could tell you its that easy. That someone could come in and wave a magic wand and POOF! You are a household name. If you were to ask any famous people, and I know my fair share, you would also know it took them 20 hard years to become that overnight success. One of the Laws of the Universe for true success is you have to do the work first. Good ideas are a dime a dozen.
The good news is this: if youve paid your dues and have acquired intangible knowledge, priceless experience and yes, even insights into your chosen field, you are ready to be paid for that knowledge. What you need now is to position yourself strategically in front of the people with the checkbook.
There are 10 questions I use with new clients to make sure they create the results they really want. It may seem like an unimportant task, but it is critical. You see, we go out and spend a lot of money on brochures or websites, but if the message is off, you wont hit your target. These 10 essential questions will help you quickly clarify your own personal strategy.
1. What is your revenue bucket?
To answer this question you need to go a few years into the future, between 3 and 5. Now ask yourself how much money have you earned? That gives you the clues to where your wealth will come from. If you dont have a revenue bucket to catch all the good leads, clients or sales you create, the energy will go to someone else who does have their bucket in place.
2. What do you want to be paid for?
This question is trickier than it looks. You want to ask yourself to distinguish between the job that you are very good at (youve been doing it for years) and the one you want to do. You will create a different publicity or marketing strategy depending on the path you choose, be it, keynote speeches, workshops, clients or consulting.
3. Who needs to hear your message?
One of the greatest secrets of success is to find a need and fill it. (Napoleon Hill, Think and Grown Rich) So ask yourself, Who needs to hear my message? Once you have identified the group, the next step is to look at their ability to pay. This answer will guide you in the development of your personal strategy and choices of the products, services and talks you offer the public.
4. How do I want my message delivered?
This answer has more to do with your personality than anything else. Do you love large groups of people or one-on-one interactions? Do you work at home to avoid the traffic? All of these types of questions will help you narrow your choice of delivery. For a large ticket item, you may have to develop a multi step strategy, and make sure it works with your lifestyle.
5. How do I show myself to prospective clients?
This may seem straightforward but your presentation to the world needs to be consistent with what you are selling. In todays world a website is a must. It is now to business credibility what the business card use to be. If you say, my websites under construction or I dont like my website STOP!!!!! You
are telling your potential clients you dont take care of priorities. Now would you want to do business with that person? Probably not. Besides having a clean and easy to navigate site, make sure your clients can easily access the information you want them to buy.
6. What century are you living in?
Are you in the electronic age? Do you have a digital press kit, speakers kit and media kit? These are not the same and may share some of the same elements but not all. Your bio should be angled towards the type of interest you are trying to create. In my media book, where I create bios to pitch my client to the press and broadcast media, I often write 2 or 3 bios that speak right to the topic area the reporter is writing about. I then fine-tune the pitch to answer the reporters questions. All of these kits should be in a pdf or zip format and ready to be download or sent when you need it.
7. Are you ready to go?
You need to have your media savvy suitcase packed at all times. Quick name a business you admire. Now how do you know about them? Nine times out of 10 it is because you read about them in an article, saw an advertisement or heard about them in the news. Ten times out of 10 it is because they were visible to you. If a company, person or celebrity is packaged correctly, you have a favorable impression, if not, you have an image that is hard to shake. Make sure you are always ready to put your best foot forward the first time. If youre not ready, get ready to be successful.
8. Whos story are you telling?
The only one interested in your story is your mother. You want to start telling the story from your customers point of view. Whats so special about your product or service? We want the substance of your expertise, the Cliff notes to life, if you will. What do you do different than anybody else. You will find it is a unique mixture of your lifes experiences plus your expertise that defines your competitive edge. It doesnt matter what your chosen profession is, Who you are is all that matters. We still do business with people we like and who are like us. Know yourself.
9. Do You Know how to use the right media at the right time?
While all publicity is good, not all of it leads to the same outcome. If you are focusing on sales, an article about your great customer service wont bring customers in the door, today. On the day that customer needs what you are selling, theyll remember you. A sale is determined by the alignment of certain events. Heres the formula Need + Recognition =Sale. The first element is the customer has a need. You are not going to buy a product for a headache if you dont have a headache. Same with your customer. You can try to create a false sense of urgency, but thats a cheap shot. The second element is recognition and you can work on that aspect all year round. Dont you want them purchasing your headache remedy on the day the headache arrives? Well if they dont know about you, your products and services they wont buy from you. Begin today to cultivate your own fans.
10. Are you ready to be successful?
You will not believe the number of people I have worked with in the past who were not really ready to embrace their success. It always surprises me because I only work with those who have the goods, whether they really see it or not. Get your head ready for success. It comes in a whisper and a wave. One day, everything will come together and you will have the opportunity to go for it. No matter what, go through the door that is opened for you and fake it, til you make it. Youll see that youve been waiting for this very moment your whole life and yes, you do have what it takes. You just need to believe in yourself.
Maureen OCrean is a Harvard grad and an International Business strategist who supports others to have their dreams come true. An unconventional MBA, she works with authors, speakers, licensed professionals and entrepreneurs in the area of business growth and development. Maureen often uses publicity to put her clients in the public eye for visibility. She is a published author and creator of an online community of over 12,000 women. Recently featured in Entrepreneur Magazine where she profiled a clients success, Maureen is available for speaking, interviews and consultations on How To Get Paid To Speak. Please contact her at 310-379-9620 or visit her website at http://www.mymediamatch.com
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Giving birth to a baby, and a business at the same time, appears to be a crazy idea, to those who haven\’t tried it. Come to think of it, even those of us who have embarked on this daunting double whammy, agree that there are easier ways to live your life.\r
\r Happy hormones combine with an inevitable shift in circumstances, and create a tantalising mood of change. Questions persist, in moments of reflection, when you take the weight off your swollen ankles and ponder your bulging waistline. Do I really want to go back to work? Wouldn\’t it be nice to have some flexibility? What on earth am I going to do about childcare? Surely all I need is a laptop and a phone line? I must be able to do something else….\r
\r Of course, the little voice in your head that says whoa..we have enough on our plates, is easy to shush when you are in daydream mode. Magazines you never had time for pre-pregnancy now seem to burst with high achieving multi mums. You start to tell yourself that it must be a doddle. Look at them! Coping well, making money, time to entertain journalists in their fab houses, looking beautifully content.\r
\r Are you waiting for me to burst that bubble at this point? Well, I honestly can\’t. True, I don\’t live in luxury, my earnings have been erratic to say the least, and stress is far from a distant memory workwise - however, I am unable to entertain the notion of working for someone else ever again. \r
\r Running a business is mostly fun if youre doing it right, and I hope that my three children will go into the world with that message. I am not around all the time, but I do not have to worry about missing important events in their life, or working from home when one of them needs me (or the sun comes out and the garden is irresistible.)\r
\r There are a growing number of mumtrepreneurs in the UK, taking their place in the big league and challenging outdated perceptions of the typical entrepreneurial profile, i.e. male, driven, cavalier.\r For some, a second or third child brings a realisation that having it all is frankly impossible, and working from home, or taking charge of your own destiny is a lot less stressful than attempting to please employers and colleagues. So, if you havent taken the plunge, do some research into your big idea, seek some advice from a trusted source, and go for it! \r
\r The Big Idea - the hardest part of the preparation with any start up business, is to accurately assess the feasibility of your idea, or product. Get some help to do this, but choose your helpers carefully! Doom mongers may pick holes in your plans, others will rave unconditionally, depending on their own agenda in some cases. The difference between success and failure is often the level of determination, so research and a variety of opinions will help fuel your fire, and keep you motivated when things get tough, which they will.\r
Communications\r It is a good idea to have flexibility with your telephone, so you can work from different locations, (home, office, Starbucks!) We have found UK2 Numbers to have a good choice of \’non geographic\’ numbers (0845, 0700 etc), and their service has been excellent.\r Have a look at what they offer here… www.uk2numbers.co.uk\r
\r Useful info: \r
www.essentialbusinessguide.com Truly excellent guide to starting and running a business, written by a Mumtrepreneur, Julie Stanford\r
www.motheratwork.co.uk Fantastic advice and support for working mums\r
www.businessbricks.co.uk Readable, down to earth advice for small businesses\r
www.enterprisenation.co.uk Packed with advice, and aimed at those working from home\r
www.bytestart.co.uk Small business portal, covers all aspects of starting up and growing a business.\r
www.auroravoice.com Aurora provides women\’s business and career events, recruitment advertising, and specialises in helping companies market themselves to women. \r
www.newbusiness.co.uk Lots of advice for all stages of business growth, and start up.
About the Author
Diana Horner has been interested in helping women run successful businesses since she started her first business in 1999. As well as establishing a highly successful womans networking group and organising a series of events aimed at women in business, Diana now runs Enterprising Woman - an online magazine aimed at helping and motivating women starting and running their own businesses. Enterprising Woman is a growing community for finding information, sharing experiences and collecting tips from other women entrepreneurs. To read the latest issue of Enterprising Woman, packed with interesting articles and practical tips, visit http://www.enterprisingwoman.co.uk!
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One of the reason we are entrepreneurs is because we have tons and tons of ideas. And fortunately or unfortunately, we are enthusiastic about every one of them. So how do we focus ourselves? How do we pick the projects we would undertake next? What kind of a measuring stick can we build to help us make a decision?
Everyone\’s measuring stick will be different. You are the only one that can pick the qualities that define value for you. After you choose your list of qualities you will need to assign a value to each of them in order to create your own personal Payback Measuring Stick. Here are some ideas:
What is the payback I get for this project in terms of:
- My time (How long will it take to implement? Can I do it or do I need to hire some/all of it done?)
- Money invested. (How does this project fit into my over all business budget?)
- How it feeds my passion (Is this on target with my innermost goal?)
- Creativity
- Pleasure/enjoyment in creating/doing it
- Potential joint venture possibilities
- Leveraging capabilities
- Is it scalable in that it can get bigger?
- Is it scalable in that it can be built so I do not have to work all the time?
- Will it hold more customers/clients?
- Will I run out of customers for it? Is there a burning need for it?
- What is its current worth? (If it\’s a project in place now that you are considering expanding)
- What am I personally up for right now in my lifea big undertaking, or a small but valuable tweaking?
What weight you give the aspects of this Pay Back Measuring stick depends on your goals.
Are you trying to create passive income that will keep rolling in for the future? Then you are going to care about the leveraging and joint venture aspects of the project. Leveraging is a key component to growth. Can this one idea become many other things? Can this e-book become a teleclass and an audio book and a packaged information product? Can you create a retreat based on its content? Is it the basis for a radio show or a podcast? Who else can you join with to strengthen the idea and make a profit for you both? What other lives can this project idea have?
Scarcity may be a deciding factor. Do you have the time and/or money at your disposal to do it yourself or can you be a team leader and get someone else to do it for you?
Is being creative a core value for you? Then you are going to give more weight to creativity and your pleasure and enjoyment in doing the project.
What size do you want your business to be? Are you limited by 1:1 delivery methods or is this new project a way to leverage your knowledge base into a group target market? Is there a genuine need for this idea or should it be modified and adjusted?
If you are in a hurry to create a product to accompany your next speaking engagement, or if you want something up on line and for sale in a week, the time it\’s going to take to create it will carry more weight.
Every decision must be weighed heavily against your core passion. I see lots of moneymaking ideas floating past me, but many of them do not represent my values, or the needs of my client base, or my basic purpose for being in service. Some I can adjust to my business, some I cannot. Choose a project because it honors your heart\’s calling.
Once you determine the value of each possible project, you have your own unique Pay Back Measuring Stick to help guide your choices.
Cara Lumen is a metaphysical philosopher, author and coach dedicated to helping you translate your Soul\’s Calling into a life of empowerment and choice. Through the Winds of Change Collection, she helps seekers deepen their spiritual experience and in High Intention Coaching, she provides innovative and profitable internet marketing strategies to entrepreneurs. To learn more about these compelling offerings, to browse in her library of insightful articles and to sign up for her three FREE e-magazines visit http://www.caralumen.com and join her on her blog at http://caralumen.typepad.com/.
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Integrating new technologies and adapting to rapidly changing markets inevitably means implementing new methodologies. There are four steps to implementing any new methodology within an organization:
1. Select a core framework for the methodology. That is, a set of best practices is chosen as the guiding example for operational success.
2. Modify the framework to fit the specifics of the organization, and devise a concrete implementation.
3. Train the organization to perform using the methodology.
4. Establish a process to review and improve the methodology. \r The fourth step is process review - a set of activities aimed at implementing a continuous improvement mechanism within an organization with the purpose of maintaining and improving a methodology.
Why Do We Need Process Review?
Throughout the process of implementing the new methodology, the desired outcome is to draw users of the methodology together by standardizing their approaches and techniques. This is normally done by creating a common master process and toolset that are delivered to the target community. Common principles and practices are instituted to ensure adherence to the methodology.
Change and variances from the methodology are inevitable, however. People will experiment with alternatives and deviations, for better or worse. In addition, over time organizations assimilate new people whose training will vary.
Variances will begin to chip away at the uniformity imposed by the common procedures.
Some of the variances which emerge may improve the methodology if widely adopted. Improvement is always possible and should be encouraged.
Innovations over time should not be eliminated by a slavish adherence to established procedures. More importantly, people need to feel they are owners of the process, with a personal stake in the methodology.
Some of the variances may wreck the methodology if widely adopted. Not all innovations and variations followed by methodology practitioners are good and beneficial. It is important that such destructive variances not only be contained, but avoided entirely.
Uniformity of practice is the critical characteristic of a methodology. Whether potentially beneficial or potentially harmful, in both cases the common methodology is compromised when the variances are not followed by all. Of course harmful variances must not be allowed to propagate throughout the organization. But variances that have the potential to improve the methodology but are not incorporated into it will ultimately render the methodology obsolete.
Variances compromise the uniformity of the approach and undermine the investment in a common methodology. Process review is needed to take the variances and adjudicate them for their merit, either rejecting them as pernicious threats or incorporating them into an improved methodology.
What Are the Outcomes of Process Review?
When a methodology is implemented, common practices and procedures are established to which members of the organization are expected to adhere. \r That is, rules are imposed which define the methodology. But as we have already noted, the common tendency of organization members is to innovate and deviate from the methodology, slowly breaking it down over time. The rules thereby define the boundaries of acceptable variances. As organization members tend towards greater variance, challenging the boundaries, the rules serve as an opposing force to maintain the integrity of the methodology. This set of balancing forces preserves the rough outlines of the methodology, but it has some destructive side effects. First, it preserves the status quo. Although in some respects this is exactly the desired effect, it does not account for changes outside of the system and does not permit adaptation to those changes. And there will be changes. Second, it positions the methodology and the organization members as adversaries. Rather than drawing people into the methodology and transforming them into stakeholders with some personal investment in the methodology, they become just another component of the system to be controlled.
As a result of process review, the methodology becomes evergreen as innovations are introduced over time. Change is managed through a rational process, incorporating beneficial change while ferreting out harmful variances. And even more importantly, incremental improvements are recognized and encouraged, thereby transforming organization members into stakeholders in the methodology. When members are encouraged and rewarded for their efforts at incremental improvement, they begin to take ownership of the system and to develop a level of commitment. The principles and practices of the methodology are no longer placing pressures against the tendencies of the organizations members to challenge them. Rather, both are working towards a common goal.
Consider the case of an academic discipline. Scholars gather around a particular field, committing their lives to making incremental advances in the field. In the same way, the outcome of process review should be the creation of a discipline in which organization members feel a sense of commitment to advancing and improving the methodology.
Where Do We Begin?
Process review begins by forming a representative body of organization members who use the methodology. Membership in the body should be revolving to maximize participation, and some basic rules and procedures for reviewing the methodology and for adjudicating proposals for change should be established. The focus of the body should be not simply to protect the integrity of the methodology, but to nurture a community motivated and even dedicated to improving the efficacy of the methodology. Only through the fostering of an ongoing process of incremental improvements and advancement will a truly collegial atmosphere of collaboration be formed. And only through an atmosphere of collaboration will the methodology survive.
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