I was just about to leave for lunch when the switchboard operator told me I had a phone call.
Puzzled, since I was new on the job and not expecting any calls, I walked back to my desk and picked up the phone. It was my 10-year-old .
"Hi, Mom, it's me."
"Linda?...Linda?"
"Yeah, it's me."
"Why did you call? Is anything the matter?"
"I'm at Eva's house?"
"You're supposed to be in school. Why are you at Eva's house?"
"The school caught on fire and they sent everyone home."
"What do you mean the school caught on fire..."
"So I got on Eva's bus and went to his house."
" . . .If the school caught on fire and you're at Eva's house, where's Veroinca?"
"I put her on our bus and told her to go to Jackies's"
"Did Jackies say it was OK?"
"I don't know, I'm at Eva's house."
As it turned out, 6-year-old Veroinca was indeed at Jackies's, but that phone call made me start to reconsider whether taking the job as a staff writer on a business trade magazine had been the right thing to do. Although the job was exactly the type of work I had wanted and allowed me to schedule my hours around the children's school schedule, I just didn't feel comfortable about working away from home.
It wasn't long either, until I started to resent the hour and fifteen minutes each day I had to spend traveling to and from work, and to realize that the costs of going to work (need for new clothes, gasoline, tires, lunch from the deli on days didn't have time to make my lunch or forgot to take it with me) all were eating into the extra income I thought I'd gain by working at a "real" job instead of freelancing from home as I had been doing for the ten years prior to taking that job.
So, a few months later, when my husband took a new job and we had to move to another part of the state, I decided to give self-employment another go-round -- at least until the children were a few years older.
That was more than 20 years ago. These days the "children" come to visit on weekends. Stephen is an accountant with one of the largest accounting firms in the country and Vicki is a middle school teacher. I still work for myself and don't think I could ever work for anyone else again.
Over the years my business has changed and grown just as my children have. I'm no longer a one-person writer and copywriter. Instead, I run the Businessknowhow.com web site, which provides information, tools and resources to more than a million home-based and small businesses each year.
BusinessKnowHow.com was run from home until 2004. But I didn't run it entirely alone. Instead, I had - and still have - a network of small businesses and freelancers - mostly work-at-home parents - I call on as needed (and as they are available) for various projects. One of the freelancers I've used in the past was my daughter, who did some editorial freelancing while she was in grad school.
The business has grown over the years. So last year, at an age when most people are wondering where they'll get enough money to retire (and hoping they don't get forced into retirement before they're ready), I rented office space and moved my business out of the house. I hired employees to work in the office, but still call on my virtual network to do projects from their homes.
Instead of worrying about the financial and emotional ramifications of losing a job and being forced into retirement, I enjoy running my own business and working to do the things that will make the business be both saleable and valuable when and if I decide I to scale back my business activities.
Remarkably, I have never personally met many of the freelancers and business owners who work on projects for me. They are scattered around the country. We communicate primarily via computer or telephone, with fax or US mail filling in as needed to transfer documents or materials that can't be transferred by computer.
I believe in many ways, that my business - and the way it's run - is a model of the way many more workplaces will be run in the future. While there will always be glassed-in, climate-controlled, ulcer-producing corporate workplaces, today's technology gives us choices we never had before about where we work, when we work, how we work, who we work with, and how long we work. And working from home - or in your own business 5 minutes away from home- is a pleasant alternative to traffic jams and elevators and deli sandwiches gulped down between phone calls and meetings.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Dealing with Home Office Distractions
In today's business world it is not uncommon for many sales people to work from a home office. At first this may seem like a great opportunity, however, it does create some unique challenges. One of the biggest obstacles is the number of distractions that can take us away from our work and prevent us from achieving our objectives.
When you work from a home office it is easy to get distracted from work, especially if it is work that you do not particularly enjoy like prospecting or cold calling. Watering the plants, running errands or even doing laundry can be a welcome change from the daily drudgery of selling. And, if you have young children, the number of distractions increases dramatically.
I, too, work from a home office and have had to deal with this challenge. Here are a few ideas that can help manage these distractions and improve your productivity.
Create an office. When I first began working from home almost a decade ago, I used to work at my dining room table. Unfortunately, this put me in the middle of our household action. My wife would turn on the television and I would be instantly distracted from my work. In other cases, she would talk to me or ask me a question simply because I was in the same room. As a result, it was often difficult to focus on my work. Now I have an office and do the majority of my work there. If you don't have space to create an office, find somewhere in your house that has the least amount of traffic and opportunities for distractions.
Set specific "business" hours. This is particularly important if you have young children. It can be very difficult for children to understand that they can't disturb us while we're working. If you have an office, close your door and place a do not disturb sign on it. This is particularly important if you are making client calls because it prevents family members from inadvertently barging in on you during a critical call.
Use a "to do" list-everyday. Having a list of what you need to accomplish each day can help keep you focused; otherwise, it becomes too easy to do other things around the house. If you know that you need to accomplish a certain number of tasks by the end of the day, it can prevent you from getting distracted during the day. One of the challenges with this is that household duties or running errands are more enjoyable compared to work we have to complete. However, I have frequently found that once I get involved in my task, the desire to do something else fades.
Set deadlines for the projects you're working on. Although I don't have anyone holding me accountable to these deadlines, it find that this approach can help keep me on track. You can also share these deadlines with other people to help keep yourself focused especially if this type of accountability works for you.
Give yourself permission to relax from time-to-time. It's okay to allow yourself to get distracted once in a while. As long it's not a regular occurrence, you don't have to worry too much about it. However, if your relaxation time overtakes your work time, then you need to reconsider your priorities.
Share your goals and objections with a group of advisors. This type of accountability works well for many people because they know they will have to report their progress on specific projects.
Recognize that the results you achieve are a direct result of the effort you put into your work. When I first started my private practice, it was easy to put aside work and do chores or run errands. In my first year, I treated work like a part-time job, clocking an average of 20-25 hours per week. When I evaluated my results at the end of the year I realized I couldn't afford to maintain this mentality. So I started working more. And, I got better results. I eventually learned that the more effort I put into my work, the better results I achieved in terms of the revenue and income I generated. This made it easier to avoid the distractions and focus more on my work.
Lastly, you can try an approach I learned from Brian Tracy many years ago. When you find yourself procrastinating on a particular task or project, repeat the following three words to yourself over and over. "Do it now." This can be a great way to prevent yourself from getting distracted by other things you would prefer to do.
Distractions are sometimes positive. A break away from work can clear your mind, give you the opportunity to refresh yourself, and increase your energy level. However, it is important to remember that you have a responsibility to yourself and your business to limit these distractions
When you work from a home office it is easy to get distracted from work, especially if it is work that you do not particularly enjoy like prospecting or cold calling. Watering the plants, running errands or even doing laundry can be a welcome change from the daily drudgery of selling. And, if you have young children, the number of distractions increases dramatically.
I, too, work from a home office and have had to deal with this challenge. Here are a few ideas that can help manage these distractions and improve your productivity.
Create an office. When I first began working from home almost a decade ago, I used to work at my dining room table. Unfortunately, this put me in the middle of our household action. My wife would turn on the television and I would be instantly distracted from my work. In other cases, she would talk to me or ask me a question simply because I was in the same room. As a result, it was often difficult to focus on my work. Now I have an office and do the majority of my work there. If you don't have space to create an office, find somewhere in your house that has the least amount of traffic and opportunities for distractions.
Set specific "business" hours. This is particularly important if you have young children. It can be very difficult for children to understand that they can't disturb us while we're working. If you have an office, close your door and place a do not disturb sign on it. This is particularly important if you are making client calls because it prevents family members from inadvertently barging in on you during a critical call.
Use a "to do" list-everyday. Having a list of what you need to accomplish each day can help keep you focused; otherwise, it becomes too easy to do other things around the house. If you know that you need to accomplish a certain number of tasks by the end of the day, it can prevent you from getting distracted during the day. One of the challenges with this is that household duties or running errands are more enjoyable compared to work we have to complete. However, I have frequently found that once I get involved in my task, the desire to do something else fades.
Set deadlines for the projects you're working on. Although I don't have anyone holding me accountable to these deadlines, it find that this approach can help keep me on track. You can also share these deadlines with other people to help keep yourself focused especially if this type of accountability works for you.
Give yourself permission to relax from time-to-time. It's okay to allow yourself to get distracted once in a while. As long it's not a regular occurrence, you don't have to worry too much about it. However, if your relaxation time overtakes your work time, then you need to reconsider your priorities.
Share your goals and objections with a group of advisors. This type of accountability works well for many people because they know they will have to report their progress on specific projects.
Recognize that the results you achieve are a direct result of the effort you put into your work. When I first started my private practice, it was easy to put aside work and do chores or run errands. In my first year, I treated work like a part-time job, clocking an average of 20-25 hours per week. When I evaluated my results at the end of the year I realized I couldn't afford to maintain this mentality. So I started working more. And, I got better results. I eventually learned that the more effort I put into my work, the better results I achieved in terms of the revenue and income I generated. This made it easier to avoid the distractions and focus more on my work.
Lastly, you can try an approach I learned from Brian Tracy many years ago. When you find yourself procrastinating on a particular task or project, repeat the following three words to yourself over and over. "Do it now." This can be a great way to prevent yourself from getting distracted by other things you would prefer to do.
Distractions are sometimes positive. A break away from work can clear your mind, give you the opportunity to refresh yourself, and increase your energy level. However, it is important to remember that you have a responsibility to yourself and your business to limit these distractions
3 Simple Strategies to Build Your Home-Based Business Faster And Easier
One of the biggest mistakes new home-based business owners make is trying to do everything from square one.
You can rest assured that whatever you are attempting to do or build, it has already been done.
Sure, it probably won't be a mirror image of what you're doing, but it will have many of the same basic ingredients
The fastest and easiest way to get your business going and growing is by finding others who have already done what you want to do and learning and benefiting from their efforts.
A local business person recently told me he was in the process of building an autoresponder. Of course, this wouldn't be a strange thing to be doing if it was a service he plans to sell, but it has nothing to do with his business!
Instead of investing a few hours to explore those autoresponders already in existence, he is investing well more than a hundred hours trying to build one on his own so he can communicate with his customers.
By conducting only a couple of hours research, he would have discovered a variety of outstanding, affordable autoresponder services that are highly sophisticated and subject to continual upgrading and improvement to keep up with ever-changing technology and consumer needs.
Imagine the kind of business he could have generated for himself if he focused those one hundred plus hours acquiring new customers for his business and expanding and improving on his products and services!
Unfortunately, like him, many new home business owners are still of the employee mindset -- that they have to work relentlessly and do everything alone.
They haven't yet developed the entrepreneurial mindset that understands you have to work smarter, not harder.
Another time-consuming task many new business owners take on is spending hours, even days, trying to design the perfect logo. I'm embarrassed to say I spent DAYS searching the Internet for sample logos, looking for ideas, then sitting and drawing possible logo after logo.
Most people have more creative flair in their big toe than I have in my entire body, yet I thought that if I put enough time into it, even though it meant not focusing on increasing business, the perfect logo would reveal itself.
I eventually abandoned the obsession and as soon as I handed the project over to my web designer, I had a new, effective and eye-catching logo within 24 hours.
It was a costly mistake. I had spent so many years working in a support capacity that I didn't know how to make the shift to a leader capacity and delegate the task.
(Even more important, I later realized, having a logo is waaaay down on the priority scale and doesn't even have to be considered during the start-up period.)
As you are starting your business, consider the following tasks and ask yourself if someone else could be doing them while you focus on building:
designing brochures and marketing materials
creating your web site
setting up your voice mail and e-mail
purchasing supplies and equipment
stuffing envelopes and taking them to the post office, or delivering flyers
market research
hooking up your new computer, modem, fax and installing software
trouble shooting computer problems
writing articles, reports or white papers
These are not revenue generating activities and if you find them challenging or time-consuming, delegate these tasks to someone else like a family member, co-op student or part-time assistant.
For the more specialized items, seek the input of a mastermind member or business colleague on how they handle those responsibilities. Also, hire or barter with experts in marketing, web design and technology.
Another wheel you don't need to re-invent is that of processes, particularly in the area of marketing.
Marketing may not be your forte, yet it is the most important element of your business, and this is where many new home business owners bury themselves.
The good news is you don't have to develop your marketing process by trial and error. Commit several days to studying other businesses both in and outside of your industry. How do they promote themselves? How do they collect leads? How do they convert leads?
In other words, how do they catch the attention of potential customers, get them to express an interest to learn more, and how do they get them to ultimately pull out their wallets and buy?
The quickest and easiest way to create winning processes is to study already successful businesses, then model what they do. Sign up for their newsletters and request additional information. Let them begin a courtship with you and pay attention to what they're doing. Buy a product or two and see what tools they use to keep inviting you back for more.
This doesn't mean copy them word for word or action by action, but assimilate what works, mould it to your specific business and add the essential ingredient of uniqueness that allows you to stand out from the crowd.
These are just three simple strategies you can start with today to get on the fast-track to home business success.
Again, here they are in a nutshell:
Uncover what has already been created or invented, then implement or install. Don't reinvent the wheel.
Think like a business owner, not an employee. Delegate, hire or trade.
Model the processes of others who have already achieved the level of success you're seeking. They've already made the mistakes for you and know what works.
Incorporate these strategies and you will shave hours and dollars from your start-up curve and begin reaping the rewards faster than you ever thought possible.
You can rest assured that whatever you are attempting to do or build, it has already been done.
Sure, it probably won't be a mirror image of what you're doing, but it will have many of the same basic ingredients
The fastest and easiest way to get your business going and growing is by finding others who have already done what you want to do and learning and benefiting from their efforts.
A local business person recently told me he was in the process of building an autoresponder. Of course, this wouldn't be a strange thing to be doing if it was a service he plans to sell, but it has nothing to do with his business!
Instead of investing a few hours to explore those autoresponders already in existence, he is investing well more than a hundred hours trying to build one on his own so he can communicate with his customers.
By conducting only a couple of hours research, he would have discovered a variety of outstanding, affordable autoresponder services that are highly sophisticated and subject to continual upgrading and improvement to keep up with ever-changing technology and consumer needs.
Imagine the kind of business he could have generated for himself if he focused those one hundred plus hours acquiring new customers for his business and expanding and improving on his products and services!
Unfortunately, like him, many new home business owners are still of the employee mindset -- that they have to work relentlessly and do everything alone.
They haven't yet developed the entrepreneurial mindset that understands you have to work smarter, not harder.
Another time-consuming task many new business owners take on is spending hours, even days, trying to design the perfect logo. I'm embarrassed to say I spent DAYS searching the Internet for sample logos, looking for ideas, then sitting and drawing possible logo after logo.
Most people have more creative flair in their big toe than I have in my entire body, yet I thought that if I put enough time into it, even though it meant not focusing on increasing business, the perfect logo would reveal itself.
I eventually abandoned the obsession and as soon as I handed the project over to my web designer, I had a new, effective and eye-catching logo within 24 hours.
It was a costly mistake. I had spent so many years working in a support capacity that I didn't know how to make the shift to a leader capacity and delegate the task.
(Even more important, I later realized, having a logo is waaaay down on the priority scale and doesn't even have to be considered during the start-up period.)
As you are starting your business, consider the following tasks and ask yourself if someone else could be doing them while you focus on building:
designing brochures and marketing materials
creating your web site
setting up your voice mail and e-mail
purchasing supplies and equipment
stuffing envelopes and taking them to the post office, or delivering flyers
market research
hooking up your new computer, modem, fax and installing software
trouble shooting computer problems
writing articles, reports or white papers
These are not revenue generating activities and if you find them challenging or time-consuming, delegate these tasks to someone else like a family member, co-op student or part-time assistant.
For the more specialized items, seek the input of a mastermind member or business colleague on how they handle those responsibilities. Also, hire or barter with experts in marketing, web design and technology.
Another wheel you don't need to re-invent is that of processes, particularly in the area of marketing.
Marketing may not be your forte, yet it is the most important element of your business, and this is where many new home business owners bury themselves.
The good news is you don't have to develop your marketing process by trial and error. Commit several days to studying other businesses both in and outside of your industry. How do they promote themselves? How do they collect leads? How do they convert leads?
In other words, how do they catch the attention of potential customers, get them to express an interest to learn more, and how do they get them to ultimately pull out their wallets and buy?
The quickest and easiest way to create winning processes is to study already successful businesses, then model what they do. Sign up for their newsletters and request additional information. Let them begin a courtship with you and pay attention to what they're doing. Buy a product or two and see what tools they use to keep inviting you back for more.
This doesn't mean copy them word for word or action by action, but assimilate what works, mould it to your specific business and add the essential ingredient of uniqueness that allows you to stand out from the crowd.
These are just three simple strategies you can start with today to get on the fast-track to home business success.
Again, here they are in a nutshell:
Uncover what has already been created or invented, then implement or install. Don't reinvent the wheel.
Think like a business owner, not an employee. Delegate, hire or trade.
Model the processes of others who have already achieved the level of success you're seeking. They've already made the mistakes for you and know what works.
Incorporate these strategies and you will shave hours and dollars from your start-up curve and begin reaping the rewards faster than you ever thought possible.
3 Simple Strategies to Build Your Home-Based Business Faster And Easier
One of the biggest mistakes new home-based business owners make is trying to do everything from square one.
You can rest assured that whatever you are attempting to do or build, it has already been done.
Sure, it probably won't be a mirror image of what you're doing, but it will have many of the same basic ingredients
The fastest and easiest way to get your business going and growing is by finding others who have already done what you want to do and learning and benefiting from their efforts.
A local business person recently told me he was in the process of building an autoresponder. Of course, this wouldn't be a strange thing to be doing if it was a service he plans to sell, but it has nothing to do with his business!
Instead of investing a few hours to explore those autoresponders already in existence, he is investing well more than a hundred hours trying to build one on his own so he can communicate with his customers.
By conducting only a couple of hours research, he would have discovered a variety of outstanding, affordable autoresponder services that are highly sophisticated and subject to continual upgrading and improvement to keep up with ever-changing technology and consumer needs.
Imagine the kind of business he could have generated for himself if he focused those one hundred plus hours acquiring new customers for his business and expanding and improving on his products and services!
Unfortunately, like him, many new home business owners are still of the employee mindset -- that they have to work relentlessly and do everything alone.
They haven't yet developed the entrepreneurial mindset that understands you have to work smarter, not harder.
Another time-consuming task many new business owners take on is spending hours, even days, trying to design the perfect logo. I'm embarrassed to say I spent DAYS searching the Internet for sample logos, looking for ideas, then sitting and drawing possible logo after logo.
Most people have more creative flair in their big toe than I have in my entire body, yet I thought that if I put enough time into it, even though it meant not focusing on increasing business, the perfect logo would reveal itself.
I eventually abandoned the obsession and as soon as I handed the project over to my web designer, I had a new, effective and eye-catching logo within 24 hours.
It was a costly mistake. I had spent so many years working in a support capacity that I didn't know how to make the shift to a leader capacity and delegate the task.
(Even more important, I later realized, having a logo is waaaay down on the priority scale and doesn't even have to be considered during the start-up period.)
As you are starting your business, consider the following tasks and ask yourself if someone else could be doing them while you focus on building:
designing brochures and marketing materials
creating your web site
setting up your voice mail and e-mail
purchasing supplies and equipment
stuffing envelopes and taking them to the post office, or delivering flyers
market research
hooking up your new computer, modem, fax and installing software
trouble shooting computer problems
writing articles, reports or white papers
These are not revenue generating activities and if you find them challenging or time-consuming, delegate these tasks to someone else like a family member, co-op student or part-time assistant.
For the more specialized items, seek the input of a mastermind member or business colleague on how they handle those responsibilities. Also, hire or barter with experts in marketing, web design and technology.
Another wheel you don't need to re-invent is that of processes, particularly in the area of marketing.
Marketing may not be your forte, yet it is the most important element of your business, and this is where many new home business owners bury themselves.
The good news is you don't have to develop your marketing process by trial and error. Commit several days to studying other businesses both in and outside of your industry. How do they promote themselves? How do they collect leads? How do they convert leads?
In other words, how do they catch the attention of potential customers, get them to express an interest to learn more, and how do they get them to ultimately pull out their wallets and buy?
The quickest and easiest way to create winning processes is to study already successful businesses, then model what they do. Sign up for their newsletters and request additional information. Let them begin a courtship with you and pay attention to what they're doing. Buy a product or two and see what tools they use to keep inviting you back for more.
This doesn't mean copy them word for word or action by action, but assimilate what works, mould it to your specific business and add the essential ingredient of uniqueness that allows you to stand out from the crowd.
These are just three simple strategies you can start with today to get on the fast-track to home business success.
Again, here they are in a nutshell:
Uncover what has already been created or invented, then implement or install. Don't reinvent the wheel.
Think like a business owner, not an employee. Delegate, hire or trade.
Model the processes of others who have already achieved the level of success you're seeking. They've already made the mistakes for you and know what works.
Incorporate these strategies and you will shave hours and dollars from your start-up curve and begin reaping the rewards faster than you ever thought possible.
You can rest assured that whatever you are attempting to do or build, it has already been done.
Sure, it probably won't be a mirror image of what you're doing, but it will have many of the same basic ingredients
The fastest and easiest way to get your business going and growing is by finding others who have already done what you want to do and learning and benefiting from their efforts.
A local business person recently told me he was in the process of building an autoresponder. Of course, this wouldn't be a strange thing to be doing if it was a service he plans to sell, but it has nothing to do with his business!
Instead of investing a few hours to explore those autoresponders already in existence, he is investing well more than a hundred hours trying to build one on his own so he can communicate with his customers.
By conducting only a couple of hours research, he would have discovered a variety of outstanding, affordable autoresponder services that are highly sophisticated and subject to continual upgrading and improvement to keep up with ever-changing technology and consumer needs.
Imagine the kind of business he could have generated for himself if he focused those one hundred plus hours acquiring new customers for his business and expanding and improving on his products and services!
Unfortunately, like him, many new home business owners are still of the employee mindset -- that they have to work relentlessly and do everything alone.
They haven't yet developed the entrepreneurial mindset that understands you have to work smarter, not harder.
Another time-consuming task many new business owners take on is spending hours, even days, trying to design the perfect logo. I'm embarrassed to say I spent DAYS searching the Internet for sample logos, looking for ideas, then sitting and drawing possible logo after logo.
Most people have more creative flair in their big toe than I have in my entire body, yet I thought that if I put enough time into it, even though it meant not focusing on increasing business, the perfect logo would reveal itself.
I eventually abandoned the obsession and as soon as I handed the project over to my web designer, I had a new, effective and eye-catching logo within 24 hours.
It was a costly mistake. I had spent so many years working in a support capacity that I didn't know how to make the shift to a leader capacity and delegate the task.
(Even more important, I later realized, having a logo is waaaay down on the priority scale and doesn't even have to be considered during the start-up period.)
As you are starting your business, consider the following tasks and ask yourself if someone else could be doing them while you focus on building:
designing brochures and marketing materials
creating your web site
setting up your voice mail and e-mail
purchasing supplies and equipment
stuffing envelopes and taking them to the post office, or delivering flyers
market research
hooking up your new computer, modem, fax and installing software
trouble shooting computer problems
writing articles, reports or white papers
These are not revenue generating activities and if you find them challenging or time-consuming, delegate these tasks to someone else like a family member, co-op student or part-time assistant.
For the more specialized items, seek the input of a mastermind member or business colleague on how they handle those responsibilities. Also, hire or barter with experts in marketing, web design and technology.
Another wheel you don't need to re-invent is that of processes, particularly in the area of marketing.
Marketing may not be your forte, yet it is the most important element of your business, and this is where many new home business owners bury themselves.
The good news is you don't have to develop your marketing process by trial and error. Commit several days to studying other businesses both in and outside of your industry. How do they promote themselves? How do they collect leads? How do they convert leads?
In other words, how do they catch the attention of potential customers, get them to express an interest to learn more, and how do they get them to ultimately pull out their wallets and buy?
The quickest and easiest way to create winning processes is to study already successful businesses, then model what they do. Sign up for their newsletters and request additional information. Let them begin a courtship with you and pay attention to what they're doing. Buy a product or two and see what tools they use to keep inviting you back for more.
This doesn't mean copy them word for word or action by action, but assimilate what works, mould it to your specific business and add the essential ingredient of uniqueness that allows you to stand out from the crowd.
These are just three simple strategies you can start with today to get on the fast-track to home business success.
Again, here they are in a nutshell:
Uncover what has already been created or invented, then implement or install. Don't reinvent the wheel.
Think like a business owner, not an employee. Delegate, hire or trade.
Model the processes of others who have already achieved the level of success you're seeking. They've already made the mistakes for you and know what works.
Incorporate these strategies and you will shave hours and dollars from your start-up curve and begin reaping the rewards faster than you ever thought possible.
"How to Move Past 'Newbie' Status to Full-Fledged Affiliate Marketer"
"How to Move Past 'Newbie' Status to Full-Fledged Affiliate Marketer"
Every day there's at least one person who discovers 'affiliate marketing' for the first time. And, every day, there's at least one person, maybe that person is you, who goes back to the drawing board trying to figure out why they haven't yet succeeded as wildly as they'd hoped.
No matter which category you fall into, I'd like to share some concepts with you that might make all the difference in the world to your future success. In fact, you just might learn from this article the one thing that helps you start earning real money.
It really all comes down these two mistakes that beginner's make:
1. Promoting to many products at once (lack of focus), and..
2. Giving up too soon.
These two mistakes are related, and are actually self-reinforcing. It sounds obvious enough, but let me explain exactly how this scenario plays out.
Lack of Focus:
Experienced affiliate marketers do have the ability to promote several products, sometimes far afield from each other, at the same time. The reason they can do this is because they'd already learned and applied certain fundamental skills, and have developed a system for themselves which works to bring in sales consistently.
As a beginner, however, you're still learning what works and what doesn't. For that reason alone, you need a clearly defined testing ground - and this means limiting your promotion to just one product when you first start out.
Just imagine for a moment if you were in a laboratory. You're working with a new chemical and need to determine its boiling point, solubility, molecular weight and so on.
Would it be quicker and easier for you to accomplish this by working with just that one chemical, or by juggling multiple, other chemicals all at the same time...starting one experiment and then rushing over to another one midway through?
Obviously, it would be easier to work with just the one chemical, right?
Well, the same is true for marketing. Just like the variables in your lab experiment, you've also got variables in every product promotion you undertake. The variables include things like traffic generation, conversion rates, advertising response rates and so on.
So, how much data do you want to juggle? Do you want to keep track of, say, Google Adwords performance for ONE e-book...or for a dozen of them spread across more than one niche?
This is where a lot beginners get themselves into a rut. They try to juggle all of this information at once, get overwhelmed by it and simply give up.
Giving Up Too Soon:
Ok, so, information overload hits, and you throw your hands in the air in surrender.
There's no need to despair!
You can turn the situation around completely if you'll just make a commitment to do the following three things:
1. Pick ONE niche market
2. Pick ONE product from that market
3. Use just that one niche product as your testing ground, in order to solidify your skills as an affiliate marketer.
You see, its a lot like learning to ride a bicycle as a kid. You start off with a tricycle, then move up to regular bike with training wheels and from there onto riding any bike you choose.
The same is true for learning how to promote products as an affiliate.
*Learn how to generate traffic on just one product
*Learn how to capture subscribers to your opt-in list for just one product
*Learn how to write advertisements and promotional copy for just one product
*Learn how to track your advertising links and conversion rates for just that one product....
http://tinyurl.com/2juuel
....and THEN, you'll be able to turn around and apply that knowledge to additional products, in different niches.
The key is to get some real results established in one place, and only then start building on that incrementally.
If you'll follow even just this one simple rule, I promise you'll see an increase in your commissions - and you can drop that 'newbie' label for the title of: Successful Affiliate Marketer!
Every day there's at least one person who discovers 'affiliate marketing' for the first time. And, every day, there's at least one person, maybe that person is you, who goes back to the drawing board trying to figure out why they haven't yet succeeded as wildly as they'd hoped.
No matter which category you fall into, I'd like to share some concepts with you that might make all the difference in the world to your future success. In fact, you just might learn from this article the one thing that helps you start earning real money.
It really all comes down these two mistakes that beginner's make:
1. Promoting to many products at once (lack of focus), and..
2. Giving up too soon.
These two mistakes are related, and are actually self-reinforcing. It sounds obvious enough, but let me explain exactly how this scenario plays out.
Lack of Focus:
Experienced affiliate marketers do have the ability to promote several products, sometimes far afield from each other, at the same time. The reason they can do this is because they'd already learned and applied certain fundamental skills, and have developed a system for themselves which works to bring in sales consistently.
As a beginner, however, you're still learning what works and what doesn't. For that reason alone, you need a clearly defined testing ground - and this means limiting your promotion to just one product when you first start out.
Just imagine for a moment if you were in a laboratory. You're working with a new chemical and need to determine its boiling point, solubility, molecular weight and so on.
Would it be quicker and easier for you to accomplish this by working with just that one chemical, or by juggling multiple, other chemicals all at the same time...starting one experiment and then rushing over to another one midway through?
Obviously, it would be easier to work with just the one chemical, right?
Well, the same is true for marketing. Just like the variables in your lab experiment, you've also got variables in every product promotion you undertake. The variables include things like traffic generation, conversion rates, advertising response rates and so on.
So, how much data do you want to juggle? Do you want to keep track of, say, Google Adwords performance for ONE e-book...or for a dozen of them spread across more than one niche?
This is where a lot beginners get themselves into a rut. They try to juggle all of this information at once, get overwhelmed by it and simply give up.
Giving Up Too Soon:
Ok, so, information overload hits, and you throw your hands in the air in surrender.
There's no need to despair!
You can turn the situation around completely if you'll just make a commitment to do the following three things:
1. Pick ONE niche market
2. Pick ONE product from that market
3. Use just that one niche product as your testing ground, in order to solidify your skills as an affiliate marketer.
You see, its a lot like learning to ride a bicycle as a kid. You start off with a tricycle, then move up to regular bike with training wheels and from there onto riding any bike you choose.
The same is true for learning how to promote products as an affiliate.
*Learn how to generate traffic on just one product
*Learn how to capture subscribers to your opt-in list for just one product
*Learn how to write advertisements and promotional copy for just one product
*Learn how to track your advertising links and conversion rates for just that one product....
http://tinyurl.com/2juuel
....and THEN, you'll be able to turn around and apply that knowledge to additional products, in different niches.
The key is to get some real results established in one place, and only then start building on that incrementally.
If you'll follow even just this one simple rule, I promise you'll see an increase in your commissions - and you can drop that 'newbie' label for the title of: Successful Affiliate Marketer!
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