Archive for November, 2008

Home-business Hurdles, Part II:

November 17th, 2008

“A Winner Never Quits….”

It would have been great had I been Oprah and have people drool around me. But I am not, so are all the other home-business geeks, thus have to strive hard to get the attention of a very finite market that surfs the Internet for something to satisfy a fancy or a need.

Of course there is no shortage of tools to attract people to one’s site or whatever means an e-marketer uses. Sorting through these, however, is as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack. They can range from one-to-one email campaigns, joining social networking sites, list building sites, traffic exchanges, etc. While a very few really want to help, most are out to make a fast buck. The first blog-blaster site I joined, Atomic Blogging, promised a system that can expose my blog, http://www.joespulpbits.com, to thousands of readers. Problem is that he so techie his system is impossible to duplicate for newbies like me; his idea of customer support is an automatic emailing service telling his clients that he is on vacation somewhere and his e-book is riddled with grammatical lapses in contrast to his advice that blogs must be English-perfect and despite his claim of having had it proofread five times.

Then I enrolled, for “free” (they all are free to start with), into ListBuilding, a site which deluged me with emails on how to benefit from their system. One of these is a 30-day “free” membership in their elite club, with a caveat that I may unsubscribe at the end of the trial period if unsatisfied. Neatly unsaid, was that they will charge me $97.00, which they did, if they won’t hear from me after 30 days. I got so furious to see the amount in my credit card that I threatened to blast their scam to kingdom come if I don’t get a refund, which I did.

From out of nowhere, another appeared conning me with a $75.00 cash gift should I join their affiliate program. I did, only to find out that this money is to pay for the annual services of a domain provider I must be a member of to promote their product. I enrolled just the same, not knowing that I must pay it upfront, from my pocket, to avail of the $ 75.00. Besides, the promised sales from this website makes my initial investment look a pittance.

More dark clouds lay ahead, however. My enrolment took me to another condition that I must be a member of a yahoo marketing site or something, which asked me a ?120.00 deposit for advertising expenses in Europe.

I pulled out from them pronto, with my credit card $50.00 lighter from the domain provider, the $75.00 bait still up in limbo despite repeated demands for a refund.

List Bandit came into the picture. . This one, I haven’t spent anything on, nor have I gotten something. It’s not built for newbies and their website does not make much sense to me. I am not hurting, money-wise, as I am not paying for it, except for the time spent in flicking their emails to the trash bin.

Just like a conventional business, home-business through e-commerce can be debilitating. By this time, I am weary, bruised, lost and am on the verge of giving up and be part of the 95% failures, except for the firm belief that a “quitter never wins and a winner never quits.”

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Home-business Hurdles

November 6th, 2008

There are basically two ways to make a living, i.e., working for money or letting money work. In the Internet age, it is easy to distinguish between the two.

- The former is busy, even at work, sending emails, the inanity of which are limited only by one’s imagination, while the latter burns his/her midnight candle sending emails to expand his/her network;

- The former sends chain letters, the latter viral letters;

- The former derives satisfaction, or so it seems, from a paycheck that leaves nothing much after bills are paid, while the latter goes on vacation like clockwork, yet still earns;

- The former works like crazy to keep his/her job, the latter works like crazy for portfolio diversity;

- The former rushes through breakfast and traffic to stave off an over-bearing boss who frowns on tardiness while the latter keeps his/her sweet time, ticking off his/her activities during the day with Swiss-watch precision.

The similarity between the two is that each loath to swap roles. The latter for sheer sense of financial freedom and accomplishment while the latter for fear of losing his/her false 15/30 security.

Differences and similarities aside, denizens of both live separate worlds, intangibly separated by two words – mind set and, tangibly, by entirely different tools to function and succeed in each. It is irrelevant to talk about the tools I used while working for money for more than 30 years. They are as diverse as that of any Tom, Dick or Harry’s.

Home business through e-commerce has fewer tool diversity but more daunting. Either you have your own product to sell or be an affiliate, a solid product or a software, a real book or an e-book. While a website is a must for others, some claim success even without. Some sell direct while others are comfortable with multi-leveling; some get by with plain text while others insist on HTML knowledge.

Regardless of the way a particular home business is conducted, the common denominator is to find the people willing to open their wallets in exchange for a product, among millions of other products, they find in the virtual Internet display room.

Getting to these people often reveals an Internet marketer’s moral bent. I know a guy who harvests emails, then blasts them throughout. Playing catch-me-if-can with email service providers, which he probably has a dozen, he uses more than a hundred email addresses. If one is blocked, he switches to another. He and his group of “spammers” are having from modest to good successes in their business.

Technically speaking, spamming is sending an unsolicited email even to a person. I, and probably most, take spamming as sending emails to a horde of strangers offering them something on the off-chance that one in a million or so may patronize what is offered.

All websites I have stumbled across have anti-spamming policies and take to these heartily. Result? My e-commerce has been in the doldrums even after a year at it.

http://www.leadsleap.com/blog/how-to-create-an-online-business/?r=micheael02

(More Hurdles next issue)

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“Driving Home-business Blues Away”

November 4th, 2008

Entrepreneurship is not easy.

While doing the rounds of prospects when I was in the insurance business, practically all of the young professionals I’ve interviewed professed to retire early and engage in some business. The same percentage, however, don’t know what business they want to go into.

A lot of people out there have this innate desire to be their our own boss, to strike it big, to make something out of themselves, free from the supervision or dominance by others. That’s what entrepreneurship is about. Or at least, a lot of would-be entrepreneurs take it to be.

The sad fact however, is that no one but no one who ventured into the world of entrepreneurship was spared the baptism of fire. A great majority got burned and faded away, leaving only an insignificant few who can claim success. The difference between those who made it and those who didn’t lies in but two words – mind set.

The following, for whatever they are worth, can help any entrepreneur weather the storms that lie ahead. These are:

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“The person who gets the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.” – Dale Carnegie.

Entrepreneurship is going where but a few dare to tread. It is not “winning-the-lottery” affair where the prize comes but once and when least expected. It is a process of tweaking here and there until the right mix between the entrepreneur, the product and the customers he is trying to sell his product to reach a critical mass allowing things to take a life of its own with results beyond an entrepreneur’s wildest expectations.

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“The successful always has a number of projects planned, to which he looks forward. Anyone of them could change the course of his life overnight.” – Mark Caine

Hard core entrepreneurs never put all their eggs in one basket but have an uncanny “third” eye to discern what are viable and what are not and they psyche themselves to give each a go, either simultaneously or sequentially. The Internet has made this possible and easier; it has offered countless ways to establish one’s entrepreneurial bent. Some guys I met in the Internet have 50 websites to do business in. How they manage that is another point of discussion.

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“Success doesn’t come to you….you go to it.” – Marva Collins.

Success at entrepreneurship occurs when people buy what you are offering them. But unless you make the first move of offering something people need or want, no sale is made – as simple as that. The hard part is to know “what” to sell and “who” to sell it to. Leaving these questions unanswered is a veritable rope which an entrepreneur can hang himself from.

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“Success is a journey, not a destination.” – Ben Sweetland

Entrepreneurship is not a “get-rich-quick” scheme but a lengthy process of deliberate acts from start to finish, which, by natural ascendancy of things, becomes the start of yet another entrepreneurial endeavor. So if you have the “get-the-money-and-run” mindset, rob a bank, not go into entrepreneurship.

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“Success is not permanent. The same is also true of failure.” – Dell Crossword.

If two guys are given a million dollars each, the person with a taste for success will double his fortune at probably the same rate as the other guy, with a mind set of a loser, to become a pauper.

We all make mistakes. Some big, some small. But the only mistake that really counts is to continue on making the same mistake that has robbed us the chance of become better than what we are today.

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“Seventy percent of success in life is showing up” – Woody Allen

Nobody has probably missed the saying, “the early bird catches the worm.” Figuratively, merely showing up is not the whole story but it is almost there. Just like being a member of so many organizations yet not doing much one’s membership other than being a “name” in the members’ roster.

Showing up and doing most likely describe this trait of a successful entrepreneur. To strike while the iron is hot.

Adapted from the Forest Marie series of educational articles at:

“http://www.forestmarie.com/5-qualities-of-a-good-entrepreneur/”>5 Qualities Of A Good Entrepreneur</a>

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