Avoiding The Home Business Yo Yo

Written by Kirk Bannerman


The psychological aspects of starting a home business are multi-faceted. Among these arerepparttar immediate perceived pleasures of being your own boss, setting your own working hours, and avoiding a stressful commute (be itrepparttar 117254 freeways in Los Angeles, ridingrepparttar 117255 “L” in Chicago, orrepparttar 117256 subway in New York, or any ofrepparttar 117257 other major metropolitan areas ofrepparttar 117258 world like Paris, Rome, Athens, Madrid, etc).

However, there are also significant things onrepparttar 117259 other side ofrepparttar 117260 ledger…starting and building a home business is not just an automatic trip to Valhalla. The need for self discipline is important…since you don’t have a boss and a place to report for work, it is now up to you to schedule your time and perform productive tasks on your own.

Set actual work hours. Decide what hours you are going to work each day and stick to it as much as possible. This is one ofrepparttar 117261 beautiful things about a home business…you get to make this choice based upon your own personal situation (getting kids off to school…playing golf inrepparttar 117262 morning, etc…whatever happens to “float your boat”)

Make "to do" lists for each day. Then as you get them done, check them offrepparttar 117263 list. You can transfer anything you don't get done on a particular day torepparttar 117264 next days list and make some notation so that you can see that it is a carryover fromrepparttar 117265 previous day...hopefully, this will help you against just pushing everything forward...pretty soonrepparttar 117266 broom will get too heavy to push. This will help you to stay organized and on task.

Inrepparttar 117267 early going, one ofrepparttar 117268 most difficult things about developing a new home based business is dealing withrepparttar 117269 “ups and downs” (I call itrepparttar 117270 Yo-Yo). Once you have donerepparttar 117271 research and decided on a proven work at home business opportunity, you really need to focus on PERSISTENCE and realize that any real business will not just automatically become successful in days or weeks…you should be prepared to give it your best for at least 6 to 12 months to begin to see real solid income.

Small Business 'No' How - Don't Give Away the Farm

Written by David A. James


You're pretty proud of yourself! After all, only four months ago you came up withrepparttar idea of opening your own business - "Jenni's Interior Design" Your friends have always said you were gifted when it came to arranging furniture and picking out colors, and you love to do it, so you decided it was time to get serious.

You went to a few "Starting Your Own Business" seminars, picked out a name and registered it, had your nephew build a great website, printed up some business cards, got a second phone line, and took out an ad inrepparttar 117253 local paper - "Are Your Walls and Furniture as Stagnant as Pond Scum? You Don't Need to Breakrepparttar 117254 Bank for a Fresh Look, You Just Need a Makeover!"

Then you crossed your fingers and waited. Day one, no calls. Day two, no calls. Day three -repparttar 117255 phone rings! Success! Your heart is pounding as you pick uprepparttar 117256 phone. The conversation goes something like this:

"Hi! This is Jenni with Jenni's Interior Design, how can I help you?"

"Hi, my name is Celia, I saw your ad inrepparttar 117257 paper. What do you charge for your makeovers?"

"Well, my rate is $25 per half-hour for consultations or $100 per room to redesignrepparttar 117258 entire room. If we decide on new furniture or paint, that is your cost of course"

"Hmm, I have a lot of rooms I'm thinking about changing. Can you come over for a free consultation just to see what I have? If I do more than one room, can I get a discount?"

"Umm… sure, that's fine. If we do more than one room I can do a discount too, no problem"

Hold on. Maybe Jenni hasn't given awayrepparttar 117259 farm yet, but she's on her way. When Jenni hangs uprepparttar 117260 phone she's going to realize a few things:

1. She is committed to spending her time and gas money to visit Celia. 2. She has no agreement or commitment from Celia 3. She indicted that some of her time is "free" time. 4. She let Celia know her price could be bargained down.

The problem here isn't that Jenni was caught off guard,repparttar 117261 problem is that she instinctually began to doubt herself and her prices. You can't blame Jenni, after all, this is her first potential customer and while she's talking onrepparttar 117262 phone she's probably thinking "Gee, am I really worth $25 per half-hour? I do this for my friends for free. I don't know if I'm really qualified to charge that kind of money"

The potentially bigger problem is Jenni pretty much threw her pricing structure outrepparttar 117263 window when questioned. There is nothing wrong with bartering and making deals, but it shouldn't be your standard business practice. Without a doubt, if Celia likes Jenni's work and recommends her to a friend, Celia will be sure to brag aboutrepparttar 117264 great deal she negotiated as well. Now, Jenni is probably stuck with this "free consultation with a discount" policy for any referral customers. Jenni is setting herself up to run all over town free of charge, give good advice, and potentially not make a dime.

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