The 4 Cornerstones of A Successful Home-Based Business
The 4 Cornerstones of A Successful Home-Based Business
Skills - Mindset - Relationships - Environments
As you prepare for the journey ahead, set goals for yourself in each of these areas to ensure your business is built on a solid foundation and grows at an even keel.
1. Skills
What skills do you need to develop? Do you need to learn about marketing, sales, copywriting, communicating, technology, networking, organizing, presenting, leading or prioritizing?
Business leaders are master marketers and sales people. Regardless of your chosen field of endeavor, developing those two skills is absolutely critical to your success.
Of course, they don't complete the recipe. Identify other important skills you'll need and create a plan to start acquiring them.
2. Mindset
What disempowering beliefs block you from taking action, making decisions, having confidence and giving everything you've got to create the success and happiness you deserve?
You're not alone if you're fighting internal battles. Corporate executives, successful business owners and many professionals sabotage their potential to enjoy true happiness in all areas of life.
These challenges affect virtually everyone regardless of gender, nationality, religion, family status, socio-economic background or financial status, and more often than not link back to experiences from our youth.
How often have you sabotaged your efforts to grow beyond your wildest dreams or reach your higher vision for yourself?
It could be traced back to a statement made by an authority figure or someone you loved and could have been taken out of context because of your youth, or it may have been malicious in intent, but never dealt with completely because you haven't had the tools to do it.
Mindset may be the biggest challenge to overcome, yet has the greatest impact on whether or not you achieve your goals and dreams.
3. Relationships
How are your relationships with yourself, family, friends, co-workers, customers and others?
Are you comfortable in intimate conversation or do you prefer groups? Do you have the confidence to approach a stranger and begin a conversation or do you try to become one with a nearby plant or wallpaper pattern hoping not to be noticed?
Do people know they can count on you to keep your word, make appointments on time and complete tasks as promised or do you over commit and under deliver?
Do people know they can trust you to keep conversations private and speak positively about them when they're not present, or do you criticize others in conversation when they're not there to defend themselves?
Battles with a spouse, siblings, parents, kids and friends can eat up mental ram and take your focus away from business. Sometimes these battles are with someone who has passed on, yet you keep the battle raging in your mind.
Positive relationships support you. Negative relationships, real or imagined create harm.
4. Environments
How are your environments supporting you?
Is your physical environment clear of clutter? This includes your home, office and vehicles. Are you surrounded by unhealthy foods or toxic substances? Do you have toxic people in your life who drain your energy?
What about your financial environment?
Can you accurately state how much cash flow you have, how much you bring in each month and how much is spent each month and on what?
Can you forecast upcoming expenditures and do you have a plan to meet them?
Do you know how to correctly interpret an income statement or balance sheet?
You may choose to have someone take care of your bookkeeping and accounting, but as a responsible business owner, it is imperative you understand what's going on.
Your body is also an environment.
Does it receive adequate fuel (sleep and healthy food) and exercise? This environment provides energy, clear thinking, stamina, and mobility. Without this vehicle, you would not have a business ... or life. Do you treat it with the respect and appreciation it deserves?
Do you need to learn about healthy eating, yoga, meditation, strength or stamina building exercises? Do you withhold visiting a doctor even though you're experiencing discomfort or obvious symptoms of a health issue?
Without your body, the game is over.
The degree of your business (and life) success directly relates to the degree you invest in all four cornerstones.
Choosing to focus only on one, two or three leads to a lop-sided result -- much like a four-legged chair with a missing leg. It can't stand on its own.
In order to address these four cornerstones, you may have to read books, take courses or programs, join organizations, seek out mentors or coaches, find mastermind partners, and surround yourself with people who can provide you with what you need.
If cost is an issue, start with your local library and Internet searches. You'll find plenty of helpful resources at zero cost. Tap into the minds of brilliant entrepreneurs and industry leaders. Learn about their challenges and follow their journey to success.
Contact a local business person you respect and ask if you can interview him. Most people say yes to this request because people generally like to help others.
You don't have to try to eat the whole elephant in one bite. Start simple by selecting one or two areas to focus your attention on and create an action plan that allows you to spread your efforts evenly across the four cornerstones.
For example, you can start cleaning up your physical environment while checking a book out from the library on the subject of sales, marketing or improving personal relationships.
Or, you can enroll in a night course at your community college on the subject of financial intelligence and volunteer for a local organization once or twice a month to start building new relationships.
Your possibilities are limited only by your imagination and if you need help with that, find others to assist. Brainstorming is a powerful exercise.
Focus on these four cornerstones, commit to giving necessary attention and energy to each and your business will be built on a solid foundation and capable of exponential growth.
2007 © Laurie Hayes - The HBB Source
The 4 Cornerstones of A Successful HomeBased Business - To learn more about this author, visit Laurie Hayes's Website.
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The success of your home business is built on four important cornerstones,
Skills - Mindset - Relationships - Environments
As you prepare for the journey ahead, set goals for yourself in each of these areas to ensure your business is built on a solid foundation and grows at an even keel.
1. Skills
What skills do you need to develop? Do you need to learn about marketing, sales, copywriting, communicating, technology, networking, organizing, presenting, leading or prioritizing?
Business leaders are master marketers and sales people. Regardless of your chosen field of endeavor, developing those two skills is absolutely critical to your success.
Of course, they don't complete the recipe. Identify other important skills you'll need and create a plan to start acquiring them.
2. Mindset
What disempowering beliefs block you from taking action, making decisions, having confidence and giving everything you've got to create the success and happiness you deserve?
You're not alone if you're fighting internal battles. Corporate executives, successful business owners and many professionals sabotage their potential to enjoy true happiness in all areas of life.
These challenges affect virtually everyone regardless of gender, nationality, religion, family status, socio-economic background or financial status, and more often than not link back to experiences from our youth.
How often have you sabotaged your efforts to grow beyond your wildest dreams or reach your higher vision for yourself?
It could be traced back to a statement made by an authority figure or someone you loved and could have been taken out of context because of your youth, or it may have been malicious in intent, but never dealt with completely because you haven't had the tools to do it.
Mindset may be the biggest challenge to overcome, yet has the greatest impact on whether or not you achieve your goals and dreams.
3. Relationships
How are your relationships with yourself, family, friends, co-workers, customers and others?
Are you comfortable in intimate conversation or do you prefer groups? Do you have the confidence to approach a stranger and begin a conversation or do you try to become one with a nearby plant or wallpaper pattern hoping not to be noticed?
Do people know they can count on you to keep your word, make appointments on time and complete tasks as promised or do you over commit and under deliver?
Do people know they can trust you to keep conversations private and speak positively about them when they're not present, or do you criticize others in conversation when they're not there to defend themselves?
Battles with a spouse, siblings, parents, kids and friends can eat up mental ram and take your focus away from business. Sometimes these battles are with someone who has passed on, yet you keep the battle raging in your mind.
Positive relationships support you. Negative relationships, real or imagined create harm.
4. Environments
How are your environments supporting you?
Is your physical environment clear of clutter? This includes your home, office and vehicles. Are you surrounded by unhealthy foods or toxic substances? Do you have toxic people in your life who drain your energy?
What about your financial environment?
Can you accurately state how much cash flow you have, how much you bring in each month and how much is spent each month and on what?
Can you forecast upcoming expenditures and do you have a plan to meet them?
Do you know how to correctly interpret an income statement or balance sheet?
You may choose to have someone take care of your bookkeeping and accounting, but as a responsible business owner, it is imperative you understand what's going on.
Your body is also an environment.
Does it receive adequate fuel (sleep and healthy food) and exercise? This environment provides energy, clear thinking, stamina, and mobility. Without this vehicle, you would not have a business ... or life. Do you treat it with the respect and appreciation it deserves?
Do you need to learn about healthy eating, yoga, meditation, strength or stamina building exercises? Do you withhold visiting a doctor even though you're experiencing discomfort or obvious symptoms of a health issue?
Without your body, the game is over.
The degree of your business (and life) success directly relates to the degree you invest in all four cornerstones.
Choosing to focus only on one, two or three leads to a lop-sided result -- much like a four-legged chair with a missing leg. It can't stand on its own.
In order to address these four cornerstones, you may have to read books, take courses or programs, join organizations, seek out mentors or coaches, find mastermind partners, and surround yourself with people who can provide you with what you need.
If cost is an issue, start with your local library and Internet searches. You'll find plenty of helpful resources at zero cost. Tap into the minds of brilliant entrepreneurs and industry leaders. Learn about their challenges and follow their journey to success.
Contact a local business person you respect and ask if you can interview him. Most people say yes to this request because people generally like to help others.
You don't have to try to eat the whole elephant in one bite. Start simple by selecting one or two areas to focus your attention on and create an action plan that allows you to spread your efforts evenly across the four cornerstones.
For example, you can start cleaning up your physical environment while checking a book out from the library on the subject of sales, marketing or improving personal relationships.
Or, you can enroll in a night course at your community college on the subject of financial intelligence and volunteer for a local organization once or twice a month to start building new relationships.
Your possibilities are limited only by your imagination and if you need help with that, find others to assist. Brainstorming is a powerful exercise.
Focus on these four cornerstones, commit to giving necessary attention and energy to each and your business will be built on a solid foundation and capable of exponential growth.
2007 © Laurie Hayes - The HBB Source
The 4 Cornerstones of A Successful HomeBased Business - To learn more about this author, visit Laurie Hayes's Website.
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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