How To Survive Your First Year in Business

Written by Brett Krkosska


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B. Are You Prepared For The Physical and Emotional Demands?

A new business can be very demanding. A business owner must wear several hats, be able to switch hats inrepparttar blink of an eye, and wear them tillrepparttar 118003 job is done. This can be stressful to your physical and emotional health. The following questions will help you gauge your stamina.

1. Are you prepared to put in long hours to succeed? It's not uncommon forrepparttar 118004 entrepreneur to work 12 or more hours per day, including weekends.

2. Do you haverepparttar 118005 support of your family? Without that support you are far less likely to succeed. Understand that they must also shoulder additional hardships and responsibilities.

3. Are you pursuing a business venture which fills you with excitement? If not,repparttar 118006 highs and lows of doing business can effect your well-being. A strong passion for your work is a powerful shield against burn-out, physical illness, or emotional distress.

C. What Skills Are You Bringing To Your Business?

Every business requiresrepparttar 118007 application of certain skills to be successful. Without these key skills you runrepparttar 118008 risk of failure. The important thing is to recognizerepparttar 118009 areas of your business requiring additional support. These questions will help you identifyrepparttar 118010 skills you possess and those you need to acquire.

1. Do you have previous experience in a business similar torepparttar 118011 one you're starting? If not, you should research your chosen industry. It's necessary to understand your market, your customers, and your competitors.

2. Are you good at planning and organizing? You must stay on top of things such as your schedule, your promotions, your accounting and financial records, your inventory, etc. Educate yourself, or consider hiring outside help if you feel weak in this area.

3. Are you a good decision-maker? Do you work well under pressure? Can you take projects through to their completion? These are essential skills forrepparttar 118012 small business owner. If you've never worked in a supervisory capacity, you may want to take some specialized training to develop these skills.

Follow through on your answers to all ofrepparttar 118013 above questions. Take action to strengthen your weaknesses. Doing so prepares you to move forward into market analysis andrepparttar 118014 start-up planning phases of your business.

All this preparation will increase your likelihood of survivingrepparttar 118015 first year in business. It's like buying a great pair of boots for your business.

Brett Krkosska provides 'how-to' advice on family and home-based work issues. Stop by his site for startup guidance, home business ideas and inspiration at: http://homebiztools.com For a Fresh and Original perspective on today's home business issues get Brett's ezine at: mailto:enews@homebiztools.com


Out of Control

Written by Bob Osgoodby


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Does this mean that you must meet your goals every single day? No - rather it is a guide. If there is a cook-out planned with company coming over, should you ignore your guests just to meet your goals? Of course not! But those goals have to be met under any circumstances. While you can delay them for a day,repparttar next day you will find yourself with a double load. I prefer to try to meet goals that I know I won't meet on a certain day in advance. That way, I can relax inrepparttar 118002 social session without having that "Sword of Damocles" hanging over my head.

Let's take a real life example. Suppose you are in network marketing, and of course one of your goals should be to enroll new recruits. This can be done a number of ways, and making calls to new prospects will be one of your daily chores. Set a goal of how many calls you will make on any given day. Once you meet that goal, you can either do other things to promote your business, or simply relax. If you "goof off" however and don't meet that goal for whatever reason, you are only hurting yourself if you don't make it up.

Personally I prefer working seven days a week. Granted, I don't work a full work day, but by spreadingrepparttar 118003 work out like this, it gives me a lot of free time everyday. Others might prefer having definite days off, but you have to adjust your goals accordingly. In other words, if you are going to work at home, and have all of its benefits, you have to be in control.

If you are "out of control" your home business will not prosper, and you just might find you have to return to that regular job, from which you so desperately tried to escape.

Bob publishes the free weekly "Your Business" Newsletter Visit his Web Site at http://adv-marketing.com/business to subscribe. As a bonus, get 40,000 FREE E-Books from Larry Dotson, when you visit http://www.ldpublishing.com


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