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A Home-Based Business Online
_______________________________________________________________
Practical home business ideas, opportunities
and solutions for the work-from-home
entrepreneur
Issue 130 : April 22, 2002
Sent to 12,505 Opt-In Subscribers
Editor: Elena Fawkner
Publisher: Fawkner Publishing
http://www.ahbbo.com
Contact By Email
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. Welcome and Update from Elena
2. Home-Based Business Idea of the Week - House Sitting
Registry
3. Feature Article - Personal Discipline and the Home-Based
Business Owner
4. Surveys and Trends
5. Success Quotes of the Week
6. Advertise with AHBBO
7. Subscription Management
8. Caveat Emptor
9. Contact Information
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1. Welcome and Update from Elena
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Hello again and a warm welcome to all the new subscribers
who have joined us since the last issue.
This week's article is a back to basics - for me anyway.
The role of personal discipline in a home-based business
and the procrastination thief. Don't know about you, but
it was time for me to relearn some basic lessons!
Another reminder about bounced email. I dumped yet
another 1,000 or so subscribers this past week due to
email returns. Many of these were full mailboxes but others
were due to spam filters set up by subscribers' ISPs without
the subscriber's knowledge. This is becoming an increasing
problem for anyone doing business online. If you don't know
what, if any, spam filters YOUR ISP is using, be sure to find
out and make sure they're removed from your account. You
may well find that a lot of mail you want to receive is being
arbitrarily deleted by your ISP due to some very poorly
designed filters.
As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this
week's issue.
Remember, AHBBO is for YOU! If you have comments or
suggestions for topics you would like to see addressed, or
would just like to share your experiences with other
subscribers, I want to hear from you. Please send
comments, questions and stories to Contact By Email .
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2. Home-Based Business Idea of the Week - House-Sitting
Registry
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If you're a renter, what's the hardest part of buying your own
home? Saving the downpayment. It's tough to do when your
salary is being spent on rent and other living expenses. If you
don't have much of a surplus, saving for that downpayment
can take forever.
If you're a homeowner, what's the hardest thing about going
on extended vacation? Worrying about your house, garden and
pets while you're gone.
Here's where your business can come in. A House Sitting
Registry basically brings these two groups together. Many
renters, instead of paying rent every month, would prefer to
house sit in someone else's home and save that rent towards
a deposit. In exchange for free accommodation, the renter
takes care of the property, tends to the plants and looks after
the owner's animals. The renter's only expense is utilities and
food.
Home-owners, naturally enough, are going to be concerned
about exactly who it is who's going to be living in their house
for the next six weeks. For this reason, it's vital that your
sitters come with sterling references. Of course, once that
sitter's first assignment is complete it becomes a whole lot
easier because the home-owner can provide a reference and
you can provide a reference based on the first experience and
away you go.
Your income from this business comes from the sitter. The
sitter should pay you a membership fee for a certain period of
time, say one year. I've seen membership fees of around $250
per year. You allow home-owners to list their property for free.
-----
There are many more ideas like this at the AHBBO Home Business
Ideas page at http://www.ahbbo.com/ideas.html with more being
added regularly.
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3. Feature Article: Personal Discipline and the Home-Based
Business Owner
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© 2002 Elena Fawkner
Allow me to let you in on a little secret you're probably
already wise to anyway. As often as not, the inspiration for
article topics comes from struggles with my own personal
demons. Writing about them is my way of giving myself a
good talking to (a.k.a. kick in the rear end). And so it
is with this one - the personal discipline demon.
It wasn't always like this. There was a time when I
could and would happily sit at my computer for hours at a
stretch. Doing this, doing that. Reading email, reading e-
books, doing research for articles, writing the next issue of
AHBBO. It used to be fun, something to do in my off-time.
A break from the grind, if you will. But now that it's my
official job two or three days a week it's not so much fun
as it is work.
So, what's changed? Quite simply, my online business
has gone from something I always *wanted* to do to
something I *have* to do. And that, alas, is my demon.
As soon as I *have* to do something, I start playing the
same mind-games that I played back in school when I
wouldn't start an assignment until the absolute last
minute. I told myself it was because I worked well on
deadlines. What it really was, of course, was procrastination.
With a capital P.
Does any of this sound familiar? If not, perhaps you're just
one very focused, very self-disciplined individual. Good for
you. Now go away.
Or maybe you just haven't been doing this for long enough
yet. You can stay. Think it won't happen to you? Maybe
not. But if you're reading this at work when you really
should be doing something else, like what they pay you for,
you may just want to entertain the teensiest possibility that
it might.
So, for those of us mere mortals with actual lives and who
start businesses out of our homes for quality of life reasons,
you'd better get a handle on this demon and quick about
it too. Because if you don't, it will slowly but surely bring
about the end of life as you know it and you'll be back to
the 9 to 5 grind at your J.O.B. before you can even *think*
about turning on The Young and the Restless. (Just for
background noise, of course.)
OK, so, enough about what can happen and why and on to
what you can do to make sure you get to keep the best of
all possible worlds. Here are six tips for getting the job
done:
1. SET A SCHEDULE
If you approach your business with the attitude that you
can do whatever you want, whenever you want, guess what
happens? You do whatever you want, whenever you want.
And the stuff that needs to be done but which you don't
particularly feel like doing doesn't get done. Ever.
Lesson #1 - there's no such thing as being able to do what
you want whenever you want all the time. It's a fact
of life that sometimes we have to do that which we would
prefer not to do. The best you can hope for with your own
business is to choose the time for doing.
So, instead of seeing your days as a big, blank canvas,
ready for you to paint as and when you feel like it, decide
which hours of the day you are going to allocate to working
in your business. And stick to it. Of course, the huge
advantage you have in running your own business over
working at your J.O.B. is that you get to choose what those
hours shall be. Want to start at 6 am and finish at 2 pm?
No problem. Want to start at noon and finish at 8? Go for
it. But do it.
And when it comes to scheduling, don't fall into the trap
of thinking that just because you live where you work you
have to work seven days a week. Be sure to schedule some
entirely work-free days. That's MY big lesson from the past
few months. I was making the mistake of working at my
J.O.B. for three days and then working the four days I was
home in my business. Got to the point where I was sick
to death of it. All of it. So I started taking weekends off.
Much, much better. I'm actually starting to enjoy working
again.
2. DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE, NOT WHAT YOU'D RATHER
BE DOING
It's all very well to set a work schedule and stick to it, it's
quite another to spend that time doing what has to be done
rather than what you'd rather be doing. Sure, we'd ALL
prefer to read and respond to email than write the next
chapter of our e-book. Reading and responding to email is
easy. Writing is hard! But reading and responding to email
won't grow your business. Creating new product lines will.
3. ALLOCATE ACTIVITIES ACCORDING TO CONCENTRATION
LEVEL REQUIRED
Following on from the previous point, if you're spending the
first three hours of your peak concentration time reading and
responding to email rather than writing the next chapter of
your book, you're doing the right things at the wrong time.
Yes, you do need to read and respond to your email but it's
not an intellectually demanding task. Do it when your brain
is winding down, not when it's at its sharpest. Do the hard
work when your brain is at its best.
4. KEEP DISTRACTIONS TO A MINIMUM
Doing the right things at the right time is all for nought if
you're going to be interrupted every ten minutes. Turn OFF
the email program that chimes every time you get new mail.
Most likely it's NOT a new order and, even if it is, it will still
be there at the time of your next allocated email check.
Similarly, let the answering machine answer your private
phone. Get a second line installed to be used exclusively
for your business. And let the machine get THAT when you're
not working. Maintaining separate worlds as much as possible
is the best way to avoid burnout.
5. BE FLEXIBLE BUT ACCOUNTABLE
The best-laid plans of mice and men and all that mean that
you need to be flexible in response to an unanticipated
change in your schedule. If something comes up that needs
your attention when you had intended to be working, by all
means attend to it. Just make up the time later on. It's
swings and roundabouts. It all comes out in the wash.
6. CARROTS WORK BETTER THAN STICKS
Finally, my favorite tactic. Reward yourself for getting the
job done. Nothing motivates me more to finish a set project
that the knowledge that when I do, I have full permission to
curl up on the couch with a good book for a couple of hours.
Give yourself an incentive to get whatever it is done. Then
you can truly enjoy the best of both worlds. You can relax
and enjoy whatever your reward is, free of the guilt that
comes with knowing very well you should be doing something
else, and with the certain knowledge that you've taken care
of business first.
------
** Reprinting of this article is welcome! **
This article may be freely reproduced provided that: (1) you
include the following resource box; and (2) you only mail to
a 100% opt-in list.
Here's the resource box to use if reprinting this article:
------
Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ...
practical business ideas, opportunities and solutions for the
work-from-home entrepreneur.
http://www.ahbbo.com
Also, visit Elena's newest site, Web Work From Home
http://www.web-work-from-home.com
_______________________________________________________________
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4. Surveys and Trends
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© 2002 Ryanna's Hope
=> ADVERTISING REALITIES
To prove that an ad claim is, in fact, deceptive, the FTC is
not generally concerned with what the claim says, but what
it conveys to consumers. If that conveyed message differs
from the reality of the product attribute being advertised,
the claim is considered deceptive. This requires the FTC to
look at two types of evidence: (1) evidence concerning
what message is conveyed to consumers, and (2) evidence
concerning the product attribute's true qualities.
==================
Advertising Time Line...
==================
Market segmentation was first described in the 1950's, when
product differentiation was the primary marketing strategy
used. In the 1970's and 1980's, market segmentation began
to take off as a means of expanding sales and obtaining
competitive advantages.
=> YELLOW PAGE ADVERTISING
Research is conducted every year to see if a color ad
generates more response than a black and white. Every year,
the results are the same. Color ads do not outpull a b&w.
Color ads are also more expensive so this is a cost to consider
eliminating from your ad budget.
Studies show eight out of 10 consumers contacted a
contractor from an ad in the Yellow Pages. Out of that number,
40% made a purchase and an additional 40% said they were
likely to make a purchase.
=> HOME BASED BUSINESS FACTS
According to America Research, 1 out of 5 will be working at
home in 2002. If you're looking to sell them something, here's
what surveys reveal they'll be looking for:
Computer and related - 18%
Copy/fax - 18%
Furniture - 15%
Remodeling - 14%
Phone lines - 12%
While working at home gives many the leisure of taking care
of family matters too, 73% said that business interruptions
were, in fact, caused by family matters. Another 16% said
friends were causing distractions.
=> A MATTER OF TRUST...
According to a 2002 report from Consumer WebWatch --
the non-profit project from Consumers Union, publisher of
Consumer Reports -- 59% of US internet users say they
trust small businesses "most of the time" and 48% say the
same about newspapers and television. However, the study
determined that just 26% feel the same about websites
that sell products or services, whereas 50% say they can
trust such websites "some of the time."
=> WOMEN AND WEB MONEY
Among U.S.-based home users of the Internet, women
accounted for 52 percent of the total online population, or
55.0 million. Men accounted for just 49.8 million, up from
48.2 million a year earlier. Since last year, women have
outnumbered men online in the U.S.
For U.S.-based consumer goods advertisers, the findings
would seem to bode well for their efforts to reach women,
who typically control most of the responsibility for a
household's spending.
------
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
Subscribe to "Surveys and Trends" with an email to:
mailto:rypublish@sprintmail.com and say 'survey' in the
subject line.
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_______________________________________________________________
5. Success Quotes of the Week
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'Now' is the operative word. Everything you put in your
way is just a method of putting off the hour when you
could actually be doing your dream. You don't need
endless time and perfect conditions. Do it now. Do it
today. Do it for twenty minutes and watch your heart
start beating.
-- Barbara Sher
It is not because things are difficult that we do not
dare, it is because we do not dare that they are
difficult.
-- Seneca
One of these days is none of these days.
-- H. G. Bohn
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6. Advertise With AHBBO
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the most cost-effective and targeted form of advertising
online today. This is because the ezine's editor has already
done the hard work of bringing together a large group of
readers highly motivated by the subject-matter of the
ezine itself.
Therefore, assuming you place your ad in an ezine with
a subject matter that fits with what it is you are
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group of highly targeted prospects for your product or
service.
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(2) single ad placements,
(3) ad paks (4 ads for the price of 3), and
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To learn more about advertising in the AHBBO ezine,
visit http://www.ahbbo.com/advertising.html .
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7. Subscription Management
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8. Caveat Emptor
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Although all of the information presented in AHBBO is
published in good faith, I accept no responsibility as to the
accuracy or otherwise of the information presented. By making
use of the information contained in AHBBO the reader assumes
all risk that certain information may prove to be incorrect.
**I do not endorse any advertisements unless stated to the
contrary. Your money, your decision, your responsibility.**
All advertisements are accepted in good faith. However,
advertisers are solely responsible for the content and
accuracy of their classified advertisements and I give no
warranties, nor accept any responsibility, in relation to any
classified advertisement appearing in this publication. ALWAYS
carry out your own due diligence! Remember, if it sounds too
good to be true, it probably is.
_______________________________________________________________
9. Contact Information
_______________________________________________________________
Elena Fawkner, Editor
A Home-Based Business Online
Contact By Email
http://www.ahbbo.com
_______________________________________________________________
All Rights Reserved