Is The "At Home" In Your Work At Home Business?
Have you ever thought about the fact that most people with a"home" business probably spend more time outside their homeworking their business, than actually being at home? With the exception of certain types of home based businesses,most, whether in businesses of the traditional variety, such asreal estate agents, mortgage brokers, etc., or networkmarketers, spend a great deal of time outside the home in aneffort to build and maintain their businesses. When it comes to networ...
...k marketing the number one activity thattakes place outside the home is probably the classic hoteland/or conference room meeting where people gather at least oncea week to bring prospects to hear their company's businesspresentation. Of course, industry veterans know that these meetings often turninto mere social gatherings, because the same people(representatives who are already in the business) usually keepshowing up week after week, as opposed to the new prospects whoare supposed to be getting into the business. Many home business owners routinely meet prospects at theprospects' homes or offices, or have the prospect come to themin order to conduct a business presentation. Yet another popular practice is to take your prospect to lunchor dinner to discuss your business proposal over a meal.Prospects often love it, because they get a free meal, usuallywith no obligation to join you in your business. For some types of high dollar transactions, as in the type ofbusiness that is often conducted among larger businesses andorganizations, taking your prospective customer, client, or newbusiness partner out on the town may be justifiable. However,especially if you are involved in network marketing, the amountthat you stand to make up front if a new prospect signs up mayrange from as little as nothing, to perhaps a few hundreddollars. For example's sake, lets say that you are with a company whereat your level in their compensation plan you earn $100 each timesomeone new comes into your business and qualifies for whateveryour initial product/service purchase requirements are. Asalways, it is the consumption of the product that you are beingpaid for. And let's say that for every 10 prospects you take to lunch 1prospect typically signs up. Again, this is for example's sake,as your actual closing rate may be higher. However, especiallyfor someone new, it's reasonable to assume that he or she maysign up as few as 1 prospect out of every 10. Let's further assume an average lunch bill of $25. Again, thisis being very conservative, as a typical lunch even for two caneasily be higher. Ok, let's do the math. You take 10 prospects to lunch at $25each, and 1 signs up in your business, which earns you anup-front commission (when your check comes) of $100. $25 x 10 =$250 so you are now at a loss of $150 for your efforts. That'snot including gas money, wear and tear on your car, or any salesaids or samples that you may have also given away to eachprospect. So, conservatively, at this rate you're going to LOSEAT LEAST $150 for each and every person you bring into yourbusiness! Again, your closing rate may be higher than 1 out of 10, andyour initial compensation may be higher, perhaps even byhundreds of dollars. However, if you are like 9 out of 10typical home business people or network marketers, the numbersabove are probably very realistic. Many network marketingcompensation plans pay considerably less than $100 in up-frontmoney. If you are doing hotel conference room meetings then your costmay be lower as you, along with all other representativesattending, are likely sharing in the expense of the room andfacilities. The above examples assume that you are working with prospectsand/or representatives who are in your immediate local vicinity.Many network marketers travel out of town to grow theirbusinesses. Sometimes this may be to sign up a new prospect.However, typically it is to provide support and assistance tonew out of town people who have come into your organization. Onething that you'll quickly learn as you grow your business isthat even if you only recruit and sponsor people locally,because they will have friends and family in other states andperhaps even other countries, it won't be long before anyorganization of any size is spread out quite far geographically. Almost every industry or network marketing company also holds atleast one annual company event or meeting, which allrepresentatives are encouraged to attend. These events requireyet more expense, time away from your main occupation (unlessyou are working your business fulltime), and even time away fromyour primary business. Sometimes you'll recruit someone alongthe way using the old "3-Foot Rule," (prospect anyone who getswithin 3 feet of you) which is absolutely NOT one of the methodsadvocated here on ABCIncome.com. But otherwise, when you attendcompany functions you usually do so at the expense of takingtime away from the activities that are actively making youmoney. It can be true that you will gain enough new information andinsight into your business that what you learn at these companyfunctions can help you build your business even better, butseldom can you count on such an even to guarantee dollars intoyour bank account. Over the years I've watched countless peoplespend money they didn't have in their budgets in order to attendsuch events. That's because most such events cost you money, asopposed to making you money. There is nothing wrong with company conventions, seminars, etc.,as long as you can readily afford it, enjoy it, and, mostimportantly, can afford to pay for it out of PROFIT! If yourbusiness isn't making you enough money to pay for such a tripthen wait until it does, unless you are already in a position toeasily and comfortably afford the trip out of your existingbudget (most likely from the income from your day job). Not to digress too far away from the main theme of this article,but key rules to always remember in your business are to growyour business out of profit, spend as little money as possibleon things that don't make you money, and what money you do spendtry to invest wisely in those things that will make you money. Lastly, be reasonable about how many functions you attend. Somegroups of network marketers (usually not an official companysanctioned position) encourage or even demand theirrepresentatives to attend pep talks and rallies as often as oncea month or more. Follow the guidelines already mentioned above:Can you afford it, and what impact will attending that functionhave on your business? Is it costing you money or making youmoney? Returning to our original theme, even if you can affordactivities like those just discussed above, do you want to spendthat much time away from your home and family? Many people findthat they are out and about so much, traveling to work with outof town groups, and attending functions, that they are tired andbarely recover after returning from one before they are off tothe next. Even if your efforts are profitable the above methods can beamong the least efficient ways of building a business. That'snot to say it can't or doesn't work, many have builtorganizations of thousands that way, including me (in yearspast, as I use better and more efficient methods today). But askyourself, if you could build an organization just as, if notmore, effectively while still being able to spend as much timeat home with your family as you would like, wouldn't that bebetter? Sure, you can always take people to lunch, dinner, and travel,to socialize, but, especially with all of the tools that you nowhave at your disposal such as the telephone, conference lines,Internet, fax, etc., it simply isn't necessary to do so in orderto build a successful and profitable business. There are some people who just love and enjoy always being onthe go, or socializing, etc. There too such things become amatter of personal preference. I know people, for instance, who,especially in years past before online bill pay, etc., love topay almost all of their bills in person. For a stay at homeparent, or someone not working fulltime, or a retired person,etc., they often view it as a way to get out of the house andkeep active. However, if you employ the kinds of training andtechniques that are available to allow you to build a growing,successful, and profitable business, right from the comfort ofyour own home, you will be busy with so many new prospects andrepresentatives that you are unlikely to get bored sittingaround home with nothing to do! So, if you're happy with the way in which you are currentlygrowing your business, which may include some of the methodsabove, that's fine. Some people still enjoy building theirbusinesses in the traditional way, in person, one person or afew at a time. However, if you would like to learn more aboutsome of the things that you can change, and techniques that youcan employ, in order to start growing your business effectivelyright from home, then please take a look at the programs that weoffer on ABCIncome.com. They allow you to achieve betterresults, faster, than using any of the less efficient methodsmentioned above.
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