Do you ever wonder why some home-based businesses are outrageously successful while others barely get off the ground? It’s no secret that some work at home mavericks have cracked the code. Discover 7 Habits of creating your work at home empire.
You’ve read the ads or seen the infomercials. “Build a six or seven figure income while lounging in your pajamas in your work at home business.” For many people who hear this, their scam detector goes up, and they become defensive. Why? Because they have heard countless horror stories of people, who have lost their shirt trying to create a business from home.
However, the truth is there are thousands of home-based entrepreneurs around the country who have cracked the code, created their place in the world and taking it to the bank. So how did they do it? Why do some people struggle and never break even while others create outrageously successful home-based careers?
There are certain habits which I believe are consistent with all these enterprises. Here are seven habits or traits when implemented work to ensure an outrageously profitable venture.
- Find a hungry target market and look for a product or service to meet their needs. I am surprised how many frustrated entrepreneurs miss this. What often happens is someone gets excited, hit by an entrepreneurial seizure and tries to start a business with a product or service and feels it will sell just because of their emotional attachment. Keep your mind open when looking at home based business income opportunities. Before you jump in, make sure someone wants to buy whatever you must sell.
Don’t get me wrong you want to have a passion for what you do. However, if you love eight-track tapes, it might be a problem. And depending on your age, you might be thinking, “What’s an 8-track tape?” Get my point? However, if you find a group of people who are hungry for what you have is like shooting fish in a bucket. When a group wants a problem solved, they will pay you to do it.
- Until a sale is made nothing happens. I am amazed at how many budding entrepreneurs say they hate sales. It is unfortunate because everything else in a business is an expense. If you don’t have sales coming in the door, eventually the doors will close.
Sales and marketing if done correctly is the engine to a company’s success. The key is to add value to the customer at every opportunity. One of the vital things to remember is the first time you obtain a client is the most expensive. But the real wealth is built when you can sell to a customer repeatedly. Some companies even take a loss to get the customer in the pipeline because they realize the real money is on the back end and the actual profit is in the lifetime value of the customer.
- Develop a strong team. One of the traits that will accelerate the success of any business is the leverage generated by the help of others.
Robert Kiyosaki Author of Rich Dad Poor Dad says, “Business and investing are team sports.” Financially speaking, the average investor or small-business person loses because they do not have a team. Instead of a team, they act as individuals who are trampled by brilliant teams.”
While you are building a home-based business, you don’t want to do it alone. There are only 24 hours a day, and you can’t do everything. You want to look for opportunities to outsource all non-revenue generating activities. Successful proprietors don’t waste time on filing and organizing.
- Focus on the business not just working in the market. The focus is what separates you from being able to create a company that provides you with significant income and lifestyle versus one where the doors may close. Successful entrepreneurs focus on the big picture.
It’s sad to me when people say, “No one can do what I do.” It might be true however it presents a great challenge. You are now a slave to your business. The business no longer serves you. The goal must be to take “you” out of as much of your business as possible.
Look for ways to remove you, automate and systemize the process. One of the ways to do this is to use the leverage of technology. You might want to use a website that allows people to order your product or service 24/7. Or write a book which sells while you are asleep. Get the picture.
- A highly successful home-based business has a central theme or mission. Many home-based businesses never reach success because they are trying to do too many things at the same time. You might be saying, “But I want to create multiple streams of income.”
The problem with multiple streams of income can be a nightmare if approached incorrectly. New entrepreneurs often make the mistake of trying to create several profit centers from nonaligned businesses. For example, you will find people who work to start real estate, network marketing, and internet marketing all at the same time.
The reason you will almost never have success with this strategy is you cannot build momentum. Each business has an entirely different business model, and you can’t leverage the energy of one to another.
However, the successful home-based entrepreneur understands the law of momentum. For example, if you were an author one of your products would be the book. However, you could spin that product into an empire by leveraging it into an e-book, tape set, workbook, seminar, boot camp, and coaching program.
Do you see the power of having one main product or theme and how you can leapfrog to success? You want to be focused and committed to a central idea. Once you have success, you can add another stream of income. This trait is one of the hidden keys to success.
- Resilient and quick to adapt to change. It’s one of the distinct advantages solo-entrepreneurs have over large companies. Often large corporations invest thousands of dollars in a project and even when they know it’s not working, they are slow to change. In Corporate America this may not kill a business because one mistake is just a cog in the wheel.
However, in small business your ability to change on a dime allows you to test things and when things work you do it with massive all out action. And when something is not working you let it go, check something else and move forward.
- Commit to continual education. Now, I am not talking about another degree or certificate. There are plenty of people with plaques on their walls that can’t create the income and lifestyle they want. However, I love the quote by one of the leading experts in self-development. Jim Rohn says, “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
Personal development and specialized knowledge are often the difference between a fledgling operation and one that has a significant bottom line. Why? Because successful people know that the best investment they can make is in self.
Make sure that you are always staying ahead of the curve and immerse yourself in your area of expertise. You can do this by attending seminars, teleclasses, boot camps or participating in coaching programs.
Do you want to build wealth from home? Cut your learning curve by modeling one or all these traits from successful home-based businesses. You will find when you model those who have success you will too if you embody the same characteristics. Start today, and you will be on your way to outrageous fortune.