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Saturday, March 29, 2008

How to Build A Business Part-Time?

Copyright © Lawren Smith

Master Internet Marketing For Less Than $10 Bucks

How many of you are building a business part-time? If you are building a business part-time, you are not alone. Most people starting a business of their own are doing so part-time. In fact, it is recommended that if you are starting your own business, don’t quit your day job. There is much work that needs to get done and there is much to learn about building a business.

When you first start your business, be sure you have all of the tools and supplies necessary. For example, most times you will need a computer. If you an afford it, I recommend you have two computers. Often computers will encounter technical problems or viruses that prevent the computer from functioning properly. When this happens, you may find yourself without a computer for a while and this can impact your business. It happened to me. I was without my computer for about three weeks or so. I had to go to Kinko’s and pay to use their computer so that I could get my emails and get some online tasks completed. Since this mishap, I purchased another computer. One I use as my primary computer and the other is my backup.

This also raises another issue. You should backup your computer often. I backup my computer at least once a week. Usually, I backup only the files I use for my business and my file from Microsoft Outlook.

Do not spend too much time trying to get all of your tools and supplies together. Once you have the most important ones, you can get any other tools and supplies as you go. You don’t want this one activity to prevent you from moving forward on getting yourself into action with your business.

Once you are ready to get into action, the first thing I recommend you start working on are your skill-sets. The skill-sets I am referring to are: sells, marketing, and effective communication. These skills are extremely important to having a successful business. You will not achieve success until these skills are in place. I recognize that talking to people is something most people starting a business want to avoid at all cost, but this is not realistic. One cannot sale products or services without getting customers.

So, how does one get customers? The first step to getting customers is to get their attention through some form of marketing. You should have some kind of marketing strategy in place. If you don’t, you need to create one immediately. If you don’t know how, there are books, online resources, and courses that will teach you about marketing. I suggest that you have at least three different ways of marketing for your business. This is if one marketing method does not work, at least there are others that will.

Once you have your marketing plan together, put together a schedule for you. This schedule should include the days of the week, the number of hours, and the tasks you are going to work on for that day. You may not follow this schedule strictly but you should be doing something for your business at least five days a week, maybe even six days a week; especially early on in your business. The more you do, the faster you will learn from your mistakes, failures, and move forward.

I mention failures and mistakes because inevitably you will encounter them. No matter how much you wish to avoid them, they are necessary in order to achieve success in your business. Therefore, expect and welcome them. Mistakes and failures are your friends and they will put you on the right path to success.

Now that you have your tools, marketing strategy and your schedule in place, the next step is to begin marketing your business. Try to keep track of which marketing methods are working and which ones are not. Give your marketing plan 90 days. After 90 days, anything that is not working replace with a new marketing method. Anything that is working, continue to use in your marketing plan.

Once you have your marketing running, you should start to see customers. Now begins the part of the business that most new business owners tend to avoid; talking to customers. Communicating with customers can be the part of the business that causes new business owners paralysis. What do I do? How do I handle bad customers? The only thing I can say about this is you will learn as you do. Getting out of your comfort zone is the only way you will learn. This is what I had to do.

Starting out, I was horrible at talking to customers. I got more phone hang-ups than sales. But I continued moving forward. I currently rarely get a phone hang up. I am currently getting more sales. I feel much more comfortable at talking to people. Keep working on your communication skills. These skills will develop over time. Once they do, you will be making more sales. In addition to making the sales, follow-up is also important. You want happy customers. Happy customers lead to referrals. It is much easier to build a business based on existing customers than to have to go find new ones.

If you are trying to build a business by recruiting, the same rules, as selling products, apply to recruiting. If you stay in constant communication with your recruits, work with them, train them, your organization will grow. Remember, people will only stay around when they feel that their needs are being met. Your business is not about you, but about those you serve. Those you serve are your customers and your business associates.

In conclusion, once you follow most if not all of the topics covered in this article, you should be well on your way to developing a successful business. You may not become successful overnight, but it will come when you have fully acquired the necessary skills; which include, sells, marketing and communication. When these skills are in place and if you are consistent and persistent in your marketing efforts; as well as continue to learn from your mistakes and failures, you should start to see the signs of success. Being successful in business is a process. You must earn success by doing the work.

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Lawren Smith is a member of $9.97MakeMoneyNow and writes on a variety of subjects. To learn more about this topic, Lawren recommends you visit:

Ridin' With The Purple Cowboys!

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1 comments:

Unknown said...

Yes... being in business sure is a process alright! But anyone can achieve this by simply applying themselves and learning from those like you that have already proved how to build a business part-time! Thanks.
Scott OBrien