Basic Self Perceptions With Sustainable Business Motivation

Friday, November 27th, 2009

Motivations.

What are you motivations to start a home based business? You should sincerely ask yourself if you can make the long-term and thankless commitment to building your presence on the global internet. There are no shortcuts to your ultimate goal of being “found” by your desired website visitors, readers or viewers. I hope that part of your motivation is a love for the product or service you are soon to provide to a mass audience. Having a passive interest or knowledge of the product or service you have decided to market is a sure fire recipe for failure.

If you are not motivated to succeed as a business entrepreneur and treat your internet endeavors as real business activity then you will be unable to accept the small and large failures along the path to success, and there will be many failures along your learning curve to profitable decision making.

A key to determining your motivation is to review your past entrepreneurial projects; did you have enough patience to mature through your miscalculations that led to failure or dissolution of your project? Did you have a learning experience and not make the same mistake twice? Another point to consider is if you sought help and consultation from another successful entrepreneur or entrepreneur group dedicated to your chosen business niche. You can find such support groups at your local chamber of commerce.

If you join a local chapter of SCORE—which most Chambers have as a free outreach program, you can connect with former CEOs and business executives that can give you deep knowledge on how to successfully launch your own business and protect you from the most common pitfalls.

Having enough motivation will enable you to connect with more successful business persons in your own niche, and they should not be viewed as competitors. I have found that my competitors more often then anticipated were my greatest allies for success. Because when I am successful our entire niche is successful and the internet will not be cluttered with yet another useless website with no substantial content and thus weakening the value of other profitable websites in my own niche. For example if you are an affiliate marketer and you have a small website selling replica high-end watches and jewelry.

You must study the sites that are located on the first 2 pages of your search results for the search term “replica watches”. How many unique pages do these sites have? How many one way back links do they have, how many visitors and followers do they have? Are they socially bookmarked in client made fan-pages in MySpace , Facebook and Twitter? Do they have a blog connected with their website? Are you motivated to also create a separate blog for your affiliate website, or even a unique podcast that you will update daily? Are you willing to contact the CEO of the website for advice—and sometimes they are willing to help you IF..IF you are willing to do something beneficial for them, perhaps, create a link to their site and also promote some of their non-competitive products that you don’t offer.

You see, there are many ways to grow your motivation support group. Your family and friends are the base source of motivational support. However, the secondary level of motivational support will come from your peers in the same industry, they are not necessarily competitors. Many of my clients have been underemployed for many months, some even a year or more working only a part-time job or no job at all. I have countless stories of stay-at-home dads, and where the wife is bringing in the income and in the greatest paradox, these once career men desire to remain at home with the kids and dog and start their own businesses. They have the motivation but the need to recognize it and focus and connect this contagious motivation with like minded entrepreneurs.

Such is the state of jobs in Ohio, and I can write volumes of books on the theme of employment in Ohio . The uncertainty of new high paying jobs in Ohio for college graduates and experienced professionals has instilled a survivalist mentality in many Ohio job seekers. The idea that one job is never enough, or secure enough for any long-term future has permeated the state such that more educated people in-the-know are motivated to opt for second careers, what are called “micro-careers”. These micro-careers are derivatives of their actual main job. Since there are no longer now hiring sings in every business window as was the case in 2005 when Ohio experienced a job growth boom, many Ohio job seekers are motivated enough to add more work hours to their demanding work week by working at home; either as some form of internet marketer, or free-lance consultant.

An internet business has been the most popular micro-career to grow simply because there is usually a lack of “conflict of interest” that would be found if you were consulting in the same field you maintained your current job. For example , you would have a conflict of interest if you were a corporate employed civil engineer and you decided to launch an engineering consultancy on the side that offered lower rates than your present employer when biding on public projects—sure there is a conflict of interest and your employer may sue or terminate your employment. Whereas if you had an online site selling engineering manuals, books and software you might fare much better legally and financially since you are selling globally and not consulting locally.

Let’s talk about money motivations. If you are motivated to make a quick fortune your first year you might be on the path for failure. My personal example, I only made a few hundred dollars the first six moths after I had tweaked my advertising campaign for my first affiliate site. Then a year later I was making $1200 a month off the site which to me was a fortune, considering that I already had 4 other sites only making a few hundred bucks a month. Your reality is until you have mastered marketing for your niche product or service you will not make any significant money for up to a year. There are some successful marketers I know that within two months are making hundred of dollars a day from just one website. There isn’t a cookie-cutter formula for advertising success and driving eager to buy website visitors to your website or blog.

We will talk about marketing in my future articles. Today , I want to focus on your motivations, and one aspect is your expectation for quick profits which has motivated you to enter the internet realm must be put in-check. I want you to be motivated to make a better website than your competitors, provide better content, a better sales pitch and price closing offer than your competitors, and I want you to connect with ready buyers more effectively than your competitors. If you can do these things repeatedly, especially the creation of better website content you have won half the battle. Lower your expectations BUT do not lower your motivation to learn, improve and eventually make money.

Do not quit your day job once you get your first wave of sales or big commission check. My first Google Adsense check paid off my rent, after that I was so thoroughly convinced that the next month’s check would be three times as much simply because my website made it to the second page in 2 different the search engine results for my chosen key words, so I went out and bought new clothes, CD’s with half of next months rent money and a wide screen television and a Bose theater surround-sound system on Lay-away. ..boy was I wrong ,the very next Google check was enough for just a six pack of beer and a Dominos pizza ( actually I got two pizzas for the price of one).

Huh?!? Lesson here my friends; don’t quit your day job, lower your expectations of instant wealth and stay motivated on creating a content rich site that is updated often and presents a better offer than your competitors. In my next article I am going to talk about creating content; from what you know and from what you research. All the search engines are fixated to fresh and relevant content. Your blog or affiliate websites will survive on fresh content, quality one-way backlinks and visitors who return to your site to be informed or make a purchase. Please stay motivated and keep your expectations in-check, and eventually you will achieve the marketing and business decision skills to be a full time internet entrepreneur. Be Motivated to learn and then your correctly place motivation will allow you to EARN.

Shortcut to important info in the sphere of now hiring – read the page. The time has come when proper info is truly within your reach, use this chance.

Tags: jobs in ohio, now hiring, online business, online career, work at home
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The Stay At Home Entrepreneur’s Work Station

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Creating the optimal desk atmosphere for your survey completing regime is in itself a demanding task. My consultancy practice located here in Ohio, helps former Ohio job seekers, who were once looking for jobs in Ohio but sadly realized many employers were now hiring temporary workers.

Their need for an affordable home-based income opportunity inspired me to connect with motivated entrepreneurs, graduates and career professionals who were not able to find jobs in Ohio but also other unemployed persons across the global internet. I will introduce you to several initial conversations that I have with my clients that I now call friends—and these conversational recommendations will guide you into making consistent profit maximizing decisions for your home based internet business. First, I advise you to sit down with your spouse or family member and ask them what time of day person are you? What does this mean? Do you have all of your alertness, creativity, and energy in the evening, afternoon, morning, or late night?

The answer to this question will define the most optimal work regime for you to complete the maximum amount of online surveys or internet projects you may have before you. The old maxim holds true here, “Time is Money”, and if you are not utilizing your production time and energy wisely you will not advance your financial goals. If you are a day person, you will need to construct a work space that is blanketed in natural sunlight and windows to offer you a refreshing breeze of clean air. There is nothing magical about the fact that your energy and enthusiasm to complete your tasks is closely correlated to the work space design. Optimal performance for morning and mid-shifters—aka. Afternoon folks; is to work before lunch then actually have a lunch safely away from the computer and then return to work up to dinner and then a full stop. You should always have dinner with your family or spouse.

I am personally recommend against eating alone at the computer because I recently had a expensive episode where I dropped my coffee onto my 2 day old, $1,000 dollar laptop and destroyed it. Learn from my carelessness, please. In regards to night people; atmosphere is very important, you may fall asleep—and that in itself is a huge liability. For example, if the early portion of your day was physically demanding you may not have enough energy to complete your assigned tasks. Proper lighting and alternative stimuli should be your priority. Design a workspace that includes additional, sufficient lighting where you are not sitting in total darkness or shadows with only your computer’s monitor lighting the area.

I highly recommend for night people to have music playing in the background, or in fact some form of 24 hour news like CNN or BBC or NPR radio in the background like I do. Myself, I am flexible, whenever I have the energy to work on the computer to complete online surveys or to write articles for my blogs and websites—I’m a commando, I jump in front of the computer whenever inspiration, deadlines or necessity requires me. You also want to consider your sight preservation and the eventual purchase of an affordable computer screen glare protector sheet that you can place in front of , or onto the actual computer monitor screen itself. I like the PC-Microstore LCD Screen Protector, it retails for about $19.00 and it reduces the glare by about 98%. So, if you are working at night with minimal lighting, reducing the glare from your computer should be a priority.

It may seem that your computer is emitting a low level amount of light, but the real problem is the intensity of that light which over time can damage your night vision. After you have determined what part of the 24 hour day is the optimal work shift, then it is time to choose your desk layout and chair. I recommend chairs with wheels on them so that you can swivel from one side of your work station to the other side without lifting your big rear from out of the plus, soft chair. In regards to your desk, it really depends on the size of the room or corner that you are working in. I like to take my laptop and sit anywhere in the house, even outside on the patio deck when the weather is warm. However, I am a creature of habit and often find myself downstairs in the basement in a room I affectionately call NORAD, it’s my defense bunker against all family noise and visitors that may come to the house. If I do have any visitors, my wife tells them that I am not home. I have a refrigerator, two televisions, 3 computers in addition to my laptop, and a huge sofa and bed if I feel like sleeping.

You want to consider a room, if your living arrangements are flexible, where you can dedicate to your internet entrepreneurship. A place where you can be left alone during your optimal performance hours; morning, mid-day, evening, or late night. When you have chosen your designated work area it is then time to choose your desk or desks. I like the “L” shapes desk arrangement, however I now use a “U” shaped arrangement utilizing 3 desks to create this work station. Each desk has a computer or laptop on it. Thus I can work on three comprehensive projects at once and not get bored or intellectually blocked on one screen. For example, if you use an “L” or “U” shaped desk arrangement you can multi-task on various projects and when you begin to loose interest in one project, you can refresh your enthusiasm by rolling over to another side of your work station in your swivel chair. One of your 2 or 3 desks should have slide-out drawers where you can keep disks, folders and other computer aides. Your desk should be wide enough to support the space of a standard desktop computer and a sufficient desktop writing area for your arm-space.

The cost of your desk is your choice. You can buy great computer or business desks at Goodwill like myself or you can pay a couple hundred dollars for solid oak desk like my web designer Chris, his huge French Oak desk that he bought and shipped from an estate sale in France costs more than my used BMW! The desk is regal and has many cabinets and extensions and it suits his business like and elitist persona .Remember, the amount of budget you invest into choosing your workspace and design will not directly impact your productivity but only the functionality of the desk, chair and physical work space and your ideal time of day will directly your productivity.

All points considered, I want to talk about taking online surveys in your new or soon to be designed work station. You have no control on how many surveys you receive in your in-box to complete, however you can control the number of survey providers you subscribe to. I used to be subscribed to 8 programs back when the money was tight. This way I had at least 4 surveys a day to complete which took 15 to 20 minutes each to complete. You don’t have to complete your surveys all in on sitting. Like I underscored above in this article, you have a “U” shaped or “L” shaped work station, simple complete one survey then swivel around to another computer monitor and work on an entirely different project for a while before returning to the other side of your work station to complete another survey. My regime was very efficient.

I tried to complete two 1,000 word articles a day and at least 4 surveys, by the end of the week I had 10 juicy articles to place into my various blogs, read into my vocal podcasts and submit to article directories. Furthermore, I had banked anywhere from $120 to $300 that week just from completing 4 surveys a day. And the articles and podcast that I recorded only added to the great link back-link building I had begun when I entered internet market place with my blogs and affiliate websites. You and your workspace should capitalize on the concept of you becoming a “content provider” and I will talk more about this in my next article.

For vital tips about the topic of now hiring – read the web site. The times have come when proper information is truly within your reach, use this possibility.

Tags: internet, jobs in ohio, now hiring, surveys, work at home
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