Tweet

Adding Structure To Your Home Business is Imperative

Guest post by: Cheryl Matthynssens

Article Overview: Structures in life are necessary. Without them the human, unless naturally the high structures type spoke of in a previous article, will wander aimlessly from task to task. This is easy to do when promoting online because one site will lead to another. Each offering to nickle and dime the business owner with small costs to promote their URL. Each one seems small but when added up over the month, can be a large chunk if not exceed the advertising budget set aside.

Adding Structure To Your Home Business is Imperative

One of the biggest mistakes that home business owners make is that in the attempt to build a business they lose sight of the very thing they wanted when they started. Most people begin home businesses to either supplement their income or to be home with family. However, ifa person is locked in at their computer desperately seeking to drive sales or spending more thenthey are earning,they have lost sight of the very thingthey were seeking.

Structures in life are necessary. Without them the human, unless naturally the high structures type spoke of in a previous article, will wander aimlessly from task to task. This is easy to do when promoting online because one site will leadto another. Each offering to nickle and dime the business owner with small costs to promote their URL. Each one seems small but when added up over the month, can be a large chunk if not exceed the advertising budget set aside.

The first thing to do to structure a home business is figure out the working hours. Are they while the baby is napping? In the evening when the spouse is home? Pick a set number of hours a day and the times that they are normally set aside for. This is flexible of course, that is the attraction of a home business. But on the normal, no appointments, no business meetings day, when will the home business entrepreneur be working?

The second thing to do is figure out what needs done in that time. How much time is needed to return emails and phone calls? How much time willbe spentmarketing online? How much time will be used in presentations? Deliveries? What ever ythe business needs done, allocate a time amount for it for the week. Now looking at these two things. Figure out what days and how much time on that day will be devoted to each of the indentified tasks needing accomplished.

Another important part of structuring is organizingthe business expenses. Get a basic accounting system. It is hard at the end of the year to show all those little expenditures unlessthe business ownerhave been keeping receipts (email ones too). Take the time up front to desiginate how income and expenses will be monitored.

The last thing that is important to structuring a home business is to plan a marketing strategy wisely. Ifthere is a marketing budget, get with the sponsor or find a trusted marketing mentor and find out where their money was best spent. If there is no budget, learn how to market for free. There are tons of free things that can be done to promote a business online. The key is consistency. When marketing for free, it is not about quick returns, it is about diligence and patience. Make a weekly goal of whatever strategies the business owner is comfortable using. For example, posting ten free classifieds daily. Something along those lines but for each thing on the list of free marketing tools. Be prepared to not see results for at least 30 days. People need to see the advertising multiple times before they will follow up.

Structuring a home business is not only critical to success, but it allows for tracking what works and what is not working. Wandering aimlessly in hopes of stumbling onto the gold mine does not work. Structures in a home business also mean that the important component of time with family or freedom to ___________ (you fill in the blank) remain an important focus in the week to week life of the entrepreneur. Remember, Balance is the key component to finding happiness, abundance and freedom in life!

Have a Prosperous Day!

www.balancedfreedom.com

Related Articles
  Want to Write Better? Strengthen Your Writing with Three Self-Editing Tips
  Why MLM And the Hype Surrounding It Are Old News!
  Tax Deductions For Home Business Owners
  Make Money Online With An Internet Home Business Blog
  Work Online From Home - Where Should You Start?

Article Tags: business owner, home business, structure, success
Referred by: http://jaykubassek.com



Related Forum Posts
Re: How do you budget your life? - Here is my financial management categories for today: 15% Long Term Savings; 10% Home Expenses; 45% Business and Marketing charges; 10% Friends (Meeting); 20$ Scientific and Law Books. But this will change when it is August or September. Orxan
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: Trade Shows - Are They Worth It? - HI, I have used trade shows (not participated) to collect potential clients. For example, the Home & Garden Industry is extremely behind the time in regards to their websites. I attended an Home & Garden Expo in Denver and collected all the companies contact information. I plan on cold calling & mailing information to each business. It also gave me time to research the industry more, talk directly to the owners in many cases, and learn more about what they need. Jeff
Exclusive: Interview with Results - Hi Forum Members, I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles). As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business. This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business. I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months. At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews. I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum. If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM. Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.
Books for Women Entrepreneurs - There's a thread for good books in the Resources folder, but it doesn't target books for businesswomen particularly, so I figured I'd start such a thread here. It doesn't matter how successful you are in your business - it's always possible to learn something new. In subsequent posts I give Table of Contents and brief descriptions for various titles - most of them devoted to the businesswoman - and sometimes a review. If anyone else has read a review, or has read the book and found it useful, please comment! 1. The Old Girl's Network 2. Mother's Work 3. The 7 Greatest Truths About Successful Women 4. Pitch Like A Girl 5. Workplace Warrior 6. Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the Modern Consumer 7. Contingency Planning & Disaster Recovery 8. She Wins, You Win 9. Napoleon On Project Management 10. Why Good Girls Dont' Get Ahead, But Gutsy Girls Do 11. Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart your Career even If you Haven't Had a Job in Years 12. The One Minute Millionaire 13. Talking From 9 to 5 14. Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambitions 15. 101 Best Home Based Businesses for Women: Everything You Need to Know About Getting Started on the Road To Success 16. Work With Passion: How to Do What You Love for a Living. Revised and Expanded 17. Fail-Proof Your Business: Beat the Odds and be Successful 18. Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End 19. Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide 20. Millionaire Women Next Door: The Many Journeys of Successful American Businesswomen 21. Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start - and Run - Your Own Successful Business 22. Rewired, Rehired or Retired: A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker 23. The Martha Rules: 10 essentials for achieving success as you start, build or manage a business 24. The Essentials of Entrepreneurship: What it takes to create Successful Enterprises 25. Net Ready: Strategies for Success in the E-conomy 26. The Promotable Woman 27. Leave The Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro shows you how to do more in less time and feel great about it 28. The Work At Home Balancing Act: The professional resource guide for managing yourself, your work, and your family at home 29. Secrets of Six-Figure Women


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

LISTENING SKILLS IN COACHING

Stress: What Causes It and How To Deal With It

How to Handle the “I Am Not Interested” Objection

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.