Challenges of Working from Home

"I now believe you!," a friend exclaimed to me the other day. "Working from home is HARD!"

My friend's husband just quit his top-level job to be a full-time consultant working from home. At the top of his list as the most difficult aspect of starting a home business is the part of working from home. He just couldn't work! Managing time is the worst part of it all for him, as he finds that even little things can be very distracting. Marketing his business is easy for him, but not the isolation and lack of group interaction. He finds it incredibly frustrating to the point that he enrolled himself in a time management class.

I could totally relate to his plight, though for very different reasons. Working from home was a breeze three years ago when I did not have any children. I could decide to work whenever I felt like it - any time of the day or night.

But not anymore. Now I have to schedule my working time around the demands of my 3-year old and 7-month old baby (and boy, the demands seem to be neverending!). I can only work when the baby takes a nap or sleeps at night - which means lots of sleepless nights for me. When presented with a window of opportunity, I do not have the luxury of telling myself that I am not in the mood to write, or that I do not want to work. I have to grab each and every opportunity that comes available - and it makes life so much more stressful than when I was an employee working from 9-to-5. At least as an employee, you are expected to do nothing else but work during the time period, and the environment is designed to maximize an employee's productivity.

I have updated an article I wrote a few years ago entitled "Top 10 Problems of Working at Home" which covers some of the most pressing problems a home-based entrepreneur may experience.

Profit from Life's Losses

What if you lose everything you have right now? What will you do, and how will you rise up from your fall?

This is the basic premise of a forthcoming book entitled “The Daily Six – Six Simple Steps to Find the Perfect Balance Between Prosperity and Purpose” by John Chappelear (published by Penguin/Putnam and available beginning 11/03/2005). John was a highly successful CEO but lost everything he had -- money, power, prestige, even his family. He lost everything. It was then that he realized that there's something more to life than the pursuit of what he thought was important. And the first step to finding success was again was to "Change the attitude."

Read a brief excerpt of this book.

Presentation S.O.S.: From Perspiration to Persuasion in 9 Easy Steps

Last week, I was a seminar speaker at a women's forum held at Edison, New Jersey. I gave a one-hour talk on how to turn your passion into a profit-generating venture to a predominantly women audience.

Having taken the time out of the speaking loop after the birth of my second son this year, I felt I needed to brush up on my presentation techniques. And what a great coincidence: our partner Time Warner Books sent us several boxes of books they published this September, one of which is "Presentation S.O.S.: From Perspiration to Persuasion in 9 Easy Steps" by Mark Wiskup.

The book is thin, just 180 pages and is a very easy read (I love easy reads!). I have not read any books by Wiskup before, but I found him very engaging, direct, witty, even funny. The book's goal is to make you lose your fear of the podium, but what I like best are his advice on what not to do. For example, he discussed the what speech openers you must absolutely NOT do (which in the past I have been guilty of):

• Do not thank the audience - build connection with the audience fast and thanking them is just a waste of time ("Prince, Madonna, Garth, Beyonce -- all perform first and thank later...Speakers should learn from this lesson).
• Do not tell the audience how glad you are to be with them - again, rapport building is the first thing a speaker must do
• Starting with a joke is harder than it looks - do it only when you know you can be really funny, not cringe-inducing
• Don't say "I've been asked to speak about" - it sounds like you want to speak about something else
• No apologies!
• Shouting good morning is trouble

One of the author's suggestion that I followed -- and really worked -- was the importance of stories. Wiskup said that to be an effective speaker, you need to "create a specific story person who will help you define your presentation agenda." And boy, was this technique so effective! The audience loved it and responded very well to stories. Given the topic of my speech, I included actual stories of home based entrepreneurs who succeeded (and yes, failed) complete with photos and website descriptions to drive home my message. I knew that actual examples are important, but I never saw them as critical and a must-have to the success of a presentation.

If you are going to speak in public, or is using public speaking as a way to market your business, this is a definite must-read book.

10 Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know About Building a Multimillion Dollar Business

If you are in the process of deciding whether entrepreneurship is the best path for you, one book you must read is "Before Your Quit Your Job: 10 Real Life Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know about Building a Multi-Million Dollar Business" by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. Part of the highly-popular Rich Dad's series, the book is a practical and honest look at the process of starting a business and how to turn a business into a success.

The book is almost a first-hand account of the experiences of the authors in starting a business. Robert Kiyosaki is a well-known name in the field of personal finance, real estate, among others, and has been engaged in entrepreneurship since he was nine years old. The book is his distillation of all his experiences, and his views as to what works in building a successful business.

According to him, there are 10 lessons every start-up entrepreneur must learn, and these are:

1. A successful business is created before there is a business: careful planning is critical
2. Learn how to turn bad luck into good luck: there are no mistakes, just learning opportunities
3. Know the difference between your job and your work: work to learn, not to earn
4. Success reveals your failures: your strengths will reveal your weaknesses
5. The process is more important than the goal: the process determines who you become in attaining your goals
6. The best answers are found in your heart, not in your head
7. Pick your mission: do you solve a problem or fill a need?
8. Design a business that can do something that no other business can do
9. Don't fight for the bargain basement: focus on the right target
10. Know when to quit

If you are a fan of Kiyosaki, you may find many of the concepts to be rehashed versions of some of his previous work (Cash Flow Quadrant, etc.). Nonetheless, the book is very easy to read and full of practical applications to theories the authors advocate. Even if your business is already up and running -- but you need to be reminded as to what makes a business work -- then this book is also for you.

Determining Your Business Niche & Finding Your Prospects

Most marketing experts will tell you that you need select a niche or a target audience. That you can't just market to "whoever is paying attention" and be successful.

Why is that? Think about it this way: if you are having a conversation with a total stranger, how do you know what to talk about? Unless you are able to find some common ground, the conversation will probably be short-lived.

Because neither of you have an understanding of the other, you must find a way to make a connection to involve each other into the conversation.

The same holds true for marketing. You must make a connection with your audience if you want them to pay attention and stay around to find out what your product or service is all about.

Read full article

Hottest New Business Trends

Business 2.0 magazine's new issue focuses on the hottest new trends that are deemed to "shape the future of your business." The author speculates on how it will be to do business in 2008, and here's what he came up with:

1. Shrinking pool of skilled workers in the US mean that you may work harder in retaining your management and creative people (relevant if you have employees)
2. Tap into consumer passion by looking for your most engaged customers and provide the tools to channel their creativity
3. In this networked age, business gets a "nervous system" where you can enjoy insight into customer behaviour and critical business processes
4. Hedge funds taking increasing risks mean entrepreneurs need to know other sources of funding such as angel investors
5. Old ideas are back again and thus, opportunities abound.

6 Stages of Buyer Readiness

Before a customer makes a purchase, he or she first goes through a series of stages called "buyer readiness." According to Marc Mancini, these stages are:

• Awareness. Before you can sell, you must make contact with those who want to purchase. Your agency should create advertising and promotional programs that’ll make your name conspicuous and will attract serious buyers.
• Knowledge. Once rospective clients know your name, they begin the process of acquiring knowledge about what you can offer. Therefore, your advertising efforts should establish you as an expert -- perhaps even a specialist in one or more niche areas.
• Liking. We all tend to buy from people or companies we feel positive about. Entertaining ads, for example, will convey warmth and the “humanity” of your agency. Direct your creative efforts toward making your agency seem joyful, inviting and approachable.
• Preference. Benefits statements are the key to making prospective clients prefer your agency over another. Provide target customers with reasons to do business with you.
• Conviction. Your advertising should build the customers’ certainty that you’re the agency to call first. Client testimonials, for example, provide just the right reinforcement for the preference you’ve created.
• Purchase. Once prospective clients have decided to seek you out, expert sales skills are critical to helping them make the right purchase.
  

Brand Challenge Contest

The folks at 4imprint.com, sellers of imprinted promotional products and customized corporate gifts, informed me that they have an ongoing contest for US-based businesses. Called "Brand with Ten Grand," entrants will be asked in 500 words or less to choose three promotional products and describe how they'd use them to build their brand. Promo products include calendars, throw blankets, pens, mugs, among others.

The contest started Aug. 15 and entrants have until Dec. 1 to submit their entries. Four finalists will receive $500 in buzz-building promotional products. Interviews and an audience poll will then follow, after which one lucky business will receive $10,000 in brand-boosting promotional products. The $10,000 winner will be announced on March 15, 2006.

If you think you have what it takes to win (and know that you can put the 10 grand to good use), check out the Brand with Ten Grand contest website.

Good luck!

Protecting Your Online Content from Copyright Thieves

If you are publishing on the Web, especially if you have loads of original content, it can be very frustrating and downright damaging to have your content ripped off and used on another website without your content. Your copyrights are violated, your brand is diluted, and you may even be slapped with duplicate penalty by the search engines, among other things. All your hard work used by someone else for their benefit - without your content.

Scripts that prevent copying and pasting do not work. Scripts that prevent right clicking do not work. I know I am sounding redundant, but finding your content (or worse, your entire website) on someone else's website is really frustrating.

There's a brilliant post at Webmaster World that summarizes the steps that you need to take if you find your content used by others without your permission. Read "A Guide to Protecting Your Content" to familiarize yourself with the steps you need to take when someone steals your content.

Steal These Ideas: Marketing Secrets that Will Make You a Star

I am currently reading the book "Steal These Ideas: Marketing Secrets that Will Make You a Star" by Steve Cone (Bloomberg Press, 1 September 2005, ISBN #1576601919, 204 pages), and I am finding it to be a really great read.

Witty, blunt, direct to the point and even funny in some parts, the book is very straighforward, easy to understand and my favorite of all, it has lots of bullets! Even if you have your hands full running your business, you can simply go to the chapters and skim the bulleted items or the sub-headings to see the author's main points.

Most of all, it covers valuable tips on various marketing strategies -- from creating a winning marketing campaign, deciding on your unique selling propositions, to tapping the power of public relations and building loyalty programs. The book also gives important pointers on how to effectively use the Web as a marketing tool, customer lessons you need to learn, how to build a distinctive personality for your business, among others.

The author goes to the details as to the impact of color on your print advertising (e.g. "avoid using any colors in promotional materials that you see in most bathrooms"), the use of salutations in promotional letters (e.g. "Dear Friend" is just plain annoying - I am not your friend and I don't know you."). He also includes a lot of examples (taglines, print ads, etc.) - both the good and bad - mostly from big campaigns and analyzes why one fails while pinpointing what element works in other campaigns.

Steve Cone's most important points, however, are summarized in the chapter entitled "The Ten Secrets You Really Need to Steal." His main points are:

1. 3 Essential marketing ingredients = visually exciting, create news, and include compelling call to action
2. Brand power is about creating a strong visual connection = e.g. Marlboro cowboy, glass Coke bottle, etc.
3. Don't listen to art directors = when designing creatives, be sure that it can actually be read
4. Emulate People Magazine = said to be the most successful paid subscription magazine in history
5. Power of Personality = mascot, spokesperson, or animal
6. There are few customers who really matter = pay close attention to the most important customer segments
7. Most important customer lesson = people renew the way they are acquired
8. Great marketers are great speakers = you must enjoy public speaking
9. Customer loyalty programs must have a perceived value that exceeds their perceived cost
10. There are 6 reasons to advertise

If you are going to buy only one marketing book this year, make it this one. It is definitely worth its price!