Things to Think About When Starting a Home Business

With so many young people trying to work from home on the Internet it is amazing just how many of them really do not have the slightest idea, of the workload they have gotten themselves into. Many of these people did not even sit down and assess what it is that they see as reasonable personal goal. This is a huge mistake on their part. Everyone thinking about pursuing a home business venture should consider the following issues about their character and state of mind:

1) You must know what you want in order to find a way to obtain it.

2) It must be clear to everyone willing to jump into the Internet marketing world; if you are not sure whether or not you have drive and a willingness to succeed you might want to save yourself some money and much aggravation.

3) It is easy to want something, and you may know how you have to get it. There is this little issue about dedication and determination do you have it? Why put yourself through the troubles of failing and wondering exactly where you went wrong.

The great Winston Churchill once said, “If you find yourself walking through hell, just keep going”. This idea of the struggles people face, in business and in life is just that. Struggles, the winners will survive and the weak will fall. This has been a true facet in life since the beginning of time. Basically staying power in the Internet marketing business is about keeping your face off the pavement.They also do not get the fact that because it is their business, and not someone else’s responsibility that they in turn will have to work probably much harder to keep it going. When these people hear the nonsense about working 1 hour per week and striking it rich, I truly feel sorry for their heads and wallets when they inevitably re enter the earth’s atmosphere, and hit the ground with a screeching halt. Again this may be nothing more than naivety. And not total stupidity.

The unfortunate part for most people new to the scene is that they have absolutely no idea just what it entails on a time basis. What must be remembered is that success cannot be bought in a can. It is the single marketing plan and strategy that is doomed to fail. You must be able to walk many avenues in order to reap the benefits of the successes it can yield. Buy into what you feel truly will get you ahead, listen to what other marketers are saying in the forums and try to catch on quick. This field is extremely fast and waits for no one. The best way to do business is to spread out your resources as much as possible; the best way for exposure is to be out in the middle of the field.

James Biscardi is the owner and president of DynamicWealthSystems.com,
a home business opportunity and resources website. Visit:
www.DynamicWealthSystems.com

To contact James, e-mail to teacharino@yahoo.com

Why Work Slow-Down Can Be the Virtual Assistant’s Best Friend

Quiet times in business happen to all of us. They happen to
established Virtual Assistants, as well as to those just
starting out. The phone stops ringing, your email inbox is so
empty you wonder if your internet service is down and you can’t
think of a make-work project to save your life. The good news is
that once you’ve experienced a few quiet times and learned that
they always end, they’ll lose their ability to frighten you. But
I understand that until you have that experience there can be
scary, hairy monsters waiting in the quiet hours when your work
has dried up.

Therefore, I want to offer you ten proven ways to banish those
monsters, and even turn those quiet hours to your advantage.
Using some of the items and ideas from the list below will help
not only keep you occupied while business is slow, but they will
add to the strong business foundation you are already building.
What I am trying to do with this list is maximize the potential
in your business so that you do not unnecessarily fall victim to
work slow-down when you don’t want to.

1. Follow up on old leads. It sounds simple but this number one
tip can be a lifesaver and a business-builder. Dig through your
contact files (you do keep a list of business leads, right?) and
refresh the memory of those you haven’t talked to in a while.
Send them a ‘thinking of you and your business’ email, mail them
a card with your business card enclosed, send them an e-card
that announces a new service you are offering. Ensure ALL your
leads, old and new, are keeping you top-of-mind when they
realize they need virtual support.

2. Clean up something you’ve been tolerating. ‘Tolerating’ is a
coaching word - it means those undone tasks and buried ideas
that we carry around with us, sometimes unconsciously, that can
drain our energy. What comes to mind when you think of something
you carry around with you mentally all the time? Do you need to
complete a business relationship with someone you’ve been
dreading to call? Do you have a pile of paper that needs filing?
Is there a page or two of your web site that are not complete?
Is there some task you’ve been putting off for months or even
years? In order to move forward, we need the energy, both mental
and physical, to do so. These things that we are tolerating
drain our energy and therefore prevent us from achieving all we
wish to. Stop tolerating, even one thing, and you’ll make room
for more success.

3. Call your mother (or your best friend, or your coach or
mentor) and ask for what you need. Being a self-employed
professional can be a tough row to hoe. Get the emotional
support you need to keep going. The person you call (or even
better, speak to in person) should be someone you trust with
your feelings and someone who can applaud and congratulate you
when it’s needed. Share some of your fears and doubts with this
person and then ask them for what you need. Maybe you need them
to tell you they are proud of you. Maybe you need them to call
you once a week and check in to see how you are. Whatever it is,
ask for it. You’ll be surprised how much our loved ones want to
know what we want from them. With this kind of support in your
life, you are much more likely to succeed.

4. Ensure you are ready for new business. One of the best ways
to ensure we attract new business is to make sure (that’s 100%
sure) we are fully prepared for when that business arrives. Do
you have a welcome package completely ready to give to a client?
If a new client called five minutes from now could you send it
to them right away? Are you organized enough to bring on new
business? Do you feel on top of your current to dos and your
business calendar? Do you have a process in place to bring a new
client on board (i.e. a ‘first meeting’ agenda or a list of
questions to ask new clients about what they need from you)? To
ensure that you are not unconsciously pushing new business away
because you are not ready, make sure that you are able to answer
“yes” to all the above questions.

5. Do one thing you’re afraid of. I’m not asking you to learn to
skydive naked, but there is value in making sure that there are
not business-building activities that we are avoiding because we
are afraid of them. Choose one thing, even a small one at first,
that you are afraid of doing and do it. Are you afraid of
joining a networking group? Are you afraid of calling your old
boss and asking her out to lunch to discuss Virtual Assistance?
Are you avoiding giving a presentation to a group that has asked
you? These are just examples to get you thinking; by now your
little voice is telling you what your own personal
monster-in-the-dark is. By standing up and staring that monster
down, walking right into his mouth and dancing around, you will
emerge stronger, more confident and more proud of yourself. Take
a chance and build yourself up by doing something you’re afraid
of.

6. Create some space. Recently I went through my office
bookshelf and cleaned out some books that I was not using and
donated them to charity. I made a small bit of room on one
shelf, but it made a huge difference to the amount of available
space in my head. Are you feeling cluttered and buried under
paper? Do your files need to be cleaned out and re-organized?
How about those piles of things on the floor you step over every
day? Clean physical space can go a long way to helping us flow
more clearly with our business lives. Look at your physical
space and see if there is ‘room’ for improvement.

7. Put one new customer service in place. Adding an ‘added
value’ item to your list of services can really help to build
your clients’ perception of you as a valued member of their
team. This new customer service item can either be something you
announce to clients (e-zine support, bookkeeping, virtual dog
walking) or something you do ‘above and beyond the call of duty’
(client birthday cards, a regular check-in with a busy client to
see what more you can do, 15 minutes of your time that you don’t
bill for). We are in a customer service business and our clients
are our most important resource. What new feature can you add to
your services that regularly bring home to your clients how much
you value them?

8. Stay in front of your ‘circle of influence’. Building on item
7, we can always benefit from ensuring that those people in our
lives whom we regard as our ‘circle of influence’ are aware of
what we are doing and that we are looking for new business. The
members of your circle of influence are those people in your
life who have the ability to drive business toward you. They are
your mentors, your colleagues, your past business associates.
One easy business-building technique is to have a list of
specifically who these people are in your life and then contact
them periodically to let them know you are still in business.
You can make announcements about new services to them and ensure
that they keep you top-of-mind when they are recommending
Virtual Assistance to people they meet.

9. Listen to your muse. Business isn’t “all business”, even
though some might want you to believe that. The creative vein
that runs through each and every one of us can be a great asset
when we are marketing and building our businesses. Have you ever
had a really ‘crazy’ idea about how to educate potential clients
about what you do? Have you ever seen someone else’s marketing
or advertising materials and been thrilled by the ‘out of the
box’ thinking that obviously went into them? (And then realized
you had that idea six months ago and didn’t follow up on it.
Bummer.) Let your creative juices flow. Don’t be afraid to do
something that’s a little bit ingenious to market your business
and attract new clients. I have one former client who is a coach
who has gotten together with several other entrepreneurial women
(massage therapists, estheticians, arts teachers) and is
throwing a pajama party for women next month. It is a completely
crazy idea and it looks like so much fun! What could you do that
would get people thinking, “Wow!” and put a smile on their faces.

10. Talk to a mentor. Our last item comes from the “no need to
reinvent the wheel” department. Do you know someone who is a
well established VA or entrepreneur? If so, why not call that
person up, ask them if you could buy them a cup of tea and pick
their brain a bit. What did they do that helped them succeed?
What rough spots did they hit that you could avoid? You could
even ask them, “If you were in my position right now, what is
one thing you would do to grow my business?” People love talking
about their successes and I bet you’ll be surprised at all the
valuable information that comes forth when you simply ask.

There you have it. Ten things you can do RIGHT NOW to keep your
business-building momentum going even when you are experiencing
a temporary work slow-down.

D-BUST Your Computer - Part 4-a (for Microsoft users)

D-BUST Your Computer - Part 4-a (for Microsoft users) By: Janet
L. Hall
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

S stands for SAVE

Do you save everything on your hard drive?

Do you know how to save/file your computer documents properly,
efficiently, and effectively?

Do you have a hard time locating documents after you’ve
saved/filed them?

Most likely whenever you *create * something on your computer
you’ll want to save it.

So before * SAVING * anything, ask yourself the following
questions:

WHO needs it? WHAT use is it? WHEN will I use it? WHERE will I
find it? WHY do I want or need it? HOW long do I need to *SAVE *
it?

Just like your * paper * files, you should save/file your
computer documents into folders. Your folders on your computer
SHOULD mirror your * paper * file folders, thus causing less
names to remember, and less confusion on where you saved/filed
something.

Microsoft automatically sets up a folder for you titled * MY
DOCUMENTS * where you can save/file your documents. It isn’t
very efficient if you save/file ALL your documents in this
folder UNLESS you create YOUR own folders within the * MY
DOCUMENTS * folder.

Look at it this way; say you have a file drawer where you keep
all your * paper * files and you call the drawer * MY DOCUMENTS
*. If you open the drawer and have no folders, subfolders, or
systems in place, how on earth are you going to locate the
document you need? You stand there staring at a drawer full of
documents, scratching your head wondering if you can locate the
document before lunch! How will you know where to put the NEW
document you just created or received that you MUST keep?

HOW TO CREATE NEW FOLDERS

~~ Click Start (Usually located on the left bottom of your
screen) ~~ Place Pointer on Programs ~~ Place Pointer on Windows
Explorer and Click

You have now entered/opened your electronic file cabinet. Here
you can “see” every document, file, and program that is on your
computer.

We’re going to create subfolders (or interior folders) in MY
DOCUMENTS folder… not really mine but yours:-)

~~ Locate and move POINTER to MY DOCUMENTS ~~ Double Click on MY
DOCUMENTS

You will be presented with a list of all the folders you have
saved/filed in MY DOCUMENTS and/or any folders that you may have
already created INSIDE MY DOCUMENTS folder.

Notice MY DOCUMENTS folder is highlighted, which means ANY
folders you create during this exercise will be located * INSIDE
* MY DOCUMENTS folder.

~~ Move POINTER to File and CLICK ~~ Move POINTER to NEW ~~ Move
POINTER to FOLDER and CLICK ~~ Type in the name of your new
folder and Press Return/Enter

WA LA!! You have a new folder!

To continue making new folders, move your pointer back to MY
DOCUMENTS, CLICK to highlight and follow the above steps.

You can even create new folders within the ones you just made.
Why would you do that? Let me give you an example:

Let’s say you created a folder * CLIENTS *. You have three
clients, Larry, Moe, and Curly, that you send/receive email and
correspondence from that you need to save/file, and be able to
access when needed WITHOUT LOOKING through all the *CLIENTS *
files. Highlight * CLIENTS * folder and follow the above process
for each SUBFOLDER (Larry, Moe, and Curly) you need to make.

HOW TO SAVE A NEW DOCUMENT

You’ve just created a new document to Larry and now you need to
* SAVE * it. Your computer will need to get some information
from you in order to save your document and know where to save
(file) it to on your hard drive.

Larry is a client and you have already made him a folder. You
have completed the document and it is STILL OPEN (on your
screen).

~~ Move POINTER to FILE ~~ CLICK on FILE ~~ Move POINTER to SAVE
and CLICK

A SAVE AS Box will appear. Notice the three sections: Save in:,
File name:, and Save as type:.

The Save in: section should have the last folder name that you
saved a document to. In this case you want to save your document
in your * Larry * folder, which is located in the Clients
folder, which is located in MY DOCUMENTS folder.

~~ CLICK the small black down arrow next to the folder name in
Save in: ~~ CLICK on MY DOCUMENTS ~~ Locate the CLIENTS Folder
in the box and DOUBLE CLICK on it ~~ The CLIENTS folder should
now be in the Save in: section ~~ Locate and move your POINTER
to the * Larry * folder and DOUBLE CLICK on it ~~ The * Larry *
folder is now in the Save in: section

Now you have to give your document a name.

~~ PRESS Your TAB Key to move to File name: or move POINTER to
File name: and CLICK.

~~ Something will already be there BUT you want to give the
document a name you will remember and can easily locate when
needed.

Let’s say the document is about the meeting you had with Larry
regarding his hair stylist on June 12, 2000. You might name the
document something like this: Hair Meeting 61200

~~ Type in the name you want to give your document ~~ Press
ENTER/RETURN OR ~~ Move POINTER to SAVE and CLICK

WARNING WARNING!! DO NOT do the above if you need to SAVE the
document in a DIFFERENT FILE FORMAT, such as TEXT or HTML Code.

Save as type: the default is usually Word Document but notice
the small black arrow next to this and CLICK on it. Here is
where you are presented with a list of file types that you might
need to save your document into.

Your document is still open (on your screen) after you have
named it and SAVED it. To close the document:

~~ Move POINTER to File and CLICK ~~ Move POINTER to Close and
CLICK

TIP: If you make any changes inside the document BEFORE you
CLOSE it you will get a prompt asking if you want to save
changes, click YES. If you click NO, your changes WILL NOT be
SAVED in the document.

Next month - I’ll be back with Part 4-b of SAVE in D-BUST YOUR
COMPUTER where I’ll discuss the SAVE AS function, AUTOSAVE, and
saving to a floppy and a zip disk. In Part 4-c you’ll learn
about saving your sent/received email, and saving your favorite
website locations.

Smiles, not Piles, Janet L. Hall

The Organizing Wizard, Janet L. Hall, is a Professional
Organizer, Speaker, and Author. She is the owner of OverHall
Consulting, and Organizing By Phone. Subscribe to her FREE
organizing newsletter at http://www.overhall.com/newsletter.htm
or visit her web site at http://www.overhall.com

Copyright 1999, 2000 by OverHall Consulting P.O. Box 263, Port
Republic, MD 20676 All Rights Reserved. Permission is granted to
reproduce, copy, or distribute so long as this copyright notice
and full information about contacting the author is attached.

Should You Wholesale Store Returns?

Have you considered buying store returns?

Every wholesale buyer eventually comes across offers for store return merchandise.

It’s a difficult decision wether should someone get involved with store returns.

While the profit potential is definitely there, there are also adverse factors to consider.

To start with we need to have a clear understanding of what store returns are.

Most major retailers have a program where they accept returns from their customers.

Keep in mind that the returned merchandise does not always have to be in its original packaging.

For instance, one major retailer, allows returns of children’s clothing for any reason for an extended period of time. I have been told that this period is now 6 months.

Since the major retailers want the repeat business from their customers, they will even accept merchandise which might have been damaged by consumers.

So what do retailers do with these store returns?

They have a program where they contract out with salvage dealers, wholesalers, and fulfillment centers, who then sell this merchandise for them.

So if the merchandise is likely damaged, why would you even consider buying it?

For the reason that store returned merchandise is usually sold for as little as 10% of the wholesale value.

Assuming the wholesale value is half the retail value, there are times when you can buy $5,000 worth of retail merchandise for as little as $250.

But before you decide to stock your business with store returns you need to realize the following.

About 50-75% of the merchandise will be clearly damaged. The remaining 25-50% will be merchandise returned because of size or taste issues.

Meaning those customers are returning merchandise which doesn’t fit them, they changed their mind about it, or received it as a gift.

This means that in reality the price you are paying will only be giving you 25-50% of the merchandise that you originally planned on receiving.
So the $250 is really only buying about $1,250 worth of retail merchandise.

Remember, realistically you should only expect 25% of the merchandise to be in decent condition.

At this point you are actually paying about 20% of the original retail value.

$250/$1250

If you are in the retail business you still have room to markup the merchandise.

But if you are in the wholesale or closeout business, you are in a difficult spot.

How will you resell this merchandise to wholesale or closeout buyers who need to sell it themselves?

Also keep in mind the time it will take to sort out the good merchandise from the damaged items.

Donny Lowy is the CEO of http://www.closeoutexplosion.com, an online wholesale and closeout business.