Tech

Perfection is not required in your home based business. Action however is. As a new home business owner if you wait until all your marketing efforts are perfect you will never get started. This is a huge mistake made by many new business opportunity seekers.

Marketing is of course a key component to building your online business but having to look like the big internet guru’s is not required. The less professional you look the more real you feel and the more likely you are to get the attention of real people.

Here are some of the common items beginners feel need to be perfect and a few ideas to combat this perfection to get started:

Ads can’t be placed until they say just the right thing. When you’re first getting started you really don’t know what the right thing is to say. You have to test this over time. Once you find the right combination of words and method, enhance it. Just keep trying

Videos need to be perfect. I remember the first video I created. I wrote everything down memorized it, went to a nearby park to shoot it and hours later came back with nothing. Every time I made a mistake I started over. I was so worried about how I would be perceived by others that it was stifling my creativity. I never smiled, I got tong-tied with my words; it was a disaster. The next day I was watching my grandkids so I got them to shoot the video while I talked to them. They eventually got bored with the multiple takes; they simply could not understand why it had to be just right. I have since learnt that it’s OK to make a mistake and people still respect you for it. A bigger lesson is if you don’t like to be in front of the camera that’s OK too, do other things like Camtasia training videos or PowerPoint presentation. They work well too…

The perfect Website. This is an ever changing project. You will always be tweaking this, you need to accept that. You’ll be surfing the net and come across something you like and what to change yours. That’s why it’s important to use a tool that you can manage. If you’re not good with html then learn to use something like Squidoo, Blogger or Wordpress to create your site, these are platforms which are easy for anyone to edit and create very nice looking websites.

Ah, the autoresponder campaign! New home business owners really anguish over this. They worry about what to say, how long should it be, should a sell or not, if so how often? Am I going to make people angry and have them unsubscribe? This too is a work in progress. At most you should always have a thank you email. There is not industry standard, but you will see most often written 2 personal or training emails, 1 sale, and then repeat as often as you want. If they unsubscribe say good-bye they weren’t likely to be buyers anyway.

What to say! Many people never get started because they worry about what to say to people. Will they sound silly, or maybe someone will ask a question they don’t have the answer to. Be yourself and be excited. If you don’t know the answer, be honest and offer to find out. But don’t let this stop you from getting started. — Cindy Floyd

Using your home computer, make it your business to capitalize on the fact that parents LOVE pictures of their kids; and everything they write, or say, or do.

Your business can print photos on nearly anything with the help of your home computer.

I’m the mom of three children; a 17 year old boy, whose been in every sport that uses a ball since he was four years old, and six and seven year old girls who are junior divas. If you are a parent you know it is true; if you aren’t a parent, trust me when I say that I have spent literally thousands of dollars on photos of my children. Oh,if I had only known that I could be the one benefiting financially from that motherly need to see her children on T-shirts, tote bags, buttons and nearly anything else you can find.

You will need special software and a high quality printer for this endeavor, but if you already have the children, or you know where to find several of them, chances are you have all of the contacts you need for a healthy home business. Your computer does most of the work for you.

Your business can make personalized books with the help of your home computer.

There are several programs for this endeavor. Some require a hefty start up fee but offer a high quality hard backed book. If this is the business you choose I offer an alternative idea with less of a financial investment required. Create a generic children’s story that will work in most situations, and take orders to personalize it. Using your color printer, create a small paper backed book, or even one with a spiral binding if you choose. If you’re really creative; offer, for a fee of course, to use digital photos of the child instead of generic illustrations to further personalize it.

Parents just love this stuff, at least this one did. Three times.

Your home business can offer personalized certificates made on your computer.

Okay, most people have their own home computer and can print their own personalized certificates if they have the software. However, if the parent has more than two children, isn’t crafty or works full time, the probability is that they might use your services because it is a more efficient use of their time. Your goal is to make them realize how much they need it.

If you have children of your own you have the perfect marketing tools. Display little Johnny’s face on everything you might want to produce for the other parents. Give the soccer coach on of the personalized certificate of appreciation that you offer. Have your darling little Mary take her own personalized book for “show and tell, then be ready for the orders to come in, because they will.

Your business can make use of the home computer to create and send the marketing materials, the samples, the finished product and the billing and that is an effective use of your time.
– Andora Henson