Archive for September, 2005

Making Money Online - How to Start a Successful Business

Wednesday, September 28th, 2005

How should I start an online business is probably one of the most often asked questions. Let’s look at some of the best ways for a successful start to an online business.

There are various options available to make money online, whether it is as an affiliate marketer, selling on ebay or one of the other auction sites, building websites for adsense income or any other way you wish.

The newcomer (newbie) to the Internet business is often confused with all the offers being promoted by many people offering the latest products that promise great results.

If you have signed up for mailing lists, then probably your inbox is filled every day with many offers that leave the majority of newbies confused as to the best way forward.

The best way to proceed is to choose one area that you would like to work with first whether it is adsense, affiliate programs, ebay or anything else chosen, then do some research in that one area.

It is essential to concentrate on just one area at a time otherwise it is almost impossible to succeed.

The next step to avoid a difficult and lengthy introduction to making money online is to find someone who is already successful in their chosen field and study their methods and perhaps sign up for their course or buy their ebook.

Trying to learn every step alone will be a difficult learning curve, so use the advice from others to get a jump-start to making money online.

Sometimes signing up for a software program or buying an ebook will put you in a position to actually be able to succeed online.

Use the experience of successful people to find the best software to use, where to find information, how to start in the right direction.

Often when deciding to go it alone, newbies waste months if not longer trying to find the best way forward.

Get help at the beginning and find the best short cuts to making profits. Learn the best software to use for building websites; the best forums to visit that can really help.

It will mean the difference between success and failure if you follow an expert’s advice on what software to use for building adsense websites for example.

What type of keyword tools should be used and how to find the best niches to start an online business.

How to get traffic to new websites, and then convert this traffic into a profit. There are many ways to improve the chances that visitors to websites will become a source of income whether through affiliate sales, adsense income or through selling your own products.

Find help on how to be a great seller on ebay. There are many ways to improve your chances for successful selling on ebay if the correct steps are taken. Learn how to sell more items for less and get more visitors.

And how to be a successful affiliate marketer. All this information is available if you know where to look. How to choose the best products to promote, the most in demand type of product and the most profitable.

A small investment in the beginning will normally lead to greater success in the long term. Find what worked for others and follow their methods.

John is the owner of 1st Make Money Online, and has spent several years studying the best methods for success online. 1stmakemoneyonline.com Make Money Online

7 Mortgage Marketing Tips for Loan Officers

Wednesday, September 28th, 2005

It is our intention that these marketing tips will help you avoid common mistakes made by the majority of loan officers. Heed this advice!

Mortgage Marketing Tip #1

Make your advertising and print media more effective by having a headline on everything: letters, greeting cards, ads, everything.

Headlines are what get the reader. They make them want to read more. They tell the reader what benefit he/she will get from reading more. And that’s exactly what you want them to do.

Make the headline powerful and include a benefit.

Examples:

3 things you can do today to improve your credit

Here’s something you might enjoy…
I started thinking of you when I read this article…

Make sure to include a headline in all your media and it will increase your results.

Mortgage Marketing Tip #2

When you do something for a client, brag about it.

What I mean is, if you accomplish something, make it a big deal.’

“Mr. Hity, I was holding my breath for a while, and that collection on your credit report made it real close, but I fought for you and got the lender to approve your loan!”

That’s a lot better than saying, “Hi, your loan was approved today. Congrats.”

Make yourself out to be the valuable professional you are. Make sure that your clients know exactly what you do for them.

Mortgage Marketing Tip #3

Write thank you notes to people everyday.

This one mortgage marketing tool can make you so much money your head will spin. Everyone loves to be appreciated and acknowledged. Being nice and having manners are a thing of the past. But when you take the time to thank someone, you connect to them on deeper level.

Get yourself some thank you cards from the stationery store and thank people who did something for you today. It could be for anything,

Thank your mailman for bringing the mail up to the office
Thank the underwriter for a speedy decision
Thank your client for calling to say they would be late
Thank the realtor for the referral.

These cards can make someone’s day. And you really stand out from the crowd as a caring mortgage professional when you use them.

Mortgage Marketing Tip #4

If someone answers your phone for you, have him or her use the following line.,

“He/she is working with a client right now, let me see if he can take the call.”

This does a couple things,

1. Makes you seem busy even if you are not. This shows the client that you are in demand and confirms that he made a good decision by choosing you.

2. Allows you to not talk to people you do not want to talk to.

3. Allows you to say to the caller, if you pick up, that they are important enough to you to interrupt an important client meeting.

This might not be a “traditional” mortgage-marketing tool, but it will make you more desirable. And while it will not make the phone ring more, when it does, you will get respect from those on the other end of the line.

Mortgage Marketing Tip #5

CANI

Constant and Never Ending Improvement
Do something everyday to improve your business. 1 small change everyday can make a huge difference in a couple months. Implement one mortgage marketing tool at least once a week. At least.

Over the course of a couple years, the results will be dramatic.

Just one small thing is enough. Examples are:

· Hanging a certificate of completion on the wall

· Hanging a testimonial on the wall

· Adding a signature to your emails

· Adding a small consumer article to your website

· Subscribing to The Millionaire Loan Officer Newsletter at mortgagebrokertraining.com/newsletter.html

· Reading the FREE articles on mortgage broker marketing at mortgagebrokertraining.com/mortgagemagic.htm

Mortgage Marketing Tip #6

Look at other businesses for great ideas to adapt to your business

Most innovations come from other businesses.

Like the drive thru window. Who knows who started it, but fast food places use it, banks use it, pharmacies use it, and even restaurants are experiencing success with it.

What new services do you use that make your life easier? Can you adapt these to your business? How about emailing potential customers the interest rate everyday if they request it? Or Providing a Post-Closing Kit with items clients will need when moving?

You can use the marketing tools from other businesses too. If you see a marketing piece that really gets your attention, think about how to adapt it and use it in your business.

Mortgage Marketing Tip #7

It doesn’t matter how good a loan officer you are - if you suck at marketing, you will starve.

Knowing how to get clients is infinitely more important than any other knowledge you may attain.

Tony Robbins is not the best NLP trainer out there, but he is the richest because he knows how to market himself.

The Men-Mars, Women-Venus guy is not the best marriage counselor out there, but he sure made a killing in books, tapes, and seminars.

The best mortgage lending marketing tools are available at MortgageBrokerTraining.com’s Mortgage Bookstore.

How much money you make has very little correlation to how much you know. Of course you must know the basics, but other than that, it makes very little difference at all.

He who markets best, makes the most money.

Ameen Kamadia, “The Millionaire Loan Officer″ is a mortgage consultant, coach and trainer. For more free tips and strategies visit mortgagebrokertraining.com mortgagebrokertraining.com

How To Make Money In Your Underwear

Tuesday, September 27th, 2005

Are you busy running off to your workplace and very stressed with your job? This weekend instead of spending it sleeping and resting, why not consider how you can start an internet business and learn how starting an internet business can help you make money in your underwear from the comfort of your own home. This article hopes to introduce you to the two main types of money making programs that you can join online.

Internet business opportunities

These usually take the form of Internet MLM referral programs where you signup a person once and once they upgrade you make money from them for the time that you work the internet business. Thus some internet business owners get a larger and larger check each month. With proper promotion strategies, making money online with an internet business opportunity is possible. Spending some money is a must as you need to make use of the product yourself.

Making money with such programs takes some serious work, so the best thing to do before joining an internet mlm program is to spend time reading up on that particular MLM program online on Google to determine what it sells, how much you make from each sale etc. Learning all you can about your particular program will help you even more when you start promoting it after you join. Making money therefore in this area is a concerted effort on each affiliates part and after a while as long as your downline is building their business you will find that your income will start skyrocketing.

Internet money making programs

There are programs that give you a little money when you refer other people but for these programs their main focus is on investment. A word of warning, the problem with these programs is that some of them are scams pure and simple. A good start to evaluating such internet money making programs will be to do a quick Google search on the internet.

One class of investments you should be exceptionally careful about are high yield investment programs also known as HYIP for short. Most of these programs are ponzi in nature meaning that they take money from one person to pay the next and only the people who are in them at the start will make money. However the reason why people invest in them is because they promise very attractive returns. A word of warning, some of them close overnight so be very aware of the volatility of this area of the internet. They also have very nice templates and look very professional so always think carefully before putting money in.

In conclusion, making money online in your underwear is possible only if you figure out which type of money making activity suits your personal character. Once you figure it out, then spend time learning all you can about that particular business and join forums to learn what works and what does not. This will save you from a lot of pain when your money is lost or spent on unproductive activities online. Start your internet journey into the world of online money making and you might find something that you can do. Work hard at what you find and start seeing profits coming in.

Joel Teo is the owner of the Money Making Directory which boasts of money making tips, recommendations and resources to help ordinary people make money online.
Signup for his free newsletter today at MakeThousandsToday.info MakeThousandsToday.info and receive his complimentary “7 Insider Secrets to making money online” Course.

Create Long-Lasting Wealth with Simple Home Business Solutions

Tuesday, September 27th, 2005

Starting your own home business might seem overwhelming at first. There’s so much to consider - finances, goals, and the type of business you should start. As a new home business owner, you can easily get frustrated with all the options that are available. Don′t complicate matters. There are many simple home business solutions available that can help you create long-lasting wealth without adding stress to your life. Here are some great ideas to get you started.

“Don’t Reinvent the Wheel”

You’ve probably heard the old saying, “Don′t reinvent the wheel.” Most frustration in business comes from trying to create something new - a new product, new service, or even a new way of doing things. The good news is you don′t have to create anything new. With an online business, it’s very easy to sign up with others and sell their products for a commission. Most companies are glad to pay you to promote their products. It saves them time and money.

There are millions of products and services online that are just “itching″ for more promotion. You can easily find products that interest you and make money online while doing what you love. These products have already been through their testing period so you get to enjoy the benefits as you work from home.

Earn a Residual Income

With some companies, you can earn a residual income (month after month) when signing on new clients. Those in the business of Web education, Internet marketing, Web design services, medical billing and claims, insurance, travel booking, legal services, accounting, and financial investments will often pay you for monthly clients.

You’ll earn money each month that the client remains faithful in payments. In other words, you could earn up to 20 percent or more of a client’s payment every month! Multiply that number by a hundred and you will have a very lucrative residual income.

Choose High-Commission Products and Services

Don’t waste your valuable time promoting products and services that pay very little in commissions. Seek out home business solutions where you can earn a generous commission amount for each sale.

When promoting products for someone else, the visitor/conversion ratio will likely be much lower than it would be when selling your own products. So, you’ll have to work a little harder to get more visitors to your website. When you do sell a product, it will be much more rewarding if you make $100 or more instead of $10 or more!

Simplify Your Business Promotions

Another area of frustration for a home business owner is promotion. There are many ways to promote an online business, but usually only a few actually work for the long term. The first thing to do is create a website of your own that you can tweak and add content to on a daily basis. From your website, offer tips and plenty of fresh content about the products and services you offer. Find your target audience and write to them. Give them the information they’re seeking before you try to sell them a product.

With some home business solutions, you can receive your own website free. But, be sure it will be your own website, and that you can add to it whenever you want. Being unique with your website is very important for receiving search engine exposure.

Also, beware of scams. Check out online companies before investing any money. Use dependable home business solution directories that will investigate home businesses for you. This will save you time and money. And remember, whatever you do, keep it simple!

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular majon.com internet marketing companies on the web.
Learn more about gpmarketingonline.com Wealth with a Simple Home Business or Majon’s majon.com/directory/Business_and_Entrepreneurs Business and Entrepreneurs directory.

Latest Work From Home Offer Just Another Scam

Tuesday, September 27th, 2005

Many Americans would love to work from home. The reasons vary; some people may not wish to commute and some may simply not enjoy working in an office environment. Others may have small children at home and would prefer not to have to enroll them in day care. Whatever the reason, companies that offer to provide people with an opportunity to work from their homes usually find themselves quite busy with inquiries.

While there are legitimate opportunities to work from home, many such offers are just scams designed to get the “employees” to part with hard earned money. A recent offer to work from home that has been circulating via e-mail is just that. The offer, from a company in Europe, offers a salary of several thousand dollars per week. Interested parties are encouraged to contact the company for further information.

If you contact the company, you will be told that some checks in the amount of several thousand dollars are coming to you in the mail. You will be instructed to deposit them in your bank account, keep 10% for yourself as a fee, and send the remainder of the funds to an address in Nigeria. Should you do so, you will soon discover that the checks were forgeries, but the money that you sent to Nigeria was real. Your bank will want their money back, and you will be left several thousand dollars poorer.

This is just another variation of the “check overpayment” scam that has been making the rounds for a while now. In that scheme, someone who has something for sale online, such as on eBay, is sent a cashier’s check for payment in an amount that exceeds the purchase price. The seller is asked to send the merchandise along with a refund for the difference. Again, the check is a forgery, and by the time the bank discovers that, it is too late. The money is gone.

Anyone looking for work from home should be cautious about jobs promising a lot of money for little or no work. There are some companies that will hire people to work from home, but most such offers are simply attempts to steal from well meaning people.

©Copyright 2006 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to informational Websites, including End-Your-Debt.com, a site devoted to end-your-debt.com/ debt consolidation, personal bankruptcy, establishing credit and credit counseling and HomeEquityHelp.net, a site devoted to information regarding homeequityhelp.net/ mortgages and home equity loans.

MLM & Network Marketing Debunked- We Expose 5 Common MLM & Network Marketing Myths

Tuesday, September 27th, 2005

“If it works, it works” as the old saying goes. That is, unless of course, it doesn’t. Network Marketing
& MLM opportunities look good on paper. We’ve all seen the presentations, whether via an online video presentation or at our kitchen table. We hear impressive terminology like “forced matrix”, “hybrid networking model” and “direct response networking”. We see impressive graphic illustrations and “forced geometric progression” strutures to get prospects salivating over potential for a quick net profit, and a long-term residual income. A distributor gets involved, spends time and money hoping to beat the staggering odds stacked against them. And, unfortunately, as with 99% of all network or multi-level marketers, the distributor fails. They lose money, motivation and inevitably drop out of the program.

This begs the question; “Why do people, knowing full well that statistically they will indeed fail within the first 6 months, even get involved in the first place?” Answer: They bought into the myth, or illusion of MLM and Network Marketing success.

Do we suggest that MLM and Network Marketing business models are a scam? Of course not. There are in fact legitimate opportunities out there that offer new and unique products or services to the market. After all, on paper, the math works out. However, in reality, the vast majority will fail within the first three months, regardless of the product or market appetite.

We will now summarize 5 of the most common myths attributed to MLM & Network Marketing in attempt to explain the massive failure rate that networkers seem destined to endure.

Myth #1: MLM offers a better business opportunity than any other conventional model for amassing a large fortune.

Reality: 99% everyone who invests in MLM ends up losing money. That means that fewer than 1% of all MLM representatives ever earn a profit. With aproximately 13.3 MLM and network marketing distributors in the US alone, only 130,000 ever make money. And those “gurus” earning a sustainable income at this business are an even smaller percentage still. The fact is that mathematics inevitably limit every MLM opportunity. The MLM Business model itself allows for only a small number of successful distributors. Continuous growth of an MLM company is in fact usually due to the constant number of new enrollees, most of which drop out by the third month. It takes an army of failures to create just one successful distributor.

Myth #2: MLM is easy. Recruiting Friends and relatives ensures you have Life-Time distributors & customers.

Reality: Capitalizing upon personal relationships like friends and family members to build your organization can hinder and even destroy social standing. Simply put, people don′t like being pressured by friends or relatives to buy products or join a business. Naturally, people tend to avoid them and identify them as a salesman, not a friend. This is jokingly referred to as the “NFL″ or “No Friends Left” club in MLM & network marketing circles.

Myth #3: MLM & network marketing can be done successfully in your spare time. A few hours of time invested every week can earn a significant supplemental income and will grow exponentially, making further effort unnecessary.

Reality: Earning an income in MLM &amp network marketing requires extraordinary time commitment. “A few hours a week” inevitably leads to dominating people’s entire life. In MLM, because everyone with a heart beat is a prospect, every waking moment is a potential time for marketing and recruiting. Talent, dedication and salesmanship all require one key element to hone and enhance: time. This is one of the reasons why so many MLM ‘ers jump from program to program, hoping to catch the next wave. They have spent so much time on the phone and keeping up with changing company guidelines that it has actually become their life.

Myth #4: MLM & network marketing are the best option for owning your own business and achieving financial independence.

Reality: Distributorship in MLM is not “owning a business”. Most MLM contracts have termination of the distributorship clauses in their Terms & Conditions Agreement. This makes it easy, and perfectly legal, to cancel your distributorship at will, commissions can be withheld and down lines can be taken away arbitrarily. MLM distributors are not “business owners”, but joiners in a rigid duplication system over which they have virtually no control and must adhere to.

Myth #5: Network marketing & MLM’s are the most effective after building a large down line, thus leading to long-term residual income.

Reality: Most assume that success with MLM depends on reselling the opportunity to sign up more distributors and building a massive organization. As a matter of fact, long term residual income lies in a loyal customer base, NOT from the organizations efforts. Translation: in the long term, money can be made from the customers using your product, not from that 99% failure rate we discussed earlier. Personal retailing is where the potential for long term income, not building huge down lines destined to collapse. So of course, the question arises, why even put any more money or effort into recruiting distributors, when the real money is on the retail end? If your involved in a MLM, stop recruiting
distrutors and focus solely on long term customer relationships.

Is there an alternative? Is there a business model that can turn a 99% Failure Rate into a 99% Success Rate?

How are some people making an absolute fortune on the Internet, while the vast majority will only lose money? Simple: They have the Wrong Business Model. Learn How to turn a 99% Failure Rate for online businesses into a 99% Success Rate! Ex-MLM Guru Richard Morris has done just that!
gpxint.free1up.com gpxint.free1up.com

About the author:
Ron P. Butterfield works full-time as a loss mitigation and foreclosure prevention expert from his home in Lodi, CA.

Is A Home Daycare The Answer For You?

Monday, September 26th, 2005

In America today, it takes two incomes in most cases to live a regular middle class lifestyle. This is due to rising costs of necessities such as housing, power, and insurance and Americans are seeing many non-necessities as needs such as cell phones, cable, and video games.

A few generations ago, one income would support a family. Dad would work and Mom would stay at home and play homemaker. Most people raising families in those generations were much more frugal and children were not spoiled. Many of the things we pay for today on a monthly basis didn’t even exist then. How much do you pay for internet, cable/satellite, cell phone plans, big birthdays, name brand clothes, video game systems and video games? If these things existed back then, most families could not afford them.

A major problem for single parents is childcare. Unfortunately many single mothers can not even afford to work, because childcare would cost more than what they would bring home in a paycheck, leaving them stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The answer for homemakers wanting to help their husbands bring in some money or for single mothers who can not afford child care themselves may be a pretty basic idea: Start your own home daycare.

As long as mothers are working, childcare will always be a service in demand. This could be an ideal solution for a mother with children who wants to stay home with them and bring in an income. Watch other children along with your own children. Your children will have playmates and you will get paid.

There are basically two things you need to make sure you have before you start a home daycare:

1) Patience and love for children.

2) A suitable place to keep them.

This is written under the assumption that you know that watching children all day is hard work!

If you live in a cramped apartment, this isn’t a good idea until you move to a better place. Parents would like to place their children in a home that has plenty of room and a place outside to play.

What you earn depends on where you live and how many children you keep. Childcare costs are high in some areas of the country, while other parts are relatively low.

Many parents prefer home daycares to regular daycares because their children get more attention, they have the same sitter everyday, and it costs less than regular daycare. You could also just be a regular babysitter, but many parents feel better knowing their childcare provider is licensed by the state. Plus, if you are licensed you are allowed to keep more children.

Before you start a home daycare, you will need to do some planning and it will take time before you are officially open for business. You will need to get a license, your home will be inspected, you will need to child proof your home if it isn’t already, and get some extra toys and baby equipment and decide on meal and snacks everyday.

Then you will need to decide what you will charge, draw up contracts which parents will sign and begin marketing. Put up fliers, get business cards, tell your friends and family to spread the word, and put an ad in the paper. Some home daycares are filled up soon after opening, while others will take time to get established.

An example of one successful home daycare owner is a single mother who could not afford to put her own children in daycare. So, she decided to open up a home daycare and is now making $1,600 a month gross, with the benefit of being able to raise her children herself and be with them everyday. She could earn more money because she is able to watch more children, but has decided to limit her business to watching 4 other children and they are charged $100 a week. However, if she wants, she has options on earning more money from her business.

If she worked outside the home, she’d be only making about $300 per week and would be paying $300 per week for her two children to be in regular daycare, meaning she’d make nothing for working hard all week. Now, she makes $400 per week, doesn’t have to pay a penny to put her kids in childcare and gets to spend tons of quality time with them. With her home daycare income and child support, she is doing well for herself.

Valerie Alanati is a work at home mother who owns a website aimed at helping others find work at home. workfromhomeforreal.com workfromhomeforreal.com

A Work At Home Business Solution For Success

Monday, September 26th, 2005

Many people want to work at home and make a lot of money online. So what is the solution to working at home and building a business that brings in enough money to make the effort worthwhile? The work at home business solution for success is threefold: having the right attitude, a simple and clear business plan to follow, and then analysis and refinement.

To begin with, having the right attitude is vital before embarking upon any other step in the work at home business solution for success. The right attitude is important for two reasons: it is necessary to force you to act and to keep you focused. Just getting started is the most difficult problem people struggle with when trying to implement a work at home business solution for success.

It may sound trivial, but it really is the major reason for failure. You must take action and execute your plans; you will never be perfectly prepared so do not wait for the perfect moment. Take action and learn from your successes and mistakes for the next round.

Secondly, the right attitude is necessary to keep your focused on your work at home business solution for success. Too many people believe they should diversify their projects to increase their income. That behavior will never get you where you want to be. Build a plan and stick with it until the very end. Only when it is an utter and complete failure or a success that you have automated to the point where the business runs itself should you move on to another project.

Organizing a business plan may be the easiest part of the work at home business solution process for most people, contrary to popular belief. Opportunities are everywhere, and I could personally provide you with hundreds of simple plans to follow. This step just requires a week or two of online study and research, and then you better be sure to execute, execute, execute.

Finally, the work at home business solution to success ends when you have your business up and running and are able to analyze the things that are working and that aren’t, in order to remove the needless parts. Mindless tasks that take up a lot of your time, such as answering customer emails, can be passed on to an outsourcing firm to free up your time. Eventually you should reach a point where you are spending less than 10 hours a week on a work at home business solution that generates a consistent stream of income.

And then you can move on to another project, or travel the world!

Jack Lowry is an online home business entrepreneur who recently developed a free 5-step course on learning how to start your own internet home business. If you are interested in learning more about his free ‘Learn To Generate Cash From The Internet′ course, please visit his website for more about a captainwealth.com/ work at home business solution.

A Recipe For Disaster

Monday, September 26th, 2005

For all of us running our own business we have come across disgruntled customers and most of us employ the philosophy that “the customer is always right”. Well what about when the customer isn’t right, or the customer says one thing and does another.

We have found in our coaching and consulting that the best way to teach something or explain something is by example, so here is the scenario.

We spoke with a former customer about making a major purchase with us, they gave us their credit card information and since the weekend was around the corner ran the card shortly thereafter. The customer was going on vacation and we were going out of town that weekend.

Later that evening we got a call from this customer kind of jumbled but something about how he
remembered why he couldn’t do something he told us he could. While we weren’t happy, we figured we would talk to them upon our return. The next day we get another message from this customer saying, don’t run the card and basically what sounded like to us they were backing out of the transaction. Since we have been doing business with this individual for over 6 years, it was the last thing we ever expected. To say we were a little ticked is an understatement, considering we had another individual we could have made the offer to, and this individual found something else in the interim. So we had lost out on both counts.

We wrote a polite but firm email to this customer informing them we would progress the refund once the transaction went through minus any penalties and told them how disappointed we were and how we never expected them to go back on their word. We waited 24 hours before sending it, re-read it again and then sent it. Why did we wait 24 hours, well because sometimes the next day we feel differently about things.

Many years ago I worked for a woman who had a tendency to get riled up, fire off letters on her Dictaphone or write them up and then asked us to type up and send. We all learned to wait 24 hours before sending her letters. We would go to her the next day and ask her if she still wanted to send the letter. Seven out of ten times, she didn’t or she made major changes to it.

So always use the 24 hour rule when writing emails or letters of this sort.

Fast forward to the individual’s return from vacation and we get a message about how they can’t believe the email and how we reacted and so on. However, they realized that they weren’t very clear and they wanted to move forward with the transaction and told us not to do the refund.

Well considering we were still waiting for everything to go through the customer lucked out. So why the long out drawn out story, because sometimes the “customer isn’t right” and they make mistakes or have bad days. In this case, the customer had just finished dealing with some personal financial issues with people who weren’t doing their job, so we got the garbled messages and hence what we thought was backing out. The customer didn’t want to back out, just wanted us to hold off charging the card, which, of course, we couldn’t since we had already done so. So there was lots of miscommunication on the part of the customer and us interpreting it.

We spoke to this customer and we got the whole story of what had happened before they called us and we are in the process of moving forward with the transaction.

What have we learned here today:

1. The customer isn’t always right.

2. Always wait 24 hours before sending out an email or letter to a customer.

3. Always follow up with a telephone call and see if you can discuss what occurred and repair the relationship. This is not always possible. We were lucky as the customer acknowledged they were behind the problems that occurred. What also helped was our six year relationship with this customer. We were not only business owner and customer but also became friends over the years.

We hope that the following avoids any Recipes for Disaster in your business.

Copyright DeFiore Enterprises 2007

We offer Solutions for the Home Based Entrepreneur. We’ve been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 22 years, so we know we can help you too. Come see how we can help you operate a successful home based business as a rep or distributor for special interest, nostalgic and historic vintage DVDs: homebusinesssolutions.com homebusinesssolutions.com

Benefits Of Starting Your Own Home Business

Monday, September 26th, 2005

Over the past few years, many changes have occurred in the business world, leaving many people jobless. Corporate downsizing, company closures, merging companies and other issues have contributed to the high jobless rate. For many parents as well, raising a family creates many issues such as financial concerns, child-providers, and balancing between family life and working. In today’s world, in most family scenarios, both parents need to work in order to remain financially stable. Working From Home is an option which can be both financially and personally rewarding, and also has many benefits:

Work Your Own Hours: Be your “own boss” so to speak. Working from home allows for flexibility. For example, you can work while the baby is napping or while the kids are in school. This option allows for balance between family life and work.Personal Satisfaction: Starting your own home business can be a combination of your talents, education and creative techniques. Many people find they are more successful in their own home business, then working at a 9-5 job. Why? Because they truly enjoy what they are doing.No traveling Expenses: For many people, traveling to work is an issue. In today’s world, with the high gas prices, working from home is truly a wonderful benefit. No extra gas bills or additional car maintenance costs.No Dress code: Depending upon job position, dress codes are often an issue. For example, a front office receptionist or an office executive would require appropriate dress clothing. Working from home allows for casual wear. Even if you have customers, most people acknowledge personnel who have a clean, well-kept appearance and wear casual clothing. Benefits: no suits, no high-heels or pantyhose, etc., which is a great cost reduction.Be At Home With Your Children: For all moms (and some stay at home dads), this is probably the BEST benefit. Someone once said the raising kids is the hardest job there is. Being a mom of two, I understand this comment. Having children is very rewarding, but a lot of time, effort and guidance is required to ensure that children grow up with healthy attitudes, morals, habits, etc. In many families, mom and dad have to work to make “ends meet” and don′t have time for the kids…and sadly, some kids really suffer due to lack of attention, guidance and care. Working from home allows moms and/or dads to create their own work schedule, leaving time for family events, helping kids with homework, guidance, cooking healthy meals and being there for the children. Truly, the best benefit of all.These are only five of the benefits of starting your own home business and working from home. Depending upon your own personal situations, there are probably additional benefits as well. If you have been thinking of starting your own home business, start by deciding what type of business you would enjoy and jot down those ideas. Use your educational, creative, sewing, crafting or whatever skills you have as a guide in deciding what type of business you could begin. Next, jot down the benefits of starting your own home business and working from home. Remember, if you love what you do, the money will follow.

Resource:

Benefits Of Starting Your Own Home Business is an article written by Elaine Dorvault, designer and owner of Womens Work Station at womensworkstation.com womensworkstation.com

Womens Work Station is a Canadian website providing work at home business resources.