February 19, 2007
How to Start Your Own Business Now... Put Your Brand
in a Favorable Light and Achieve Success... Be Prepared
and Success Will Follow... and More.
** How to Start Your Own Business Now
By Adrian Newman, Founder of e-Wealth Daily
I noticed from your letters last week that there are a lot of you who want to start your own business. I think that's great.
However, I was dismayed by the number of these letters that immediately listed a few excuses as to why people felt that they couldn't start their own business.
Basically, you're giving up before you even make the attempt, and that is the fastest route to failure.
I understand the difficulty in budgeting both the time and money for your own business. I also understand that today, people are under more stress than ever before, and sometimes the physical and emotional demands might be too much.
However, I've got a few great ideas I'd like to share with you today, in order to help you get your own home business started.
First, if you are thinking about starting your own business, then I can assume that you are currently either unemployed or unhappy with your current employment. Now, this might sound like a step backward on the road to self-employment, but my first piece of advice to you is:
Get a part-time job.
Not any part-time job, but a job with flexible hours such as in the retail or food services sectors. Having a part-time job will keep a regular paycheck coming in, while, at the same time, will allow you to devote some of your time to a home-based business.
Try to schedule it so that you can work as many weekends as possible, allowing you to have a couple of days off during the week to excel in your home business.
Now, when you have some income coming in, you won't have to spend all the money you've saved for your business -- you can get creative and save on costs. The next step you can take is to try and team up with an existing business in order to increase your marketing efforts, for example. However, you really have to do your research when you're deciding on whom you choose to team up with and how you're going to do it.
For example, one letter I recently received was from a gentleman who started his own painting company. He teamed up with the owner of a paint store to help advertise his company at this location in exchange for him buying all his supplies there. Sounds like a good partnership, right?
Well, it turns out he didn't get one referral from the promotional material he put in the paint store because the people who were buying were either using other painting companies to get the job done or they were doing the job on their own.
My advice to him was to team up with other decorating stores instead, such as carpet stores, tile stores, and drapery stores, for example. People buying new carpet or drapes will likely be in need of painting services in the very near future, wouldn't you say?
It's this kind of thinking that will help grow your business.
Thinking that you don't have the time or resources is a sure way to sink your business, so stay positive and get creative in your approach. By starting a business on a part-time basis from home and helping it grow, you never know where it can go!
** Put Your Brand in a Favorable Light and Achieve Success
By Doug D'Anna, the "Hundred-Million-Dollar Man"
There are a number of ways that you can put your personal and business brand in a more favorable light. Many of the tips about to cover may seem obvious, but I find that people often forget to stick to their brand image and to allow others to see what their brand stands for. There are three main ways to put your brand in a favorable light. They are:
- Your actions speak volumes about your brand:
The things that you do every day, such as how you respond to situations, how you treat people, and how much effort you put forth all make a difference in how people perceive you. In my case, my word is my bond. I do exactly what I said I was going to do. Surprisingly, most people don't. Do this and you'll be light years ahead of the crowd.
- The quality of your work is an expression of your brand:
Do you convey a sense of value and intelligence in all of your work, both verbal and written? What type of work ethic do you express? Are you a perfectionist? Are you always on track? On time? On schedule? Under budget? As I pointed out in another article, my name is attached to everything that I do -- know that yours is, too. Make sure that people associate your name with quality.
- The results you achieve reflect the success of your brand:
Promotions, awards, and any other type of success that you can demonstrate to your customers will go a long way for your brand. So, when it comes to discussing your accomplishments, make sure you do so with pride. Customer testimonials, projects that made money, or popular promotions are all worthy of note, as they will build up the strength of your brand. These achievements will give you increased brand recognition.
Let's not stop there. These three ways to let your brand shine through can be broken down into a number of different strategies. Make no mistake about it -- people judge you by the words you use. In order to put your brand in the best possible light, I urge you to use these time-proven communication
strategies:
- Always be articulate: Are you able to express your needs fully to others? Do you have a clarity of purpose or do you seem to take the middle-of-the-road approach often? Are you wishy-washy when it comes to making decisions in life? People will be naturally drawn to you if you can express your ideas clearly, confidently, and concisely.
- Maintain a balance: Is your life and your emotions harmonious or do you always seem to experience an imbalance somewhere? Your inability to juggle what life brings your way will push others away from you. Take the time to look at your personal brand and see how you can project a balanced image.
- Be compassionate: If you can empathize with the situations and circumstances of others, then they will trust and respect you. Learn to listen with your whole heart when others come to you with their concerns.
- Be cooperative: Being able to collaborate on some of life's great moments makes things not only easier, but also more pleasurable and fulfilling as well. Always try to achieve a win- win situation in everything that you do.
- Be creative: Being able to express your creativity is the ultimate way to attract the attraction of others. In our mundane, work-a-day world, people are drawn to artists, sculptors, actors, musicians, and creative thinkers. Tap into your creativity and use it.
- Be interested in learning new things: We never stop learning new things in life. If you open your mind to new opportunities, new viewpoints, and new ways of reasoning, I promise your relationships will be more fulfilling. Try and learn something from every person who you meet.
- Be engaging: You can sit there all you want and wait for relationships to come to you, but they won't. Get up and take charge of your future. There's nothing more unappealing than a person with no initiative. Draw a line in the sand today and "go for it."
- Be flexible: Can you go with the flow? If you are stuck in your ways, then you're sure to have stale business and personal relationships. Never dig yourself into a position. Have the courage to bend a bit and look for mutually advantageous outcomes.
- Be genuine: Be the real deal, the original article. People can always spot a phony. Don't make grandiose claims. Make sure that your word is always associated with the truth.
- Have integrity: If people can trust that you operate on a good set of values and morals, then they will open up to you and give you the world. Remember that your word is your bond.
** Be Prepared and Success Will Follow
By Michael Newman, the "Money Finder"
A friend of mine is a self-proclaimed obsessive organizer. Each morning before leaving his home, he puts on the clothing he has laid out the night before, writes out his to-do list for his daily activities and errands, and grabs the lunch he prepared the night before from his fridge. He then heads out the door, sticking as close to his schedule as possible.
At night, he returns home and makes the dinner he has decided on the day prior and then, before going to bed, lays out his clothing for the next day, ready to repeat his routine all over again.
He does this each and every day, and that even includes weekends and holidays. Even on vacation, he'll take those few minutes each morning to prepare a schedule for his day.
Now, this is a level of thorough detail that may not be the best plan of action for absolutely everyone. However, there are some great things that you can learn from my friend's meticulous daily planning.
The first thing is that when you plan for success, you greatly increase your chances of achieving your goals. While there are some days when my friend may not get everything on his list completed, he routinely gets more done in a day than anyone else I know. That's because he knows from experience how to budget his time in order to get things done fast. For him, success means getting more errands done in just one trip than one or two trips, for example.
When it comes to your figuring out l your own plans, know that you can save both time and energy, and even money, by being proactive in your approach. You can start by setting specific days to run errands such as going to the bank or getting your groceries. Go to the businesses that are nearby each other on the same day and try to avoid last-minute changes in your plans if possible.
Next, my friend pays very close attention to his money. He knows when his bills are due and he even knows when they are going to arrive at his door in the mail. Just as he manages his time, he also accounts for all of the money that he both makes and spends.
Do you know how much money you spend on short trips to the variety store or local coffee shop? These small-change purchases tend to add up really quickly over time. This money could instead go toward a vacation rather than just quick caffeine and sugar fixes.
If you take just a few minutes and figure out how much money you are spending on non-essential daily items, you'll discover that you might be wasting lots of money. Replacing these daily spending habits is easy to do -- just add needed items to your grocery list and stick to it or make your own coffee. Doing so may take a few extra minutes of your day, but the long-term savings will be more than worth it.
What it comes down to is that preparation and planning are two of the best ways that will help you stay on the path to success. Add to this some diligence and patience, and you'll be in a far better position to achieve your goals. |
