Online Home Business Connection

Running your own business is a rewarding but demanding career and life choice. There are many different opinions about how to start a business from writing and researching a detailed business plan, to jumping into it with passion only, it still boils down to one thing: a collaboration of all talents and efforts are needed for a business to work.

If you are planning to come up with a business and you need some tips on how you can start, consider the following:

1. Start with an idea. This doesn’t have to be a brand new invention or new product. In fact, many successful small businesses have found a way to deliver an existing service more efficiently or economically or have customized an existing product or service.

2. Put together a business plan. This doesn’t require hundreds of pages with thousands of charts. Use the plan to research things like how much you can charge for your product/service, how much it will cost to produce or deliver (include variable & fixed costs), and the size of your potential market (i.e. # of customers). The plan should evaluate your competitors – how many competitors, how strong are they, where are they, how will you compete. The plan should state what is required to enter this market, barriers to entry such as high fixed costs (factories, restaurants) and government regulations that must be met.

3. Determine if you need financing. Your business plan will include a section on financing. How will you pay the costs to start and run your business? Do you need a bank loan? Use credit cards? Self finance? Also, you’ll need to consider how much salary you need to support yourself while starting your business.

4. Put together your initial marketing plan. Marketing need not cost a fortune. Some businesses require very little. For example, many service businesses such as accounting firms build their practices through word-of-mouth referrals. You can join free or low-cost associations to build awareness of your small business. Again, your business plan (product, customer, competitor) will help you determine the marketing efforts you need to undertake.

5. Build your infrastructure early. This doesn’t mean build a big factory or a fancy office. In business ownership, it simply means keep accurate customer records, a clean set of updated books and a technology foundation, if necessary. One of the downfalls of many small businesses is that they don’t know if they’re making or losing money (i.e. the need for a clean set of books). Another downfall is when small business owners try to sell their company years later but lack accurate customer history and customer information. Many times, the customers of a small business are its best asset, and, without the records, the small business can be sold only for salvage.

Learn more about my favorite tool for starting an online home business here

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Small Reports Fortune is one of the products from internet marketing guru Jimmy D. Brown. I’ll be reviewing more of Jimmy’s products in the future, because I really like them.  (Oops… kind of broadcast the review there, didn’t I?)

But really, Jimmy’s stuff tends to be real nuts & bolts, step-by-step directions on a very tight topic. But I am getting ahead of myself, so back to the review…

Call me a skeptic.  I’ve seen it all online.  If you’ve been trying to make money online for very long, you know what I’m talking about … the latest and greatest marketing “secret” to make you wealthy is always the next product launch away.

I’ve forked over money for more “sure shots” and “can’t misses” than I care to reveal.

Know what I mean?

I’ve heard all about how “this one’s different” and all that garbage.  And, I’ve been disappointed time and time again.

That’s why I was PLEASANTLY surprised when I saw this course from Jimmy D. Brown.

I know, I know – Jimmy has an impeccable reputation for delivering (even over-delivering) quality information products.

That’s not something I would even question.

However… When he released a new course on creating ebooks, I thought, “What in the world could he possibly have to say on the subject that hasn’t already been said?”

I thought that was a fair question. And I must say that I’m impressed with the answer. Jimmy has put together a nice course here that teaches how to create small reports…

The case studies he provides at his site attention-grabbers for sure:

• Over eighteen-thousand dollars in monthly residuals
• Over thirty-thousand dollars in one day profit
• Over one million dollars in total profit

All from writing short reports.

But, as impressive as all that is, what really got my attention – and my endorsement – was the fact that he shows anyone (even rank beginners!) how to start from scratch and actually make a profit in just 7 days.

That means, if right now you have no list, no web site, no ideas… nothing… you can still actually make money from this system in just 1 week.

(Of course, if you have some of those things, you can see  results even quicker!)

Jimmy has even included as one of the bonuses, a 16-page report that offers a systematic checklist broken down into daily activities for you to complete. Assignments appear in chronological order, completely cover the entire process of creating a small report from start to finish and refer to specific pages of the main manual and bonuses to provide complete, detailed instructions for completing each assignment.

I mean, it’s all broken down into easy-to-do steps! And, best of all, he shares his “Six Phases Of A Six Figure Small Report Business” report. In order words, there’s a “small fortune” to be made with these “small reports”!

The course comes as 101-page manual in PDF format, 7 downloadable .MP3 sessions, 4 exclusive bonuses in PDF format plus a set of video tutorials. For this price, you’re getting a course in market research, a course in copywriting, a course in web creation, a course in marketing your product… I mean, it’s almost silly how thorough he is in this one product. It’s truly a comprehensive, step-by-step course.

The only thing that Jimmy doesn’t do is actually sit down and write the reports for you — but I do think that’s understandable since the price is so reasonable.

If you order today, you can *LITERALLY* be taking orders for you first small report in less than 1 week from NOW.

Check it out for yourself at Small Reports Fortunes

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When you’re launching a new business — even an online home business — you don’t want to lose sight of one of the most important principles… you.

In all likelihood, your new home business is a one-man or -woman operation. If you can’t or won’t work, then nothing gets done. So, it’s important to make sure nothing happens to you. Today’s guest blogger, Joseph Lizzio, offers some sound advice along those lines.

When Planning Your Business, Don’t Forget About You! 
by Joseph Lizio

Many new entrepreneurs spend a lot of time planning their business. They do this to ensure that once their doors are open things run smooth and that they have a real chance for long-term success.

Most go out and write a business plan. Business plans are great tools in planning your business as well as thinking through all of the small things that business owners have to deal with each and every day. They are very good road maps for a business owner.

But, there is one thing that almost all new business owners miss – and that is their personal situation. They miss it because they get so engrossed in planning the business side. Further, most business plan templates or software just do not cover this issue.

To be a successful entrepreneur, a business owners needs to have the least amount of disruptions (non-business disruptions) possible as well as have the ability to take advance of all opportunities that come their way.

This requires a very solid personal foundation. An entrepreneur must first be mentally ready to put in long hours, make hard decisions and choices and be willing to do what it takes to succeed (take risks). They must also be willing to make personal sacrifices for the business knowing that these scarifies will pay off in the long-term. And, lastly (and most importantly) they must be financially prepared.

This can mean:

1. Having your personal finances in place so you are not reliant on the business to cover your living expenses. Most businesses take 12 to 18 months just to break even. If the business owner is counting on the business to provide them a salary from day one – they are setting themselves up for a quick failure.
2. Reducing personal obligations to the lowest level possible by either consolidating debt into one low monthly payment or eliminating personal debt all together.
3. Lowering living expenses to the most basic of needs. Luxury items are out – stick to just the basics for survival.
4. Improving credit scores. Regardless of what you may have been told – your personal credit history really, really matters. Should you need working capital or some other type of loan for your business – your personal credit history will come into play. Should you need trade credit or store credit or even insurance – your personal credit history comes into play.

By making yourself the as lean as possible – reducing personal distractions and putting yourself into a position to jump at every opportunity – will go a long way towards your business success.

Everyday I come across entrepreneurs who either have great ideas or growing businesses but cannot get them to the next level because their personal situation (bad credit or personal money needs) stands in their way.

Don’t be one of them.

About the Author: Joseph Lizio holds a MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship and has a strong commercial lending background. In his current venture, Mr. Lizio is the founder of Business Money Today – www.businessmoneytoday.com – a site designed to help business owners find and obtain capital to grow their businesses.

There’s a great resource on this topic that I can heartily recommend. Get more info on developing effective business habits here.

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This is just a quick post… If you haven’t caught this short, 9-page article yet, it’s definitely worth reading…

It’s all about… “The man who owns the Internet… is the most powerful dotcom mogul you’ve  never heard of,” reports Business 2.0 Magazine.

He has a $300 million empire already.

Download the free article here:
http://www.online-home-business-connection.com/go-to/free-9-page-article.html

To our success,
Kathi

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Having an online home business can be great fun, and if you do it right, lucrative as well. So, chance are… sooner or later, your spouse/domestic partner will become interested in either partnering with you in your business or building their own online home business.

That may sound great, but it can also present a number of significant challenges that can make or break your home business. Living with your husband or wife or live-in partner can be challenge enough. Working with that person at home as well could put one or both of you over the edge, if you’re not careful.

I don’t want to scare you, though…Working with a significant other has its drawbacks, but it also has its rewards, and it can be done successfully if you are both dedicated to making both your relationship and your business work.

The biggest drawback of running a business with your partner is the chance of more conflict. Nothing tests the waters of a relationship more than the confrontation of working with someone you are personally involved with in close proximity. It is generally more recommended for couples that already have a strong relationship, and have quite a bit in common. However, it is possible that those couples that have seemingly drifted apart can use the business to bring them back together again. It is important for every couple to have goals in a relationship, both personal, and vocational.

The biggest advantage of working with your significant other to start and run a home business is that it challenges you to strengthen your communication skills as couple. You will quickly learn how to work through many differences while you are running a business. Another big advantage is that it can help you learn more about one another, which you don’t already know of each other. If you and your partner can learn to get along while running your business, it could have a positive effect on your whole entire future as a family.

In order to successfully work at home with your partner, you need to remember a variety of points. The most important is to make sure that you divide your time between work and play. Although your business may consume the majority of your life-especially during the early days of running it-you still need to schedule play time with your partner.

This means making sure you set aside at least one day a week where you and your partner will go to a movie, have a nice lunch together or whatever else couples are meant to do together, besides run a business. In fact, if you have never committed to working on this big of a project together with your partner, you may consider it a blessing as you read this article.

Starting a business with your partner will help keep your life in balance, and give you something healthy to talk about, so you do not continue to argue like you used to. Not only that, but it will open the door to other activities that you never thought you would enjoy together. If you take advantage of this opportunity, it will also provide an incentive for you to want to work on many other areas of your relationship as well.

Besides scheduling work and playtime with your significant other you may also need to divide business duties up according to strengths and weaknesses. This may take some maturing on both of your parts as a couple, because you will have to rise above any hurt feelings during this time of delegation. For instance, if you tell your wife that you think you should handle all the business finances, and it is not because she is a woman, but because she is the one who maxes out the monthly credit cards, your wife will need to not take offense.

Likewise, if your wife says that she thinks she should handle all the business calls because she is better at talking to people than you are as the husband (or boyfriend), then you need to respect that. Whether you are male or female, this paragraph applies to you. Both men and women in a partnership need to not take offense, and generate professionalism in business, even if their partner is the one they plan on spending their life with, or are already married to.

Other aspects of running a business involve trust with your partner. For instance, you need to include your partner in all major business transactions, such as purchasing new land or a building, or even new computers for the office. The best way to keep the lines of communications open to help foster trust between you and your live-in associate is to set up weekly meetings where these matters will be discussed. If you set up formal meetings this will help you keep your work at work (even if you still work in your home) during work time and not take it home with you, or on break.

If you follow all the above tips, and remember the rewards of starting a business with your significant other, then the challenges that you face with your partner will seem less and less. Not only that, but if you and your partner have a clear vision, and have set goals for your business that you will run together then you as a couple are more likely to succeed at this business.

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Learning how to write well is a skill every home business person must have… at least, if they want to succeed. Here are 3 types of writing you may need to do, depending on which online home business model you choose:

• Sales writing, for example on a sales page
• Informational writing designed to educate
• Preselling writing, where you put people in the right frame of mind to buy… either your own products or an affiliate produce
• Stories, designed to entertain and also to educate

The good news is that even a non-writer can learn to do all or most of these types of writing. Here’s an article from an associate of mine that can help you get started…

The Key To Creating Information Products That Sell Even In Overcrowded, Highly-Competitive Markets

By Jimmy D. Brown

I want you to add a new word to your business vocabulary -

The word is “specialization”.

A new age has dawned in information marketing. And it’s the age of “specialization”. Before I explain how this will help you create information products that sell like crazy, let me give you a very brief history lesson.

(I promise, this won’t hurt a bit.

Information products online have evolved since I logged onto the Internet back in 1999…

1) THE SIMPLE AGE.

Times were simple back when I first came online. And so were the information products. Way back when, information products weren’t readily available online like they are today. If you could find ANY information on the topic you were interested in, you grabbed it.

2) THE SYSTEMATIC AGE.

As more and more people learned how to create and market information products online, a new era emerged: the “systematic” era. This was a time when huge information products were created with hundreds of pages. The idea was to create comprehensive courses on a particular topic.

3) THE SEPARATION AGE.

As “internet marketing” and other business-related markets became inundated with product offerings, the birth and rapid growth of “niche marketing” occurred. People began separating themselves from the crowd and focused on “tiny niche topics” of interest.

4) THE SPECIALIZATION AGE.

Again competition came – even in these small niches. While there is still money to be made by focusing on these tiny, untapped markets — the well is drying up at a fast rate. Now enters a new age … the “specialization” age of information marketing.

Which brings us to the lesson…

There is a LOT of money to be made by creating small, 7-15 page reports on PRECISE topics.

Most consumers would rather NOT sift through 100 pages of information to find out how to do something they are interested in, nor would they like to pay for 100 pages of information when they only need chapter 3.

With more and more products available on the market, consumers are getting pickier and pickier. They want what they want and only what they want.

Perhaps the biggest untapped information gold mine lies in this concept of creating small reports on precise topics.

• 17 Ways to Find New Affiliates Using Google.com
• How To Walk Off 7 Pounds in 7 Days
• 3 Ways To Get Your Next Vacation Free Of Charge
• The 15-Minute Guide To Stalling A Divorce
• Top 7 Ideas For Starting A Homeschool Support Group

Specialized information. 7-15 page reports that sell anywhere from $10-$100, depending upon the information.

And the benefits of writing these small reports are staggering -

1. You can write a small report in just a few hours of one day.
2. The profit per page ratio is astounding – 10 pages for $10 is a dollar per page per customer.
3. Small reports are MUCH easier to write than full-length courses.
4. There is a never-ending supply of topics for small reports.
5. You maximize the lifetime value of your customer. In other words, you can sell report after report to the SAME customer.
6. A series or collection of your small reports can be bundled into premium-priced courses over time.
7. When “hot topics” emerge (almost daily!) you can quickly crank out a small report to strike while the iron is hot.
8. When other marketers are seeing success with their products, you can create a complementary report to offer for sale as a supplement.
9. Many people can’t afford to buy (or refuse to buy) high-priced courses – but virtually anyone can whip out $10-$15.

The list could go on and on. I’ve been creating small reports for a long time. In fact, I make over $15,000 in PROFIT every month from just ONE of my sites.

I know this works. And not just for me.

I had a customer recently email me to let me know he sold 420 copies of his VERY FIRST small report, during its first month.

So, what I want to convince you to do is this -

***TRY IT FOR YOURSELF****

Create a small 7-15 page report and begin selling it online and see what kind of results you see.

A new information age has dawned – the age of specialization!

Create your own “special” reports and get your piece of the pie.

NOTE FROM KATHI: I’ve used this method a number of times myself and I can tell you it does work. Sure, it takes a bit of work, but the rewards are great!

Do you have an idea for a great Small Report, but need some help? Check out “How To Improve Your Information W.R.I.T.I.N.G.™” by clicking the link. You’ll learn useful tips to help you in the writing process – so you’ll be able to create information products faster, easier and, ultimately, better — and that’s more money in the bank.

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This post will answer the basic question of, “What Is an Online Home Business?” It’s an important question… because understanding the answer will help you figure out if this website is even what you’re looking for!

Most businesses these days have some sort of online presence. Sometimes, it’s no more than a 1 or 2 page brochure. Other times, a business may have a full-fledged website with a good amount of pages and online interactivity. But neither one makes them a true online home business, if they also have an offline or bricks & mortar operation (think your local gift shop or repair service).

When I use the term “online home business”, I’m referring to a one-person business that operates out of your home and whose sole presence is online. Now, there are many types of online home businesses. Here are just a few…

• Affiliate marketing, where you promote other people’s products for a share of the sale price
• Selling advertising space on a content website
• Online auctions
• Selling your own digital or hard products

It’s my feeling that there is probably some sort of online home business model for almost everyone, no matter what your skill, background or interest. Or even your start up budget. It’s just a matter of figuring out what you want to do and then learning how to do it.

Running an online home business does present some challenges however. One of those is that you need to have the right discipline… or you’ll soon find yourself wasting hours and even days of time. And that’s no way to make a living. You have to admit… working from home sounds, great, doesn’t it – work when you want, in your pjs  with the kids playing under your desk, or wearing your swimsuit while you’re staring at the ocean on your latest vacation.

And yes, working from home does give you a huge amount of flexibility, but there are also quite a few pitfalls that you don’t really hear about until you’re knee deep in it already. Here are some of them. Let me know if any of this sounds familiar…

• You’re constantly interrupted by your spouse, kids or friends who just want to ask you something quickly. (Really, it won’t take a minute!)

• Your “office” also happens to be the living room, so you end up trying to focus while the television is going, and people are running all around the house.

• You spend almost every waking hour either actively working on your websites or thinking about marketing strategies, product ideas and such when you should be spending quality time with your loved ones.

• You waste hours each day surfing the net (and call it research), checking your stats or answering email.

The point is, we all develop these bad habits that don’t make us very productive. I bet that almost everything you’re doing in  your usual 10 hours plus workday right now, you could accomplish in under 3 hours provided you set yourself up to be really productive during that time.

And that’s exactly what you will learn in this new report called “Homepreneur Habits: How To Run A Successful Home Business”.

Find out how to set up your online home business workspace, structure your day and most importantly, structure your online home business for maximum productivity and results. This report wasn’t created by just anyone, either. It was written by Jimmy D. Brown, one of the most successful Internet Marketers who fell into all the traps you’ve been falling into and then turned it around to a point where he is running and growing a huge home business spending just 3 hours a day working.

This isn’t just some dry theoretical report. Jimmy shares exactly what he does and how he has is office set up (with plenty of pictures) so you have plenty of “real life” examples. Grab the report here:

http://www.online-home-business-connections.com/recommends/homepreneur-habits.html

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