Do Unto Others...

Customer service is top priority for your business' growth. Make your customers' happiness your number one priority. Send birthday cards, holiday gifts, frequent emails to check in. You'll be rewarded with multiplying sales!

Competition ahoy!

Bearing in mind you have so many competitors competing for a slice of the market, you really need to put some effort into standing out in the crowd waiting to take away your potential customers. One way to stand out is to give a discount to regular customers, or perhaps a complimentary gift to first time customers. Even sending discount vouchers to potential customers is a good idea. Whatever you choose to do please be consistent and make your customers want to come back to you again and again!

Your offline community matters

Come to a mutual understanding with your suppliers. For example offer them some ad space on your website if they give you discounted prices. If you build business relationships with others and you both benefit, then it is a win win situation. You will not only cut costs, you will have more capital to invest in marketing which will in turn make you more money and your suppliers will get new customers because you gave them some exposure.

Bloggers rule!

Create your own blog. There are some excellent sites that offer this service. It’s fantastic when people get to know you through your blogs and become familiar with you. It is a great way of promoting yourself and gaining recognition and off course can help in your business as regular readers of your blog have gained your trust. This is an avenue worth exploring.

Have many fingers in many pies

Give yourself as many possibilities, chances, plans of attack and opportunities as you can. A working example is myself at the moment. I know I need to make up some kind of income now to replace my wages; the buzz is in knowing it is completely my responsibility. I am not relying on one single thing to pay my bills- I have no less than six projects to generate income to begin with.
Therefore I give myself more chances at succeeding. Or if one or two fail I can learn from that and still have 4 or 5 that are working for me.

I think of it as casting many fishing lines. There's a higher probability of getting something back.

It works exactly the same for many things-
Marketing- write, prospect, email, call, contact, bug as many potentials contacts, institutes, associations, colleges, friends, family as you can. You never know who knows who- a friend of a friend might just be your next big sale.

Never pin your hopes on one thing- increases you probability by increasing your fingers in pies.

If you want a new job, don't just settle at applying for one that seems suitable or ideal or perfect from job night in the paper once a week and hoping for an interview…get a plan of action. Apply for jobs that only seem slightly suitable, get searching jobs on the internet where they are updated daily. Write to companies you would like to work for out of speculation- asking if they happen to have or know of the particular position.

If you get bored with things easily, lessen the chance of being bored by having several interests.

Yes it means being organised, or working a bit harder, writing a few more letters, making a few more calls- it's worth it when you achieve what you set out to though!

Registration fee a no no!

NEVER ask for money if you hope for people to work from home for you. Any self respecting company will never ask for money like this. If the oportunity you are offering is good enough, then both you and your affiliates will make money.

The super duper affiliate program

It is always worth creating a super affiliate program that will not only reward you, but will also generously reward your affiliates. I feel that a successful affiliate program does not depend on multi level marketing for you and your affiliates to make good money. The key is to reward your affiliates well. Whether it is excellent commissions, bonus schemes or even recognizing the best affiliate of the year where you might give them a thank you gift. In essence, do not let your affiliates feel isolated. Let them know you will support them and guide them. Make them feel as part of YOUR team because that is what they are. Remember, their success is your success! I can say this with my experience with Adport as I devised a very generous commissions and bonus schemes with easy targets.

You have to put IN to get OUT, and you have to STICK WITH IT

This sounds pretty obvious, but how many of us actually follow through with our thoughts or intentions?

Have you ever seen an ad in the local paper “Make £XXX per month, call now for more details!” only to ring up and find out that it is distributing catalogues, then forget it because we can't be bothered with the physical effort of going out there and doing the work. And YET we still read the success stories- remember these stories have to be true because it's false advertising. I think these people have worked hard and earned every single penny by putting in and sticking with it.

Bought an e-book promising to make money? Next you have to read it and implement the ideas to actually bring in the ‘lolly. It won't make you a penny left un-read on your hard drive.

The same goes for many things - education, just because someone got into Oxford or Harvard doesn't mean they've got their degree. Next comes the hard work, graft and study to GET OUT the results they want.

Again- fitness DVD's will not get you fit by sitting there on your shelf. I would be sure that 99% of all diets work if the person doing it committed 100% and followed it to the letter.

My point is TAKE ACTION, don't wait around for something to come from nothing. It won't. Whatever your goal, STICK WITH IT because sometime things don't happen straight away or go right first time, it's a case of getting determined and persevering. Keep going.

Life is for living- how boring not to give it your all. Imagine the satisfaction and results when you do stick with it and the momentum that you will attract and create!

Is there ever a ‘right' or ‘perfect' time? NO. That makes NOW ideal!

As Mike Litman says in Greatness Held Hostage “You don't have to get it right, you just have to get it going."

Constant Quest for Growth

Drive the organization with a big vision.
Account for big goals.
Celebrate wins along the way.
Seek out new ideas.
Ignoe distractions.
Empower through ownership.
Neutralize negativity.
Passon overall.

Check your Options and Do Your Research

Business Opps –next time you get an ‘opportunity' through mail, email or popping up on your monitor, run the Scheme name (and any other keywords like the creator) through Google to research further information, judgements, opinions, forums and articles so you are armed to make an informed judgement call. Email other people who are already running with the scheme. They do reply. This one small step alone will save you precious time and money before you find yourself ‘sold to'.

Money –from loans, cars, borrowing, lending, insolvency- it's a boring job to do your research, especially after you've relayed all your personal and financial details over the phone or net a couple of times over, however it will pay you back ten fold in the time spent. When someone gives you an attractive sounding financial solution I urge to refrain from saying ‘yes' straight away, replacing it with ‘I'll get back to you'. Go and research what they're offering, who they are, if someone does it better. Any company worth their salt will respect you and wait for you to call them when you're ready. I learned this one when dealing with finances!

Education –in my opinion, I think it's harsh that at 14 and 15 years old young people in the UK have to start narrowing down their educational options by choosing their GCSE's in specific subject areas. This determines their choices from college, university and further education- leading to career choices for life. It works for some but the way that society and industry has become. The fact is that no one is in the same career for life, let alone job. Who wants to be anyway?!

For the savvy-researcher there are countless opportunities and options for re-training, changing careers, with many colleges and universities offering opportunities to study online. Research courses, colleges, providers for the value and worth of the qualifications- when I was training to be a life coach there where many ‘Diploma' courses ranging from £300-5000.

With determination, anyone can change what they do – age or experience is no matter.

I ask anyone about the trot off to university- are you going for the right reasons? Just going for the life and taking whatever course is offered? I saw an eye opening statistic the other day-
A. One could spend £20,000 getting into debt with student loans, accommodation, fees etc for three years plus and scraping by with a part time job.
B. OR starting working at 18 getting some valued work experience, living life and enjoying money whilst doing a distance university degree of the same value and type as Person A costing a smaller £5500.
I know moving away and other issues come into it too, I say it is definitely worth checking out all the options and choices.

Marketing Your Business

Help your business grow by creating new ways to market your business. Refresh old advertisements to attract new clients. Stretch out your view of potential clients. Sometimes with market studies, companies tend to forget those outside the view of your niche. Experiment. The results may surprise you.

For example, if you have been focused on selling your products to women, find out how to attract men to purchase your products, too. Perhaps as gifts for women or even changing the product slightly so it is geared for men.

Expanding Your Business

Imagine your company getting so much business, you run out of room in your warehouse. Your restaurant has an hour-long wait for seating every night. This may mean your company is ready to grow.

The answer may be to duplicate your business. A new warehouse, new factory or a new restaurant may be the answer. Be prepared for this. Ask your advisors about the possibilities of duplicating or expanding your current businesses without getting ahead of yourself.

Business Building - Finance 101

Keep clear records on what you buy and what you make. Create a budget you can work with. Don't depend on money that is not there. Only work with what you have in the bank now.

Invest in a quality bookkeeper for your business. You will save yourself time and trouble by letting someone qualified handle your finances.

Assets

An asset is anything that has value, and you can exchange that for cash. Or that item continues to make you money while you still own it. Re-evaluate your idea of an asset. It could be important to the success of your company.

Let go of anything that isn't an asset. Is there something you are investing in that isn't paying off? Is a new product not working out as well as you thought it would? Change it or cut it out. Concentrate only on things that are making you a profit.

Establishing Guidelines

What is your business about? Define it specifically in your business plan. If your business is about selling books, do you find yourself trying to write the books and package them as well? Let go of jobs that are not what your business is about and focus on what you are supposed to do.

Overnight Success

Sometimes an increase in sales too quickly can ruin a business just as much as no business at all. Small companies may not have the staff or capital to handle large orders too soon.

Reach out for help. Get control of yourself and make sure to plan out your business ahead of time should there be a sudden increase of business. Contact suppliers and ask how prepared they are for an influx of orders. Being ready ahead of time will make it easier to handle the growth of your business.

Liabilities

Many people get the wrong impression of an asset. A liability is an obligation to pay money. If you still pay a mortgage on your house, it is not an asset, it is a liability.

In your company, company cars, desks and other items may not be assets. If you are still paying payments on them, these are considered liabilities. If you are confusing your assets and liabilities, be aware of this and change your prospective. You could be saving yourself some trouble later by being very clear on what is making you money.

Automate Your Business

Finding new innovations for your business might include automating your system. If you take orders online, find out how to simplify the process by software specifically geared toward your business. Make it easier on yourself and your customers. If you simplify your business using automation, you save time and money. It makes shipping products of filling orders easier.

For example, accounting software connected to your Web site may automatically create invoices and email customers. This frees up time and money having someone else do it by hand.