Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Pitfalls to Avoid with a Work at Home Business

Pitfalls to Avoid with a Work at Home Business
Copyright © Dominic Boykin
http://www.StayHomeBusiness.org

You quit your day job and are ready to delve into an easy work at home business. It is a piece of cake to work at home and not have to deal with corporate rules or office politics, right? While working from home does give you a newfound sense of freedom and relieves you of problems associated with working for someone else, it too can be tricky. There are some pitfalls of owning your own business and working at home.

1. Poor budgeting skills. Budgeting for a home based business is difficult because there is no guarantee for income. You can not pay bills and spend money from your business account hoping that next week or next months will bring in better results. Another common problem with budgeting is spending too much or not enough money on advertising. You have to strike a balance to get word out about your business and get more sales without breaking the bank.

2. Expecting overnight success. Some people are under the misconception that the minute their business goes live on the Internet that they will be swamped with business and the money will start flowing in immediately. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Work at home businesses take time to develop and grow. Steer clear of anyone who promises a get rich quick scheme or overnight success. These are just tactics to get you excited to sign up with them and make them more money.

3. Not researching enough. Some things need to be done before you can start a work at home business. Discovering your niche and finding out who your target audience is need top be researched. Knowing the demand for your product or services is also important. Strengthen your business from the get go by doing research in advance.

4. Poor choice of product. Choosing a product that is difficult to sell because there is no demand for it, a product that is of poor quality or one that makes very little profit can ruin a work at home business. The future of your business is dependant on your product and customer service. Your business will suffer if either of these is lacking.

5. Not having clearly set goals. Every business needs a game plan. You need a list of clear cut goals for your work at home business to map out your success. Winging it is not necessarily the best way to go as far as business practices.

6. Having trouble separating work and home life. It is late, you need to put dinner on the table, get the kids to bed and finish the laundry. The only thing is you still have work to do. Finding balance between work and home life can be a challenge for work at home business owners.

7. Quitting your day job too soon. Quitting your day job before securing enough income from your home based business can prove to be a big mistake, especially if you depend on your job for health insurance, stock options, retirement benefits or other company perks.

The truth is that one third of small businesses fail within the first two years. You can avoid being a part of this statistic by being prepared and avoiding common pitfalls associated with work at home businesses.

About the Author:

Dominic Boykin is an Internet marketer who operates a successful work from home based business on the Internet. Sign up for his free work from home based business newsletter and receive 6 free affiliate marketing and home business related e-books. Click here to learn more about how to make your work at home business succeed.

Labels: home based business, work at home, work at home business, work at home businesses, working at home, working from home

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Comments:

Boy, you're dead on with all of those tips. For #5 I'd add something relating to "information overload" with all the competing programs out there.

It'd probably be good to unsubcribe to ALL emails from people who make any of these offers.

# posted by  Greg : July 31, 2008 11:31 AM

 

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Feature Article: Make the Leap to Work from Home Based Business Success
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-21490

Before you can have a successful home based business, you must first possess 3 "intangibles." These are things that must come from WITHIN you.

 ===> Intangible 1 <===

First, you must have a strong WHY.

Why MUST you have a successful Work from Home Based Business? What is driving you? What is it that you CAN'T have in your life anymore and/or what is it that you absolutely MUST HAVE now?

For me, I couldn't stand working 12+ hours a day anymore and missing the experience of my children growing up. I also absolutely HAD TO HAVE the freedom of being able to control my life and finances through a little box (laptop computer) that I could carry with me anywhere in the world and not be tied to anyone's time pressures or demands but my own. That was my carrot and my stick. I felt a great pain deep in my gut of missing out on my children's lives and the incredible freedom that succeeding in a home based business would provide for me. I found my why. You MUST find yours.

===> Intangible 2 <===

You must BELIEVE that it is possible.

If you don't believe that it's POSSIBLE for you to have a successful home based business or make your living from home, you won't. It's that simple.

For me, figuring out that it was possible was just a matter of realizing that many other people were ALREADY making great money working from home. If they could do it, I could too. It would just be a matter of figuring out what those people were doing and then adapting it to my situation.

There is no shortage of undeniable PROOF that people (millions of them) are making money working from home. Just get online and do some research and you'll find countless testimonials and stories of REAL PEOPLE making real money on the Internet. Or head to your local bookstore and you'll find the same documented evidence of this fact. Truth is, it's getting easier and easier to make money with your own home based business.

I've always said that "affiliate marketing" (a simple way to make money from home) is the job of the future. In the "old" days, you had to go to a potential employer, apply for the position and hope for the best. Now you can simply go to any company you want, fill out their affiliate application and start work immediately. Affiliates are the new working class. In fact, making money with affiliate programs or making your living on the Internet is WAY MORE than possible. It is pretty much (or will be soon enough) unavoidable now. Affiliate marketing is the "job" of the future that's already here TODAY.

===> Intangible 3 <===

You must be willing to MAKE THE LEAP.

Ready, FIRE, then aim... This is the operating philosophy you MUST adopt to succeed with a home based business.

That's backwards for most people who like to aim before they fire. The fact is that home based business success is a moving target... The only thing constant about it is change. You need to stop analyzing the game and simply jump into it. You can't learn from the outside... You have to be IN THE RING to truly understand it.

The lesson here is that you will never really be READY to start a home based business. You simply have to start one. It's like having children... You're never really ready, but when it happens you adapt and grow. This is what I call "Making the Leap."

The good news is that the cost of failure with having your own home based business is very small. In the "brick and mortar" world you need to evaluate things very carefully before you decide to open up a business. It's almost always necessary to invest thousands of dollars to get an offline business off the ground. However, on the Internet you can often start a successful business for less than $100. The Plug-In Profit Site is a great example of this: http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-21490

You simply need to get IN THE GAME... Each moment that you stay "out there," you're wasting valuable time that you could be learning and skills necessary to build a successful home based business. In fact, if you're not in the game yet, you're ALREADY behind the times. Make the leap to creating a successful home based business today!

About the Author:

Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy has helped thousands of people in over 200 countries around the world start and run a successful home business. Discover 3 easy steps to start your own Work from Home Based Business and subscribe to The Home Biz Guy's FREE Home Business Secrets Mini-Course at: http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-21490

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