Reminders For Running A Better Business

The following tips are from an article we contributed to Compute magazine. These are ideas that we all should know, but many times forget. It constantly amazes us how quickly a basic tenent of business can be shoved by the wayside in the heat of daily transactions.

If we all try to keep these simple principles in mind, they may keep us on the straight and narrow in our pursuit of home office bliss.

1. Buy an answering machine. This will allow you to give your attention to a client and not the telephone. Be sure your message is done in a professional manner and includes business name, telephone number and hours of operation.

2. Be sure to have a separate telephone line for business. This will avoid your family using the same line and busy signals to prospects and clients. Keep your personal calls separate and insure your business line is always answered in a professional manner.

3. Read, read and read some more. You will constantly be learning about your business. Reading will allow for additional knowledge, change and growth.

4. Buy a fax machine. This will allow you to give your clients prompt responses and in many cases save on postage and telephone costs. It will also avoid having to leave your office to go and fax something at $1.25 or more per page.

5. Have an identity package professionally done. Your logo, letterhead, business card, envelope and brochure will be the first impression a prospect or client has of you. To insure the impression is a good one, have your business package done by a professional designer. The cost is worth it.

6. If possible set up your office in a separate room of your home. This will allow you to close the door at the end of the business day and allow better separation of your personal and business life.

7. To project a professional appearance be sure your home is always neat and clean-nothing lying about. In addition be sure your yard is well kept. Remember, first impressions count.

8. Be sure your business name is descriptive of what you do. Business names that don't relate to your services can hurt a business. Avoid using just initials, that's fine when you get to be the size of AT&T, but remember, in the beginning no one knows you.

9. Make up a business plan. This will help you research, define and outline your market. It also avoids starting a business in a field that may be overcrowded.

10. If possible, be sure to have at least six months worth of living expenses in reserve. This will allow you to concentrate on getting your business up and running without worrying about paying the bills.

11. If possible, buy a copy machine. This avoids having to go out every time you need to make a copy. Also, it allows you to give a client a copy on the spot. This can go a long way towards enhancing your image as a real business.

Interested in having your own successful, home based creative real estate investing business? Chuck and Sue have been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 19 years, and we can help you too! To see how, visit http://www.homebusinesssolutions.com for the latest FREE tips and tricks, educational products and coaching in creative real estate investing and home based businesses. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to our "how to" Home Business Solutions Digest, it's like having your own personal coach: subscribeHBS@homebusinesssolutions.com

RELATED ARTICLES

My 7 Most Important Business Lessons
Millions of people start new small businesses in the United States every day. Many fail at running a small business every day. What causes one business owner to succeed where another fails? There are seven key areas to focus your efforts for a successful small business. It starts with knowing oneself and ends with not being afraid to ask for help.

How To Use Bartering To Gain An Advantage Over Your Competition
If you have a business on the Internet you should be bartering goods and services with other businesses. You should always try to trade for something before you buy it. Barter deals usually require no money. Although sometimes you may need money to offset the value of the goods or services being traded.

Ten Ways to Manage a Rapidly Growing Business
While some new business owners face the issue of not enough customers, others face the issue of too many customers/clients. Both are serious issues and must be dealt with carefully. There are many lists on how to find new customers/clients. Here is a list of 10 ways to deal with a rapid influx of new customers. The goal is a steady flow of just the right customers/clients.

Why Clarity Is Essential To Building Massive Momentum In Your Business
Clarity is an absolutely essential ingredient for you to achieve your full potential in business. Napolean Hill, in his classic book Think & Grow Rich, said "Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve." He goes on to explain why having a clear definition of what you want to achieve is a critical factor in your success.

Ten Tips for Working at Home
1. Maintain regular working hours and stick to them.

7 Secrets to Writing Inventory Procedures
What would You do with $1,000,000

7 Strategies for Handling Last Minute Meetings
Have you ever found yourself having to scramble to organize a meeting at the last minute? Wouldn't it be nice that if and when this daunting situation arose, you were well prepared with all necessary information ready at your fingertips? That's why I've developed the following seven survival strategies to help you plan for the inevitable, because you know as well as I, it's going to happen 'someaday.'

7 Steps Toward a Better Website
Creating a website is one thing, making it better is another. Matt shares 7 steps to help you gain a better website.

Sales Marketing: 10 Tips On How To Promote Yourself And Generate Sales
A lot of people are insecure about buying something or doing business with strangers.

Seven Steps to Achieving Your Dream
"Vision is the spectacular that inspires us to carry out the mundane." -- Chris Widener

Why Dont They Just Get It Done: 7 Performance Tactics for CEOs
Buckling under the weight of chronic corporate restructuring, and frustrated by performers who don't respond to carefully crafted strategic plans, high level executive leaders are being confronted by a growing performance gap between what needs to get done and what gets done.

Increase Exposure, and Profits With Powerful Memorable Business Cards Using These Ten Strategies
Your business card is a valuable piece of real estate and a powerful tool for making a connection and starting a relationship that can show your potential clients the valuable solutions you can offer them.

Top 10 Ways Websites Makes Me Suffer
I believe some people create and publish websites for the sole purpose of tormenting their visitors. Browsing various websites and navigating the Web can often be like trying to read on an airplane while a kid kicks the back of your seat and the baby next to you alternates between screaming, crying and drooling on you. There are some excellent websites out there to be sure, but there are also a lot of dreadful ones too. The latter are the bane of so many people's existence, especially those who use the Web regularly.

Never Sell Again: Get Repeat Business and Avoid the Need to Prospect
If you're a business owner, you know that repeat business is critical to your success. It also makes your life much easier because you can count on ongoing business without having to continuously find new prospects and convince them to hire you.

Top 10 Ways to Turn Clients Into Raving Fans
Do you find great joy in being a coach? If so, you will find that your enthusiasm is contagious and will attract clients. Be sure to develop a superb and supportive community. Enlist them in building a practice and in supporting you as you go down the coaching road. Embrace change. It is your constant companion as you build your coaching business.

Ten Tips on Delegating Work
One way to manage your time more effectively is to delegate work to others on your staff or to contract workers you hire for specific projects. How often I hear such comments as, "It takes too much time to delegate." "If I delegate the work there is no guarantee that the work will be done properly. It is just easier to do it myself." "No one can do this as well as I can." If others who have a lower hourly rate can do the work while you focus on the work only you can do, your cash flow will be better because you can do more of the work that only you can do.

Top Ten Tips for Online Publishing Success
Use the checklist below to make sure your article, tip, or book excerpt will get published and make you a household name on the Internet.

Entrepreneurs - 7 Business Mistakes You Must Avoid
Many mistakes can be made in business and if you are able to avoid some of them by reading and taking note of these warnings, then the time taken to put these together will be worth while. Here are some business mistakes that are common to many entrepreneurs..

Surviving When Clients Arent Rolling In
As the holiday season starts to settle in, the workload for many Micro-Businesses can slow down.

Top Ten Tips for Improving Your Cash Flow
Cash is king-so they say. If you work for yourself or someone else, you need to be aware of ways to improve the cash flow. Budgeting and collecting are not glamorous but they are both key to having a successful business. Working in a successful business is much more fun than working for a struggling one!

home | site map