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Reading For Home-Based Entrepreneurs—Books by Yank Elliott, MBA & IAHBE Staff Writer As a new home based entrepreneur you’re probably wondering why anyone would suggest you need to do anything else. Take time to read a book, magazine, or Internet article? You’ve got to be kidding! I’m not kidding, and you should be reading everything related in any way to your business. You can’t afford to not know about some important aspect of what you’re doing, and usually reading is the best way to learn what you need to do. Some recent studies indicate as many as 86% of new business owners have no previous business experience at all. The means most are OJT (“on-the-job-trained”) entrepreneurs. This might be good, because the best way to learn is by doing something yourself, but you have money and time invested! You need to get up to speed on a lot of issues as soon as possible. You’ve got to do a crash course in taxes, legal issues, business tools, marketing, finance, and customer relations. This is in addition to learning all you can about your products. One reason you should read in diverse subject areas beyond just your area of interest or expertise is that sometimes the smallest statement by an author can cause you to look at yourself, your business, and your life in an entirely new way and it will absolutely energize your attitude and revolutionize your business results. Those pearls of wisdom are like real pearls – rare and precious, but always worth seeking. There are other less obvious reasons for expanding your knowledge base as much as possible. One is the value of developing your reputation as an expert in your field. Strive to learn enough about your particular area of interest not just to talk about it but to teach it. You will be sought out by others, thereby increasing your company’s visibility along with your own. Another more obscure reason for expanding your own skills and knowledge is that you position yourself to be of more real help to your customers and other business associates. This, in turn, cements your image as a problem-solver and someone who gives of themselves to others. This kind of image is priceless and can’t be bought. The bottom line is you’ve got to read, read, and read! The Internet has opened the information gates to one and all. There is so much information in cyberspace that one person can become overwhelmed and get nothing from it. Besides, much of what you are exposed to is useless and irrelevant. Take SPAM for example. A major problem I’ve seen repeatedly is loss of focus. When you are on the Internet doing anything at all, what happens? You are flooded with pop-ups, pop-unders, and all manner of banner-type pages you did not ask for. Casinos and lotteries are all over the place, as well as long distance phone service and low mortgage rates. A lot of people don’t have the self-discipline to concentrate on their main reason for being on the Net—their business. They waste too much of their limited time resources chasing all over the place trying to look at everything. So my first advice to you is to you stay with your business and put aside all the distractions. A little practice at this will make you much more productive. Good sources of information you need to read on a regular basis don’t just happen. Besides the Internet you still have books, magazines and newspapers. Remember them? What you need to do is determine areas where you need more knowledge -- or where there is constant change -- and pursue these on a regular basis. The focus of this article will be on books. Through the years, I have used book clubs, the library, and Amazon to acquire and read a lot about a wide range of business subjects. I will try to group them into general subject areas. Your time is limited, so you must decide what is most urgent for you to know. Place priorities on reading and learning to separate the important areas and leave the rest. I suggest you use this article as a flexible guide. Here’s the way I use many “How-To” articles that contain lists (like this one) and the idea may help you, too: Print it so you can manually arrange the priority of items and perhaps delete information you don’t need. Copy the article to whatever text editor you use, i.e., MSWord, Notepad., etc.. Make the changes you have from No. 1 above and move items around to meet your needs. Schedule a little time daily or weekly to pursue the items that are important to you. Make yourself do these things regularly. Habit is hard to break, just like I HAVE to read my e-mail before doing anything else every day. My recommendation about books is that you develop a regular program of acquisition. There are many business-related books that should be in your personal library for future reference. You might search Amazon every month for a different business subject; you will turn up thousands under every topic. Go through the first three pages and pick as many as you want and can afford. It is surprising how often I refer to my personal library for some idea I vaguely remember or to find how to do something. Although Amazon and other book dealers offer generous discounts and reasonable shipping, regular purchases can begin to get expensive. Here are some ways you can control book costs: When you find a title you think may be of fleeting value to you, or one that is very expensive, visit your local library. If your local library does not have the book, ask them to try and get it through an interlibrary loan. This used to be a free service, but now some libraries charge a small fee. It is still much less than the cost of a book. Try to find your book as a paperback. Some books are only printed this way, but if you have a choice, paperback is always less expensive. On Amazon or a similar site, see if you can find a used copy of the book at a reasonable price. Remember that you still have to pay for postage. Recoup some of your investment by auctioning off books you no longer want on Amazon, eBay, or another Internet sales site. Check local bookstores or those in larger cities near you. Often they will buy used books for resale. I’ve done this a lot and you need to be aware the used book prices you get will be pennies on the original cost. I just ran out of shelf space and you will, too, if you purchase on a regular basis. However you do it, go ahead and get the books you need; it’s the only way to learn and become proficient as an entrepreneur. Here’s a list of some important books related to your business and personal financial life. The way you think and alternative approaches to getting things done are also included. Books are organized in very loose categories just to help you find those most helpful to you. All the links and prices are those of Amazon.com. This is a portion of my current list of must-read recommendations: Alternative
Ways of Thinking And Doing: Network
Marketing: Personal
Development: Personal
Finance: Strategy: Why
People Are Entrepreneurs: There are many more useful books to help you improve your business and personal life. More will be addressed in future articles. For now these should give you something to do. Yank is a home-based entrepreneur and freelance business writer living in Hurricane Alley, North Carolina, USA. His Website is www.furriwhalesworld.com. Contact Yank at globalbiz@furriwhalesworld.com.
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