When I decided to get started on my home based career I jumped into my home based business blind and with both feet. Feeling invincible I pulled out my credit card and began spending money on whatever sounded good and guess what? They all sounded good! Every one of those “push button, you’re gonna make a fortune” programs or software that do not tell you everything before you spend your hard earned money on, all sounded good. These will eventually beat you down as they did me.
Ok. $37, $47 or even $99 does not seem like a lot when you’re looking at thousands and thousands of dollars a month in returns, right? Let me assure you that it doesn’t end there. If you’re not being tempted into spending more money on upsales I’m pretty sure you will get completely overwhelmed and let me tell you why.
You are not ready for these type of systems yet! You need an online marketing plan and goals in place first followed by a rock solid system that teaches you the how’s, where’s and when’s. It took me a year of no direction, thousands of dollars and more frustrated moments than I care to remember.
First of all, if you believe that you will make it rich very quickly in this home based business industry; give up now and save your money. Any business takes time and effort. Actually, if you have never owned your own business it takes more than you realize. As I said before, goals and planning a home based business is crucial to your online success and then succeed you can.
My turning point happened after I stumbled upon a good program (which is pretty rare). This program with it’s easy to follow tutorial videos set me on the right path to online success in my home based business. I went from there to create my goals and plans and I’m glad I did as these are now the cornerstones of my home based business.
Enough about me and on to you, you may be thinking to yourself, “wow, where do I start with a plan”. With a little guidance and a few answered questions you will be on your way. Let’s start with some simple questions
- Do you have any skills?
- What are your interests?
- What do you enjoy doing?
The reason for these questions are to start you off in the right area for your future home based business. For example, let’s say you are an ex dancer, ex-soldier or even a duct tape artist, you have skills and those skills can be profited from. I want you to think about this. I used to believe I knew what would sell. Everyone must like what I like right? Wrong. After doing some research I was godsmacked at what people where buying. The saying had never been more correct “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. Keep that in mind when you start doubting your product or services.
Enjoying and having an interest in your home based business is a must! I have worked with aspiring entrepreneurs in the past that looked at where they thought the most money was and after getting bored and starting from scratch with their education, they bombed. So, the point to this is that having previous knowledge, having an interest and enjoying your daily work is imperative because believe me when I say that you have a huge learning curve ahead of you.
When I first looked at my plan for success I began getting very detailed which was a mistake. Everything you do right now will change. So, when writing your goals start at say, 6 months and work your way back to weekly goals, be very realistic and keep it brief. I guarantee that if you start getting detailed and waste a bunch of time you will look back and want to kick yourself as your goals will change with experience and knowledge. The same goes for the plan. However, you will need to follow your initial plan.
Ask yourself, “Do I really want to pursue this interest? Do I enjoy this field and do I see myself as being a future expert?” If the answer is yes, get started in Word or writing anything and everything you can about what you know, then start looking at your competitions websites and blogs, read their content, find out how knowledgeable they are and be sure to write whatever you wrote in Google, Bing, yahoo etc… to find your competition and finally DO NOT copy and paste your competitions content into yours. I will tell you why in the next article.
In the next article I will talk to you about getting your message out there, how the content should be written and where to place that content for free for maximum exposure.
I am currently working on the Home Based Business, Tips for Success II and will be available to you very soon.
