Does Financial Success or An Online Home Based Business Require an MBA?Several months ago I started my online home based business. I was brought up at a time and in a family where education was a given. My father was a successful lawyer so my mother never had to work. It was a given that when I completed my private school education which my father worked hard to provide for me, that I would attend college.In my world at that time there was no other conceivable possibility. You graduated high school and then you went to college – Period. So I did. The first year was a miserable failure and I left after it and began my working career. I would ultimately go back to college and finally get a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science, while I worked.So here I am, over thirty years after high school, having worked all those years. The most money I ever made on a job was a salary of $52,000 per year. The last company I worked for, I rose from Controller to the underpaid President and the company shut down. Now I am one of the millions of unemployed Americans.I, like many millions of people, looked for an opportunity to create an online home based business. I have been at it for a few months. My success is growing. I picked internet marketing and network marketing because I enjoyed blogging in my last job. I also had been spending time studying internet marketing on my own. Today I belong to a couple of network marketing organizations and have my own blog, which I post to almost every day.I have become an entrepreneur, and like many online home based business entrepreneurs, I am driven and committed to success. But success does not come easy in the online home based business arena. My primary products are the network marketing programs to which I belong. They provide the opportunity to achieve financial success by following a specific program of internet marketing and entrepreneurial education, and marketing the programs to others looking for a business opportunity.Network marketing has been around for a long time and despite its negative reputation, it is a viable business model that can lead to tremendous financial rewards. I have seen, and personally know a number of people that have achieved amazing success in an online home based business of network marketing. Many did achieve this incredible level of success through hard work, but without a college degree.There are many things you need to learn to become successful at internet marketing or network marketing as an online home based business. But you don’t have to go to an Ivy League college and spend five or six years and $200,000 to learn what you need to know. You don’t need an MBA or even a bachelor’s degree to be a success in network marketing.You can learn how to make an amazing living by joining these network marketing companies at a fraction of the cost of a college education. Now there are millions of people looking right now for a business opportunity like an online home based business. To achieve success in network marketing, like any other business, requires an investment.Just like college is an investment in yourself that you or your parents pay for, joining a network marketing program is an investment in yourself for which you must pay. There are no free lunches. Starting an online home based business requires and investment of time and money. It is that simple.But when you compare the value of the investment you make in a network marketing company that provides you with the system, tools and education that allows you to create unlimited success and wealth, with the value of a college education, you might be surprised.If you are an entrepreneur or want to be an entrepreneur with your own online home based business, you need to have the skill set and mind set of an entrepreneur. I suppose you can get most of it going through college and graduate school, spending years and tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Or you can cut to the chase, so to speak, and get the education, skill set, and mind set much quicker and for a lot less money. And while you are learning and developing you are making money.This is the reality of our world today. This is the reality of the knowledge based worker era. You get to choose your path in life and you have to live with the results. No way around it, success requires work. But the path you choose is up to you. One way or another if you want to achieve financial success today, you need to invest in yourself. If you don’t you limit your opportunities in life.You can invest in a college degree and hope that you are able to find a job. You can work for somebody else your whole life and watch all the benefits go to the owner. Or you can invest in yourself and join a network marketing program with unlimited earning potential and the satisfaction of owning your own online home based business.
Five Tips for Selling at Live Auctions
Ah, the old-fashioned country auction! The idea of a country auction conjures up certain images for people. The image of a fast-talking auctioneer offering up an antique table or chair is a popular example.
People who are buying household goods or collectibles are looking to get their items at the lowest price possible. However, the people who are selling their items at auction are hoping for the highest price!
Unless a person is in the business of buying and selling antiques or other items, not a lot of thought goes into how goods are prepared for sale via the auction process. However, if you are one of the growing number of people using auction venues to sell your collectibles or other inventory, there are a few things to learn first about how to sell at auction before you bring a truckload of stuff over to the next event.
Tip 1: Make sure the things you want to sell are a good “fit” for the auction house you’ll be using.
Never bring a load to an auction house without actually having been to one of the previous auctions. It’s important to get a feel for the type of goods that the house sells. For example, at one very rural country auction it was common for the owners to sell live chickens, pots and pans, car parts, and farm equipment.
After close investigation, this would not be the right venue for selling your daughter’s “Hello Kitty” collection. On the other hand, the spare John Deere parts that you bought at last week’s yard sale might be just the right thing for the buying crowd at this auction.
Tip 2: Be sure you clearly understand the terms and policies of the auction house.
Visit with the auctioneer ahead of time. Call to find out what the best days and times are to visit. One of the worst possible times to drop in for an informational visit with an auctioneer is the day of the auction. Call ahead and ask. While you’re at it, find out what are the best days and times to drop your stuff off.
Once you have a little time with the auctioneer, you’ll be able to find out what type of commission he or she takes from consigners (which is you), and what type of paperwork might be needed. Some auction houses send out Form 1099 tax forms at the end of the year. An auctioneer may need to see your identification and have you fill out a W-9. Be prepared.
Find out what happens to your items if they don’t sell. For example, some auctioneers may have a minimum starting bid. If, for some reason, one of your items does not sell, it may be grouped with another one of your pieces. Know the auctioneer’s strategy beforehand so that you aren’t surprised on pay day.
Tip 3: Make sure the auctioneer knows what you’re selling.
It might be perfectly obvious to you that the signed print you are consigning is a rare and valuable piece of art. However, the auctioneer may not know this particular artist. Make a note of anything particularly special about your items, and leave the note with the piece. Be sure to tell the auctioneer about it as well. He or she might determine that this is something to highlight on the company website or in the newspaper listing.
Tip 4: Present your items neatly.
No one likes to have to dig through a box full of grimy and greasy car parts to see what treasures might be in there. Separate the parts and lay them out on a flat, or use more than one box to de-clutter the lot.
There is no need to buy fancy display boxes. It’s easy enough to go to the local convenience store or supermarket and ask if you can have the emptied boxes or flats that they are discarding.
While it’s good to present clean items, take care not to ruin the value of anything by over cleaning. For example, if you find some old cast iron cookware, clean the obvious dirt and grime, but don’t scrub it to its original finish. For many people, this ruins the value of the item. So, clean and tidy and organized is the key here.
Tip 5: Don’t complain to the auctioneer if your stuff doesn’t sell for as much as you’d like.
The phrase to remember here is, “You win some; you lose some.” That’s just the way it is. There are some days where an auction house is loaded with people who all seem to want what you’re selling. There will be other days where the crowd is sparse, and the bidding is simply not competitive.
Remember that it’s in the auctioneer’s best interest to sell your things for the highest possible hammer price. But sometimes, it’s just not going to be a stellar sale. The auctioneer is only human, and is also disappointed if a sale doesn’t go as well as planned.
If you notice that every time you bring a bunch of goods to sell that you’re not realizing as much as you think you honestly should, try another auction venue and compare apples to apples. That is, bring the same types of items to the new auctioneer and compare the results.
Unless the auctioneer is particularly disagreeable or inconsiderate to you or buyers, there is no reason to confront him or her about a sale. If you find you just don’t care for an auctioneer’s style or methods, find another one. Believe me, there are plenty of them out there!
The primary thing to remember as you learn how to sell at auction is that the business is unpredictable at best. You will have good days, some not-so-good days, some great days. The more you sell, the more experience you will gain, and the more enjoyable the business will be.
7 Simple Steps to Choosing The Home Based Business That is Right For You
In these difficult financial times that we find ourselves, many people are looking for ways to create additional income for themselves. Yet they don’t know where to go to find the necessary information. These simple 7 steps will hopefully help you decide which type of home business is right for you at this stage of your life and career and where to begin to turn your dream business into reality.
A HOME BUSINESS is simply a small business that operates from the business owner’s home office, lounge or kitchen. It is usually operated in one’s spare time and is often based around the interests of the business owner.
Here are 7 simple steps to help you choose the Home Business that is right for you.
Step 1: What is your Passion?
Some of the most successful home businesses have been built around the owner’s passion for something. Catering businesses are built around a passion for cooking and seeing people enjoy your food. Network Marketing businesses are often built around a passion for talking to people, one’s love for the products and helping people develop their own home businesses as part of the team.
So the first thing you need to do is look for something that you are passionate about, that you love doing in your spare time, and see if there is a business opportunity there. One of the fastest growing hobbies worldwide is Scrapbooking and many small business opportunities are being born out of this recent trend to turn a photo album into a vivid and colorful experience.
So whether it is woodworking or baking or writing short stories or whatever, your degree of success is likely to be higher if the home business is based on something that you love doing.
Have you heard the statement “Follow your Bliss”? Well, what is your Bliss? Because if you can link your home business to your Bliss, or Passion, you will be ahead of the game already.
Step 2: How much Free Time can you dedicate to your home business?
For most of us, our home business will be started and operated in our spare time. So now you need to decide how much time you will be able to devote to your new business. And for those of you who say “but I have no spare time for anything new”, I say, “look at how you spend your days and nights and you will see how much time you waste on non-productive stuff”. A good, and useful, exercise is to keep track of what you do over the period of a week, in the 6 basic categories of Work, Family Time, TV, Entertainment Out, Lazing Around and Sleep. All you will need to do is find some 8 to 10 hours a week that you can redirect, and you will have enough time to develop and grow and successful home based business.
Step 3: How Much Money is available to invest in your Home Business?
This is often another obstacle that people find to starting up a home based business. It is important to realize that some $$ will be required to make a go of anything, but some types of home based businesses require a lot more $$ than others. Often where less $$ are needed, more time is needed, but this is not always the case. And for most of us, the reason for starting up a home based business is to generate additional income because there is never enough money left over at the end of the month, or as they say “the money runs out before the month does”.
A Network Marketing business, for example, will often be able to be started for a couple of hundred dollars and a commitment to spend another $50 to $100 a month on training material, conferences and the like. But these sorts of businesses, if you follow the system properly, can start to deliver income within a few months. An Internet based home business may require a larger outlay in the beginning, maybe a few thousand dollars for the training program and software required and can become cashflow positive within 6 to 9 months. Buying into a Franchise on the other hand may require many tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. So look at your cash flow and decide what expenses you can give up temporarily, so as to free up some money to invest into your business. No business can be truly successful, if you are not prepared to invest some money into it from the beginning.
Step 4: What are your Specific Skills – what are you good at?
The next step is for you to decide how you can use your personal skills in your new business venture. What are you good at? This is linked to the first step, identifying your passion – but it is more about what you can do well and are confident about. So, if you are great with people and love to meet new people and can chat easily to strangers, then a Network Marketing business may be right for you. You will be given training on how to approach people, depending on which company you decide to work with, but your people skills will put you in a strong position to succeed.
If you are good with words, are a good writer and can put complex ideas into simple terms, of if you are creative and can think outside the box, or if you are good at getting other people to do things for you (a good delegator) then an internet based business may be perfect for you. In this modern age, more and more people are searching for information on any number of topics and are prepared to pay someone to provide that specific information for them.
If you are more business focused, a numbers person and can look at a balance sheet and see the clear picture, then maybe buying an existing small business and running it “hands off” may be a good option. This is also good for people with less free time, although some time will be required to make sure the business goes in the direction you want it to.
Step 5: Look at the Options that fit your profile
This is where you will start to narrow down the options that fit in with your Passion, your available Time, the Money you can free up to invest and your specific Skill Set. There are many hundreds of websites available that will be able to offer you the introductions to the various businesses available to you. You can go to http://www.google.com and enter one of the four sets of words as a starting point to find out what options are available. The four main categories are Network Marketing Business Opportunities, Internet Based Marketing Opportunities, Franchise Business Opportunities and Small Businesses for Sale. In each of these categories, add the city or area where you live to limit the options presented to those ones that are more suitable for you.
Step 6: Do your more detailed research.
Once you have identified 2 or 3 business options or ideas that look good for you, then you need to do some more detailed research into those options. Is there a market need for your Product? Is the Network Marketing Company growing strongly in your area and does it have good leadership? Is the small business you are looking to buy producing a positive cash flow with a good client base? Talk to friends or find someone who is doing something similar and discuss with them. Speak to a business broker if this is the direction you are going in. Once you have whittled your choice down and are confident you can make a go of it, now you are ready to start your business.
Step 7: Take the First Step and Do It
There is nothing more exciting, when starting to develop a new business, than to get going, so now you are ready to do something to implement your business. Find out where meetings are being held to do with the Network marketing business you have chosen. Go to a seminar on Internet Marketing if that is your chosen direction and take the plunge. Most of these sort of home based businesses offer a cooling off period, or a money back guarantee, so you will have a month or maybe longer to decide if the direction is right for you. But the longer you put off doing something, putting your dream business idea into action, the less likely you are to actually get it up and running.
If you would like to know more about this subject, or have any questions about Home Based Businesses, log onto http://stuartfish.biz You will find a number of articles on internet marketing there.