Simple WAHM

Archive for the ‘Getting Started’ Category

My Business:

Have you ever seen those big oversized trucks come down the highway?  The ones with the big “Oversize” or “Wide Load” signs on the front and back of the truck?  Well, those trucks need permits from each state that they go through.  Permits that tell them what roads they can travel on and when they can drive down them.  What I do is get those permits from each of the states (and sometimes the cities or counties they go through) for the truckers.

All of the work is done over the internet, the phone and fax.  Which is why this is a perfect home based business.  Customers don’t come to the office, I don’t have to travel anywhere to get the permits, and there is no inventory to store.  The downside is that some of the permits are extremely expensive and some of them have to be paid for at time of purchase.  By expensive I mean upwards around $800.  We charge extra for permits that are over a certain amount though, so it is worth it. Read the rest of this entry »

All around the internet I’ve been hearing about Virtual Assistants. One of my close friends who is a business/life coach raves about her VA who helps her with emails, daily tasks, scheduling and much more. Her virtual assistant helps her to focus on her business by taking the hassle of the “little” jobs off her shoulders. This sounds like a great thing, for both the busy professional and the stay at home mom who wants to make a good living.

But I had some questions about being a Virtual Assistant. After doing some research and asking a few of my friends about it, these are the answers I got for my questions. If you’re thinking about becoming a Virtual Assistant, these questions might be helpful to you as well!
Read the rest of this entry »

There are many advantages to having a website. Just a few of them include being able to market your business globally, being able to accept orders while you sleep, and allowing people to receive information about your business in real time.

When you put your site online, you have a couple of choices. You can use a free web host or you can pay for web hosting. Your web host is the company that transmits your site onto the World Wide Web.

Web hosting is very affordable, and even those on the tightest budgets should make this a priority. Here are a few reasons why hosting your own site is the better alternative.

First and foremost, using a paid web host will keep your business image professional. When you use a free web host, you may look cheap or inexperienced. That isn’t the image you want to project to potential customers.

Many providers of free web hosting will display banner ads across their users’ sites. Since they are not receiving revenue through payment for their web hosting services, they need to earn revenue somehow. And so, these companies either display their own ads or the ads of others’.

As a user, you have no control of which ads are displayed. These ads could potentially offend your target market. If, by chance, the ad has something to do with the content on your page, your website visitor may click the ad, leave your site, and purchase an item from the other company instead of purchasing your product.

Many web hosts offer great customer support – to their paying customers. If you choose to use a free web host, they may only offer limited support or no support at all. If you have trouble transferring files or something of that nature, you may be left to figure it out by yourself. This can cause a lot of frustration.

Depending on the company you purchase your web hosting from, various features and benefits will be included. Some common features and benefits include message boards, online photo albums, blogs, shopping carts, and more. These items may not be included in the free web host plans.

When you pay for your web hosting, your web host company will guarantee the amount of time your website will be up and running. Usually, the guarantee rate falls between 95 and 99 percent. Free web hosts do not guarantee how much “up time” you will have. If your website is only up 50% of the time, you are potentially losing 50% of any traffic you send to your site.

As you can see, paying a small monthly fee to a web host is well worth the money. You can find web hosting for under $4 per month. Some companies will allow you to host unlimited sites for under $10 per month.

As a network marketing veteran, I always apply the God gave us two ears and one mouth rule – ask questions and then listen. Listen to the answers.

It doesn’t matter if you are working with a potential customer, speaking with a prospect or working with a member of your team, powerful questions is a habit you want to engage in habitually.

The more you know about people, the more effective you will be in bringing value to them. Ask questions so you can get to know that person, really know them. Engaging in conversation and showing you care begins the process of relationship building through network marketing. Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to marketing your business, something as simple as a memorable graphic or catchphrase can help you immensely. A business logo or slogan can create brand recognition and help you establish your business reputation.

When you think of Nike, what do you think of? For most people, the image of the Nike swoosh or the words “just do it” automatically jump into their mind when they think of the company.

When you see an image of an apple with a bite taken out of it, what do you think of? Many people will answer that question with either “Apple Computers” or “iPod”. Several years ago, Dell Computers created a successful string of commercials that featured a teenager saying, “Dude, I’m getting a Dell”.

Even though the commercials have been off the air for some time, there are probably many people who tell their friends and family the same statement when they purchase a new computer.

Establishing your own business logo or slogan can help people remember your business in the same way. Perhaps you have a website and someone visits for the first time and considers making a purchase, but then they decide to comparison shop. They may end up looking at several sites before making a decision.

It is common for people to get so caught up in looking at different websites that they cannot remember which ones they have even been to. If your website featured a catchy logo or slogan, your visitors would have an easier time differentiating between you and your competition.

If your logo or slogan involves a common word or object, they may think of your business every time they hear that word or see that object. For instance, if you have a business related to children and an elephant is featured in your logo, each time your customer sees an elephant, they can end up thinking of you. The more they think of you, the likelier it is that they will buy from you.

When deciding which type of logo to use, think about your business and how you want to be perceived. Who is your target market and what type of things are they interested in? If your target market consists of grandmothers who are active, adding a rocking chair to your logo may insult them. However, featuring an older lady in tennis shoes or a in a jogging suit doing pilates may make them laugh. This could be the type of logo that will stick with them and make them remember you.

The same goes for your slogan. Think of how you want to be represented and what appeals to your target market. Stay away from anything offensive, such as curse words or slang.

You will also want to stay away from trends. Your business logo and slogan can be with you for years. What is “cool” today can be “cold” tomorrow. Plan for a long-term investment and stick with what you will be proud of five or ten yeas from now.

Press Release Profits:
This is a complete system that shows you exactly how to write and distribute a press release to get noticed by the media….potentially saving your hundreds or thousands of dollars in advertising costs.

The course includes an in-depth interview with Alice Seba (who started her online career as a press release writer), study guide, sample releases, video critiques and more.

You’ll learn how to:

- create a great hook or topic for your press release

- write a press release that makes you and your company look great, without sounding like an ad

- build your own media list- creative ways to get publicity…and a bunch more.

Grab your copy and stop paying for expensive advertising!!

You will find that some Internet marketers choose to work exclusively with niche marketing. A niche market is a highly targeted group of people. For instance, if you sell cosmetics, a wide target market would consist of people who use and buy cosmetics. A niche market may be people who use and buy mineral cosmetics.

There is a big difference between the two. If you do not carry mineral cosmetics, the smaller niche market will not buy from you. And if you only carry mineral cosmetics, there will be people in the wider target market who will not buy from you.

The reason Internet marketers like to work with niche markets is having the opportunity to be the only carrier of a product that will fit that niche market’s needs. It may take some work, but if you can find a niche and offer a product or service to them, you have the opportunity to sell a lot of products or services.

Start researching your own interests and see what comes up. Or take your target market and find out if there is a product or service that a highly targeted number of them need, but can’t seem to find.

You can use services like Wordtracker to determine which keywords and phrases are being searched the most often. For instance, if your target market is people that home school their children, and you plan on having a niche site about creating lesson plans, you can use the service to see which type of lesson plans are the most sought after.

Not only will you want to take notice of how many searches are being performed, you will want to see how many competing pages there are. Your best bets in niche marketing will be to find a phrase that is searched on a lot, but doesn’t have many competing pages.

In addition to this type of research, you can also set up a campaign amongst your own customers and mailing list and simply ask them what type of products or services they would like to see you offer. This can give you some great ideas that you may not have thought of yourself.

As you start to develop ideas about which niche you would like to focus on, start taking notice of your competition. Study the products and services they offer, the features and benefits of these products, and their price points. This will help you develop your product. What are the things you can improve upon? How can you make your product more unique? How can you provide more benefits to the user or how can you make your product more affordable?

Once you have settled upon a niche and developed a product or service, you will need to develop a website and start promoting your item(s). You can then think of more products and services to offer to this same niche or you can start the process over and find a new niche to market to.

A business plan serves as the guidebook to your business. Your business plan should communicate what your business is, how you plan on growing it, and what steps you are going to take to achieve your success.

Your business plan also has a huge effect on your marketing efforts. Your business plan can help you decide what type of marketing will add value to your business and which types of marketing will simply be time wasters.

By writing out your business ideas and goals, you can determine your target market. Your target market is the group of people that you want to promote your products or services to. Determining your target market is the first step in planning your marketing efforts.

Having a business plan, and knowing who your target market is, will lead you to create your marketing plan. A marketing plan is similar to a business plan in the sense that it acts as a guide and helps you stay focused.

A marketing plan is a written plan of action that communicates how you are going to market your business. There are many ways to market your business, such as flyers, paid ads (newspapers, magazines, online), business cards, speaking in front of groups, becoming a guest on a radio show or television program, pay per click campaigns, direct mail, and more.

Your business and marketing plans serve as tools in deciding which marketing ideas will work best with your business and your particular brand. It can be easy to try too many different marketing approaches. Whenever you feel confused about your marketing efforts, take some time to re-read your business plan. This can help you decide if the new marketing idea will actually reach your target market and if it is worth trying.

Developing relationships with other business owners that offer complementary products is a great way to market your business. When you know which direction you plan to grow your business, you can start scouting out possible future business partners.

For instance, if you have created your own line of organizational handbags and would like to start offering diaper bags, you can start researching the top baby focused websites and see if they would be interested in helping you promote your diaper bags.

Your marketing plan should also include information on how you plan on keeping your customers after the initial purchase. Some ideas include customer-only sales, back end sales opportunities, customer-only freebies, etc.

Many people who start a home business never take the time to write out a business plan. That is a big mistake, as a business plan can greatly increase your chances of success. The following are some reasons why every business needs to put a business plan into writing.

A business plan maps out your future. If you have decided you are ready to start a business, your first step should be to write out your plans for what you want to do with the business and where you see the business going in the future.

You have probably heard the old saying, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” That is very true when it comes to your business. The more planning you do in the beginning, the greater success you will see in the future.

If you decide to take your home business to the next level, a business plan can help you secure financing. A financial institution will want to see, in writing, the reasons that they should loan you money. Simply walking in and telling them why you know you’ll be a success isn’t good enough.

However, if you can hand your lender a document that states your business idea, your business goals, a list of steps you plan to take in order to reach your goals, as well as your estimated earnings, you will be seen as a professional and the lender will take you more seriously.

Your business plan will also help you determine your action plan. Your action plan consists of the steps you plan on taking in order to achieve your goals. This is another task that people usually sidestep. Instead of “just kind of knowing” or “having the ideas in your head”, you should take the time to put them on paper.

The reason this part of the business plan is so important is that it literally walks you from point A to point B. While your business plan, in general, serves a map, your action plan is the “turn-by-turn directions.”

Having a business plan to present to your spouse can also help your spouse realize your business idea is more than just a passing amusement. This can really help you, especially if your spouse is skeptical. Your spouse can see that you are serious and will become more helpful and more encouraging. Having the support of your spouse can really motivate you and help you find success.

Your business plan is literally a roadmap to your success. If you and your family were going to drive to your vacation destination, you wouldn’t just get in the car and start driving without knowing where you were going. You shouldn’t start a business that way either.

If you are planning to have a simple home business, built around the Internet, you may not think you need a business plan. You may think only high level businesses need them in order to secure corporate funding but that’s not true.

Every business needs a business plan. When you sit down to write a business plan, you are literally mapping out the path you want to take in your business. Not only will your business plan help you define what you want to accomplish, it can help you streamline your business and create focus.

Many people may be under the impression that business plans are huge documents that can be difficult to write. On the contrary, you do not have to create a huge document at all. Your business plan can consist of a single page outlining your basic goals.

The point is to put your thoughts and ideas down in writing. When you take the time to think about your business, where you want your business to go, and estimate your costs as well as your profits, you are much more likely to succeed.

Rather than working sporadically and blindly, you will be able to look at your business plan and know exactly what you need to be working on. This can serve as a great motivator and help you reach your business goals.

A common myth is that a business plan is rigid. That once you write it, you have to stick to it. As your business grows, you can change your business plan to suit your needs. You may find certain aspects of your business growing at a faster pace than others and decide to focus more on those areas.

For instance, if you have a website and a podcast, you may one day decide to focus more on the podcast and not have as much written content on your site. Or you may decide to charge a membership fee for access to the written content.

Having your business plan by your side can help you evaluate your decisions and decide what is going to add value to your business and what will take away from your business. Before you start a new project, take out your business plan and see if this new project will fit in with the plans you have already made. This can save you a lot of time, energy, and money.