Regardless of your definition of success, there
are, oddly enough, a great number of common
characteristics that are shared by successful
businesspeople. You can place a check beside
each characteristic that you feel that you
possess. This way, you can see how you stack
up. Even if you don't have all of these
characteristics, don't fret. Most can be learned
with practice and by developing a winning
attitude, especially if you set goals and apply
yourself, through strategic planning, to reach
those goals in incremental and measurable
stages.
The Home Business Musts
Like any activity you pursue, there are certain
musts that are required to be successful in a
chosen activity. To legally operate a vehicle on
public roadways, one must have a driver's
license; to excel in sports, one must train and
practice; to retire comfortably, one must become
an informed investor and actively invest for
retirement. If your goal is success in business,
then the formula is no different. There are certain
musts that have to be fully developed,
implemented and managed for your business to
succeed. There are many business musts, but
this article contains I believe to be some of the
more important musts that are required to start,
operate and grow a profitable home business .
1. Do what you enjoy.
What you get out of your business in the form of
personal satisfaction, financial gain, stability and
enjoyment will be the sum of what you put into
your business. So if you don't enjoy what you're
doing, in all likelihood it's safe to assume that will
be reflected in the success of your business--or
subsequent lack of success. In fact, if you don't
enjoy what you're doing, chances are you won't
succeed.
2. Take what you do seriously.
You cannot expect to be effective and successful
in business unless you truly believe in your
business and in the goods and services that you
sell. Far too many home business owners fail to
take their own businesses seriously enough,
getting easily sidetracked and not staying
motivated and keeping their noses to the
grindstone. They also fall prey to naysayers who
don't take them seriously because they don't
work from an office building, office park,
storefront, or factory. Little do these skeptics,
who rain on the home business owner's parade,
know is that the number of people working from
home, and making very good annual incomes,
has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years.
3. Plan everything.
Planning every aspect of your home business is
not only a must, but also builds habits that every
home business owner should develop, implement,
and maintain. The act of business planning is so
important because it requires you to analyze each
business situation, research and compile data,
and make conclusions based mainly on the facts
as revealed through the research. Business
planning also serves a second function, which is
having your goals and how you will achieve them,
on paper. You can use the plan that you create
both as map to take you from point A to Z and as
a yardstick to measure the success of each
individual plan or segment within the plan.
4. Manage money wisely.
The lifeblood of any business enterprise is cash
flow. You need it to buy inventory, pay for
services, promote and market your business,
repair and replace tools and equipment, and pay
yourself so that you can continue to work.
Therefore, all home business owners must
become wise money managers to ensure that the
cash keeps flowing and the bills get paid. There
are two aspects to wise money management.
1. The money you receive from clients
in exchange for your goods and
services you provide (income)
2. The money you spend on inventory,
supplies, wages and other items
required to keep your business
operating. (expenses)
5. Ask for the sale.
A home business entrepreneur must always
remember that marketing, advertising, or
promotional activities are completely worthless,
regardless of how clever, expensive, or perfectly
targeted they are, unless one simple thing is
accomplished--ask for the sale. This is not to
say that being a great salesperson, advertising
copywriting whiz or a public relations specialist
isn't a tremendous asset to your business.
However, all of these skills will be for naught if
you do not actively ask people to buy what you
are selling.
6. Remember it's all about the
customer.
Your home business is not about the products or
services that you sell. Your home business is not
about the prices that you charge for your goods
and services. Your home business is not about
your competition and how to beat them. Your
business is all about your customers, or clients,
period. After all, your customers are the people
that will ultimately decide if your business goes
boom or bust. Everything you do in business must
be customer focused, including your policies,
warranties, payment options, operating hours,
presentations, advertising and promotional
campaigns and website. In addition, you must
know who your customers are inside out and
upside down.
Related: Keeping Your Customers Satisfied -- It's
All in the Details
7. Become a shameless self-
promoter (without becoming
obnoxious).
One of the greatest myths about personal or
business success is that eventually your
business, personal abilities, products or services
will get discovered and be embraced by the
masses that will beat a path to your door to buy
what you are selling. But how can this happen if
no one knows who you are, what you sell and
why they should be buying?
Self-promotion is one of the most beneficial, yet
most underutilized, marketing tools that the
majority of home business owners have at their
immediate disposal.
8. Project a positive business
image.
You have but a passing moment to make a
positive and memorable impression on people
with whom you intend to do business. Home
business owners must go out of their way and
make a conscious effort to always project the
most professional business image possible. The
majority of home business owners do not have
the advantage of elaborate offices or elegant
storefronts and showrooms to wow prospects
and impress customers. Instead, they must rely
on imagination, creativity and attention to the
smallest detail when creating and maintaining a
professional image for their home business.
9. Get to know your customers.
One of the biggest features and often the most
significant competitive edge the home based
entrepreneur has over the larger competitors is
the he can offer personalized attention. Call it
high-tech backlash if you will, but customers are
sick and tired of hearing that their information is
somewhere in the computer and must be
retrieved, or told to push a dozen digits to finally
get to the right department only to end up with
voice mail--from which they never receive a
return phone call.
The home business owner can actually answer
phone calls, get to know customers, provide
personal attention and win over repeat business
by doing so. It's a researched fact that most
business (80 percent) will come from repeat
customers rather than new customers. Therefore,
along with trying to draw newcomers, the more
you can do to woo your regular customers, the
better off you will be in the long run and
personalized attention is very much appreciated
and remembered in the modern high tech world.
Related: Why You Should Never Prejudge a Sales
Prospect
10. Level the playing field with
technology.
You should avoid getting overly caught up in the
high-tech world, but you should also know how to
take advantage of using it. One of the most
amazing aspects of the internet is that a one or
two person business operating from a basement
can have a superior website to a $50 million
company, and nobody knows the difference.
Make sure you're keeping up with the high-tech
world as it suits your needs.. The best technology
is that which helps you, not that which impresses
your neighbors.
11. Build a top-notch business
team.
No one person can build a successful business
alone. It's a task that requires a team that is as
committed as you to the business and its
success. Your business team may include family
members, friends, suppliers, business alliances,
employees, sub-contractors, industry and
business associations, local government and the
community. Of course the most important team
members will be your customers or clients. Any
or all may have a say in how your business will
function and a stake in your business future.
Related: Why Teamwork Should Be Your No. 1
Sales Tool
12. Become known as an expert.
When you have a problem that needs to be
solved, do you seek just anyone's advice or do
you seek an expert in the field to help solve your
particular problem? Obviously, you want the most
accurate information and assistance that you can
get. You naturally seek an expert to help solve
your problem. You call a plumber when the hot
water tank leaks, a real estate agent when it's
time to sell your home or a dentist when you have
a toothache. Therefore, it only stands to reason
that the more you become known for your
expertise in your business, the more people will
seek you out to tap into your expertise, creating
more selling and referral opportunities. In effect,
becoming known as an expert is another style of
prospecting for new business, just in reverse.
Instead of finding new and qualified people to sell
to, these people seek you out for your expertise.
13. Create a competitive advantage.
A home business must have a clearly defined
unique selling proposition. This is nothing more
than a fancy way of asking the vital question,
"Why will people choose to do business with you
or purchase your product or service instead of
doing business with a competitor and buying his
product or service?" In other words, what one
aspect or combination of aspects is going to
separate your business from your competition?
Will it be better service, a longer warranty, better
selection, longer business hours, more flexible
payment options, lowest price, personalized
service, better customer service, better return
and exchange policies or a combination of several
of these?
14. Invest in yourself.
Top entrepreneurs buy and read business and
marketing books, magazines, reports, journals,
newsletters, websites and industry publications,
knowing that these resources will improve their
understanding of business and marketing
functions and skills. They join business
associations and clubs, and they network with
other skilled business people to learn their
secrets of success and help define their own
goals and objectives. Top entrepreneurs attend
business and marketing seminars, workshops
and training courses, even if they have already
mastered the subject matter of the event. They do
this because they know that education is an
ongoing process. There are usually ways to do
things better, in less time, with less effort. In
short, top entrepreneurs never stop investing in
the most powerful, effective and best business
and marketing tool at their immediate disposal--
themselves.
15. Be accessible.
We're living in a time when we all expect our fast
food lunch at the drive-thru window to be ready in
mere minutes, our dry cleaning to be ready for
pick-up on the same day, our money to be
available at the cash machine and our pizza
delivered in 30 minutes or it's free. You see the
pattern developing--you must make it as easy as
you can for people to do business with you,
regardless of the home business you operate.
You must remain cognizant of the fact that few
people will work hard, go out of their way, or be
inconvenienced just for the privilege of giving you
their hard-earned money. The shoe is always on
the other foot. Making it easy for people to do
business with you means that you must be
accessible and knowledgeable about your
products and services. You must be able to
provide customers with what they want, when
they want it.
16. Build a rock-solid reputation.
A good reputation is unquestionably one of the
home business owner's most tangible and
marketable assets. You can't simply buy a good
reputation; it's something that you earn by
honoring your promises. If you promise to have
the merchandise in the customer's hands by
Wednesday, you have no excuse not to have it
there. If you offer to repair something, you need
to make good on your offer. Consistency in what
you offer is the other key factor. If you cannot
come through with the same level of service (and
products) for clients on a regular basis, they have
no reason to trust you . . . and without trust, you
won't have a good reputation.
17. Sell benefits.
Pushing product features is for inexperienced or
wannabe entrepreneurs. Selling the benefits
associated with owning and using the products
and services you carry is what sales
professionals worldwide focus on to create buying
excitement and to sell, sell more, and sell more
frequently to their customers. Your advertising,
sales presentations, printed marketing materials,
product packaging, website, newsletters, trade
show exhibit and signage are vital. Every time and
every medium used to communicate with your
target audience must always be selling the
benefits associated with owning your product or
using your service.
18. Get involved.
Always go out of your way to get involved in the
community that supports your business. You can
do this in many ways, such as pitching in to help
local charities or the food bank, becoming
involved in organizing community events, and
getting involved in local politics. You can join
associations and clubs that concentrate on
programs and policies designed to improve the
local community. It's a fact that people like to do
business with people they know, like and respect,
and with people who do things to help them as
members of the community.
19. Grab attention.
Small-business owners cannot waste time,
money and energy on promotional activities
aimed at building awareness solely through long-
term, repeated exposure. If you do, chances are
you will go broke long before this goal is
accomplished. Instead, every promotional activity
you engage in, must put money back in your
pocket so that you can continue to grab more
attention and grow your business.
20. Master the art of negotiations.
The ability to negotiate effectively is
unquestionably a skill that every home business
owner must make every effort to master. It's
perhaps second in importance only to asking for
the sale in terms of home business musts. In
business, negotiation skills are used daily.
Always remember that mastering the art of
negotiation means that your skills are so finely
tuned that you can always orchestrate a win-win
situation. These win-win arrangements mean that
everyone involved feels they have won, which is
really the basis for building long-term and
profitable business relationships.
21. Design Your workspace for
success.
Carefully plan and design your home office
workspace to ensure maximum personal
performance and productivity and, if necessary,
to project professionalism for visiting clients. If at
all possible, resist the temptation to turn a corner
of the living room or your bedroom into your
office. Ideally, you'll want a separate room with a
door that closes to keep business activities in and
family members out, at least during prime
business and revenue generating hours of the
day. A den, spare bedroom, basement or
converted garage are all ideal candidates for your
new home office. If this is not possible, you'll
have to find a means of converting a room with a
partition or simply find hours to do the bulk of your
work when nobody else is home.
22. Get and stay organized.
The key to staying organized is not about which
type of file you have or whether you keep a stack
or two of papers on your desk, but it's about
managing your business. It's about having
systems in place to do things. Therefore, you wan
to establish a routine by which you can
accomplish as much as possible in a given
workday, whether that's three hours for a part-
time business or seven or nine hours as a full-
timer. In fact, you should develop systems and
routines for just about every single business
activity. Small things such as creating a to-do list
at the end of each business day, or for the week,
will help keep you on top of important tasks to
tackle. Creating a single calendar to work from,
not multiple sets for individual tasks or jobs, will
also ensure that jobs are completed on schedule
and appointments kept. Incorporating family and
personal activities into your work calendar is also
critical so that you work and plan from a single
calendar.
23. Take time off.
The temptation to work around the clock is very
real for some home business owners. After all,
you don't have a manager telling you it's time to
go home because they can't afford the overtime
pay. Every person working from home must take
time to establish a regular work schedule that
includes time to stretch your legs and take lunch
breaks, plus some days off and scheduled
vacations. Create the schedule as soon as you
have made the commitment to start a home
business. Of course, your schedule will have to
be flexible. You should, therefore, not fill every
possible hour in the day. Give yourself a backup
hour or two. All work and no play makes you burn
out very fast and grumpy customer service is not
what people want.
24. Limit the number of hats you
wear.
It's difficult for most business owners not to take
a hands-on approach. They try to do as much as
possible and tackle as many tasks as possible in
their business. The ability to multitask, in fact, is a
common trait shared by successful
entrepreneurs. However, once in a while you
have to stand back and look beyond today to
determine what's in the best interest of your
business and yourself over the long run. Most
highly successful entrepreneurs will tell you that
from the time they started out, they knew what
they were good at and what tasks to delegate to
others.
25. Follow-up constantly.
Constant contact, follow-up, and follow-through
with customers, prospects, and business
alliances should be the mantra of every home
business owner, new or established. Constant and
consistent follow-up enables you to turn
prospects into customers, increase the value of
each sale and buying frequency from existing
customers, and build stronger business
relationships with suppliers and your core
business team. Follow-up is especially important
with your existing customer base, as the real
work begins after the sale. It's easy to sell one
product or service, but it takes work to retain
customers and keep them coming back.
James Stephenson is an experienced home
based consultant with more than 15 years of
business and marketing experience.
