4 Pillars Foundation for Your Home Based Business

Usually, people who are successful in business are motivated by the opportunity to improve their income and lifestyle for their family.
Also, it may be the opportunity to make a difference in other areas as well. Being the employer Vs working as an employee has some very exciting benefits as well as challenges.

Simply making life better for more people is a great motivator. Opening doors of opportunity, building a new product or offering a new service is always exciting to a business owner.

Rather than building someone else's dream you're doing it for yourself as a business owner. It's not always "peaches" without fuzz but the end results come from your own ideas.

Hard work is a given for most business owners. When you're doing something you love, it's seldom noticed and time goes by quickly when your ideas are turning into products and/or services.

Hopefully, customers are sitting on the edge of their chairs waiting anxiously for something new, exciting and available to buy. Nothing beats the loyal customer who buys everything you sell.

To begin building the 4 pillars foundation, we'll take each one in order and explain the values of importance to the base. One for each corner is imperative for success in your own business.

1. Character - someone once said this about the successful business executive... "character is what you do in the dark." When no one is looking, what do you do? Is there a difference?

Don't be a pushover with employees or customers, but be compassionate, gentle, and flexible, especially on procedure when dealing with future challenges. Principle stands firm.

2. Risk Taking - This isn't gambling, it's a willingness to be bold, hearty, and to push forward. People who refuse to take risks do not have the entrepreneurs type personality for success.

Don't be afraid of rejection, just take it as part of life. You'll find there's nothing to be afraid of most of the time.

3. Time Management - We don't often think about time in small increments, but we should. Most of us waste minutes as if they"ll always be available for us when needed. Unfortunately, when those wasted minutes are gone, there's no return or getting them back.

We can miss an important business deal or promotion of a lifetime by wasting a few minutes at the wrong time. Good time management is essential as you climb the ladder of success. It behooves us to break goals down into manageable chunks, too.

4. Communication - This one is a huge challenge. It's said that our body language and facial expressions do much more communicating than our words. Don't tweek your nose or mouth carelessly.

When the words that you speak don't match the expressions on your face, you confuse the listener and may kill a super deal. Be aware of what message your body is sending off!

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Making Tough Decisions

Life and business present crossroads where you have to make decisions that may leave you ambivalent. These decisions might not align with your personal beliefs and may go against your natural instincts to reach a compromise. While making these critical decisions, the old adage that, "Only time will tell," may not be a satisfactory comfort. There is a reasoned pattern of thinking that can give you resolve about these decisions. This will be accomplished by (1) identifying the source of the issue that led to your decision, (2) evaluating other people ('s) roles in decision process, and (3) weighing arguments on both sides.

Identifying a specific pattern of reasoning enables you to confirm that your decision was not arbitrary or self-serving. Having a process for decision-making lets you trust your judgment. The first step is identifying the source of the issue. This involves thinking back to when you first encountered it. Maybe someone raised it or you may have brought it on of your volition. If it is someone else's actions that brought you to the decision point, you need to go beneath the surface. Correctly diagnose the actual issue to ensure that your decision will address the heart of the matter and not just the symptoms. If the issue was raised by your efforts, you need to separate your own bias from the objective issue.

Secondly, you need to be aware of other's roles to the decision process. Frame the contributor's role to differentiate how much of this issue is man-made vs. how much is a naturally occurring issue. The point is not to blame but to ensure that you are looking at this issue as objectively as possible. People may have directly or indirectly contributed to the situation. You need to pinpoint their contribution and decide whether it is positive or negative. If it is a man-made issue, it will be skewed to someone's perspective and not the objective facts. The difference can weigh heavily on the decision process.

Lastly, arguments on both sides should be weighed. You must be open minded and deliberate based on an objective criterion of what the issues surrounding the decision represent and potential consequences on either side. This will require you to consider the short-term and long-term consequences. You are not necessarily looking for a way to reconcile all interests because that is usually not a plausible scenario. However, knowing that you carefully weighed your options will allow you to look at the deliberation process with confidence that you made the right choice.

© Copyright Catherine Delcin, All Rights Reserved.

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Entrepreneurial Diligence

"When you discipline yourself to do what is hard, you gain access to a realm of results that are denied everyone else. The willingness to do what is difficult is like having a key to a special private treasure room." - Steve Pavlina

 

Entrepreneurship extends beyond the realm of business, economics and finance. Entrepreneurship is the proper management of resources and organization of activities aimed specifically at growth and profit. Entrepreneurship is the art of undertaking new, and often risky, ventures with initiative and confidence. So everybody is an entrepreneur, no matter what your job or business orientation is, it doesn’t matter whether you have kiosk with you name written on it or not, everybody is into buying and selling, profit-making and loss-making, of time, talents and resources.

The first time I read this quote credited to Investor and Entrepreneur Carl Icahn: “In life and business, there are two cardinal sins: The first is to act without thought, and the second is to not act at all” I rewrote it and removed ‘business’, as I believe life itself is a business. Life has opened up a shop for all of us, and whether you like it or not you are a salesman, the tragedy is that some do not realize their roles as one until it is too late and by then they would have unconsciously sold their goods cheaply or even for free.

We always refer to time as being ‘spent’, that implies that there is someone/something doing the buying! We all have 24 hours every day, 24 hours to ‘spend’, what most of us do not do is an audit of how we ‘spend’ same the way with do with money, even though the saying ‘time is money’ is one that we are all familiar with! Same goes for talents. In Hebrew language talent refers to money and so it is in our world today. Successful people are those who regard their time and talents as money, spend it prudently and jealously ‘bank’ their stock of both the way they bank their money. 

Everyday we wake up with a fresh stock of both currencies: time and talents. Armed with these we venture into the market of life, to buy and sell. Some spend the first few wads of their time with God in prayer and I assure you there is no better way to start a day: spending your time in God’s market. Thereafter we spend the rest of our time, and buy the time of others; we spend the rest of our talents, and buy those of others. It is only proper that at the end of everyday we do a proper audit of our buying and selling to see if we made profit or loss. It is only proper that we see life as a market and everyone as an entrepreneur, the earlier we see ourselves in this light, we earlier we are able to take advantage of market dynamics to our gain. I will explore the concept of time and talents as currencies in subsequent column but for now I move to explore the virtue of diligence in relation to our new-found status as life entrepreneurs.

Diligence is the earnest, conscientious application of our energy to accomplish what we’ve undertaken. When we are diligent, we pay careful attention to detail and are dedicated to achieving quality results. Diligence means that we are continually working toward our goals, making use of what resources and opportunities are available. We are vigilant to avoid errors and to stay focused on the task at hand. Our diligence provides a basis for people trusting us with jobs that are tricky or complicated and also important to them. Diligence does not rely on talent, but employs commitment, industry, and perseverance to transform vision into reality.

Diligence is a pre-requisite to excellence; diligence is the application of wisdom in the line of hardwork; diligence with time and talents is non-negotiable for entrepreneurs who aim to make profit in the market of life. What do you spend your time doing? Whose time do you buy? You’ll agree with me than an hour with Bill Gates is worth much more than an hour of sleep, learn to place a value on your time, learn to account for your talents. Account for the time you spend on social media, the time you spend with friends, the time you spend watching TV. If the time you spend on someone/something does not come back to you in an equal or greater value, it has been wasted.

Life is an enterprise, we trade in time and talents, are you making profit or loss?

Ogunyemi Bukola

Twitter: @zebbook

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/biochemicalbookkiey

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Five Characters Qualities of Notable Business people

Entrepreneurs come in a lot of different stripes and colors. Some are outgoing, some are introverted, some are detail-oriented and others are big-picture thinkers. While there are vast differences in their individual personalities, successful entrepreneurs tend to share certain characteristics and work habit. Keeping these concepts front and center can help you be a better boss, a more engaged leader and best prepared for whatever's coming around the corner.

Let's dive right in!

• Think strategically - Great ideas don't make money. The strategies that implement them do. No matter what your line of work is - it's the people who lay out the road maps, define roles and conceptualize the questions that get paid the big money - and with good reason. Whether it's baseball, insurance, custom web design, banking or engineering - strategic thinking and implementation is crucial to success. So remember, having great ideas is great - but without the strategic thinking to get it off the ground, it'll remain just a great idea.


• Try to avoid failure, but don't be terrified of it - Sure, no one wants to fail, but the reality is that most business owners will eventually. There will be days where you fail small and there will be others where the sound of your 'splat' as you hit the wall and vaporize into oblivion will exceed all definitions of the word 'spectacular'. Yes, you will fail, but it's also important to realize that failure isn't necessarily the end of your branding. In fact, most successful entrepreneurs are those who can turn failures into educational moments and in some cases - new opportunities. We go to often-ridiculous lengths to avoid failures when sometimes if we just accepted it's inevitability, we'd save a lot of time and money thanks to the great lessons it teaches. Don't actively pursue failure, but don't run from it - especially when there's something valuable to be learned.


• Learn to adapt and evolve - If you talked to a group of successful entrepreneurs who've been in business for more than five or six years, most of them would likely tell you that their business today is different in some way from what they started with. People change, markets change, demands change, prices change, marketing consultants move on and your needs will always evolve... you need to be able to go with the flow and make adjustments where appropriate if you're going to enjoy long-term success.


• Maintain discipline - They say the most successful businesses are the ones based on simple, repeatable systems. Sticking to those systems and processes can pay dividends. Having a decision-making process, marketing strategy, vetting the people you allow into it, deciding how you prioritize your day - all these things can mean a lot for a successful entrepreneur and can bring sanity to even the most chaotic, random day.


• Persistence - Ask anyone who's ever been successful at anything and they'll tell you that the word 'no' is the background music of their life. It only takes a few great clients to build a wildly successful business. Many who say 'no' today often don't say 'no' tomorrow. As such, getting wrapped up in the naysayers is pointless, deflating and counter-productive. One 'yes' a day is another colossal step towards your goal. Stay persistent and focused and you'll always be close to the light at the end of the tunnel.

Being an entrepreneur can be as challenging as it is rewarding. Stay focused, stay on task and most importantly - stay passionate! Good luck!

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Entrepreneurship - Are You Ready? 10 Truths to Handle

Are you whispering to yourself "I want to be an entrepreneur?" So, are you ready to launch your entrepreneurship venture? An entrepreneur should be honest about his or her strengthens and weakness. If you're not sure about them, then you'll not be able to focus on your strengths and deal with your weaknesses. This may lead to failure of your entrepreneurship venture. There is always a way you can deal with your weakness either by yourself or through others.

Let me tell you on this day, if you start your entrepreneurship venture for wrong reasons you're likely to fail no matter how viable it is. Again, if you're waiting for the perfect time to commence your entrepreneurship venture beware that it will never present itself. Just get started if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur!

Not all people will agree with your business idea, it may sound to be a silly idea. In such moment it is good for you to remain foolish and motivate yourself to work hard while at the same time you remain smart in every step you make. Belief in yourself and continue doing what it takes to be an entrepreneur.

I don't know about you but for me I have learned what entrepreneurship entails and still I am yet to learn more of it. Starting a business as an entrepreneur requires you to really work hard, in some occasions to sacrifice your social life and also your finances. Again, you might do all it takes to be an entrepreneur but still your entrepreneurship venture fails. Hey, I am not saying this to discourage you (I will never do that) but it happens in real life.
Being an entrepreneur can be an interesting career at the same time very challenging. There are some entrepreneurs who work very close with their employees and this leads them to have a working relationship that is good. As an entrepreneur, do you have a good relationship with your employees? Do you motivate them? Motivating yourself as an entrepreneur is a crucial thing to do. If you don't then it will be very difficult for you to motivate your employees.

Don't be misled; entrepreneurs don't live the lavish lifestyles you think of. In fact, they live a simple life and they're philanthropic. Therefore you should not perceive entrepreneurs as people who are after making money but instead you should perceive them as those people who are striving to make a difference in bettering the lives of people in many ways through their ideas.
What if I tell you that you can start a company and later on you get fired from the company that you had put a lot of effort in establishing? This has already happened to some entrepreneurs.

1.) You don't have to start big. Start small and gradually build your company each day. The growth of an entrepreneurship venture is a continuous process.
2.) When things don't work out don't start blaming your employees or other people. Remember you made a decision of becoming an entrepreneur and no one forced you. Instead of blaming your employees or other people you should listen to your intuition. Find a solution.

3.) Although you should earn a living through your entrepreneurship venture, you're not into it to be famous or to be a millionaire if not a billionaire. When you get started you'll earn less money until your entrepreneurship venture earns sufficient net profit.

... the typical profit of an owner-managed business is slim ~ By Scott A. Shane in his book The Illusions of Entrepreneurship.

4.) Many young entrepreneurs who are starting out may be tempted to listen to doubters. Never listen to those who doubt your entrepreneurship idea. You listen to doubters you lose your focus. During difficult moment you're likely to hear these words, "Remember I told you this business idea won't work. You could have continued... " I say to you once more "stay focused, period!" Even big companies face difficult moments and some of them have been forced to retrench their employees as a survival tactic. Some companies have been forced to shut down.

5.) You should give your employees opportunities to apply their creativity. Don't be an obstacle to their creativity. Listen to their opinions regarding new methods and strategies.

6.) You should always learn new things that will help you to improve the performance of your business. Learn from entrepreneurs who have already done it. There is no age limit for an entrepreneur to learn new things.

7.) Delegate work/tasks to your employees. This will enable you to focus on doing what is important and what you love doing. The tasks that you hate doing can be delegated to your employees who love doing them.

8.) Build a strong team work to work with. Building a strong team of employees to work with is a very important step that you should take. If you have a strong team work, your employees can do an excellent work beyond your expectations.

9.) Study other entrepreneurship ventures of the same market niche as yours.
10.) Lastly don't work blindly. Set goals and work according to them. Keep on doing the same good work and you should not forget to check periodically the progress.

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Entrepreneurs - Risk-Takers or Risk Averse?

If you are risk averse but want to be an entrepreneur you may think this trait will make the task of being a successful entrepreneur more challenging. In actual fact this is a trait that will aid your chances of success if you harness it in the correct manner.

As a risk averse person you may be more sensitive to risk. This gives you the opportunity to identify risks and put strategies in place to minimize them. If you are someone who is good at anticipating what could go wrong you are well positioned to try to prevent things from going wrong.

I would argue, therefore, that the more successful entrepreneurs are those that are risk averse. They plan in advance, look at every possible eventuality (within reason) and mitigate against risk to increase the likelihood of achieving the outcome they desire. Being a risk-taker implies that you are prepared to gamble more than you want to or worse still more than you can afford to. If this is your strategy you could set yourself up for disappointment very quickly.

Below I have listed some tips to help the risk averse entrepreneur minimise risk and reach their goal whatever that might be:

1) Plan in advance. This would appear self explanatory. However if you do not have a step by step plan and have not explored what areas of your idea could go wrong, if they do go wrong, it will take you longer to fix the issue (that's assuming you can fix it at all). In addition to this who is your target market; have you got a niche or unique selling point (USP); how are you going to market you idea; do you need investment from a third party; what is your 12 month projection? These and other areas will need planning to allow you to succeed.

2) Research. When you have designed a plan do some research. See if what you are proposing can actually be achieved. Is your idea something that people will be interested in? Does it appeal to your niche market?

3) Be SMART. If you are familiar with goal setting you will probably be aware of this format. Your goals need to be(s)pecific, (m)easurable, (a)chievable, (r)ealistic and (t)imed. By following this format you are much more likely to achieve your goals which will increase your level of motivation.

4) Use a SWOT analysis. This is a great way to evaluate the internal (s)trengths and (w)eaknesses of your plan. Whilst exploring possible (o)pportunities and (t)hreats. This will allow you to objectively make decisions and strategies whilst minimizing risk.
This above list is a guide to support the aspiring entrepreneur minimize risk however is not exhaustive.

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The Most Effective Method to Present Your Business

Knowing how to acquaint your business with a town and to your prospective clients is imperative resulting from the fact that first impressions are what is final. It is an individual's first impression that lasts and in the event that it is not favourable, then you could be 'prodding uphill' and working twice as hard as you else-wise could. Thus, as a general dependable guideline, make that first impression tally.

How you present your business will expansively rely on which industry you are in and what your unique selling point (USP) is to differentiate your little business from any competitors. In the event that your business is an absolutely late thought, then you will express quite unmistakably what you are in reality offering to do for your clients. Folks consistently prefer to know where the profit is for them.

Plainly state your profit for your clients to utilize your utilities:

Provided that your business is filling in as a 'go-amidst' utility, then you ought to unmistakably demarcate:

1. What the preference is for somebody to utilize your utility instead of heading off straight to where they have consistently gone and

2. Where your benefits are determined to come from ~ that is, who pays. Folks should realize what the expense is possible to be for any individual who utilizes your late aid.

Fixed commercial ventures are some of the time grimaced upon until they show their quality. This might be a demanding dissatisfaction to overcome so any revamped aid driver should have the capacity to demonstrate, and substantiate, their profit early.

The best equipped route to acquaint your brand new business is with take up conversation about the profits uninhibitedly and without feeling just as you are 'pleading'. By imploring, I mean don't give an impression of asking for business. State up front that you plan to make a benefit from offering the utility and don't feel liable concerning the way that you mean to make that benefit but there is unconditionally no require to stay upon the truth of the matter.

I have viewed and caught an excessive amount of humble business managers who sound and look self-reproachful regarding making a benefit from clients who utilize their utilities. You are introducing your humble business to potential users of your utilities to accord to make their lives simpler. Cheerfully, you will have your clients' requirements in mind above your particular need of benefit first.

By going at potential clients with a mindset of putting their requirements initially, individuals pick-up on that aim quite swiftly. Once folks feel as though their requirements are minded about and should be met, they unwind, listen and pay. Assuming that individuals have any suspicion to any detectable degree that your first expectation is to get their coin before all things else, then you could be battling a uphill fight to ever get them to utilize your utilities.

Not just will folks have the wrong impression of your business, they will tell others in critical condition since that is all they have prior experience with your aids. Their first impression could be their final contact with you so knowing how to present your business in quite a route as to leave a great impression of you and your aids will make your essence more straightforward and your business a stupendous luck.

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