5 Easy Steps to Determine Your Financial Status So You Can Break Free of Your Job Sooner

Before you walk away from your job to work full-time from home, one of the most critical pieces of information you need to know is how financially stable you are and how long you will be able to survive without a weekly pay check.

Here are 5 easy steps to help you plan wisely.

It doesn't have to be unpleasant or messy, but it does have to be done. You may be well on your way to building a full-time home-based business or may just be tossing the idea around right now, but having a clear understanding of your current and future financial commitments will play a MAJOR role in your strategic plan for business success.

Home-based business owners don't normally wake up one day and say, "Yep. I'm quitting my job today and starting a home-based business." There is usually a period of time for contemplation, exploration, making the decision, creating a plan, and then starting to execute steps within the plan to achieve the final goal.

The process can take anywhere from several months to several years before an employee is in a position to walk away from her job to begin life as a full-time entrepreneur.

Being financially responsible is critical to not only home-based business success, but to create the financial cushion required to transition from being an employee to a full-time entrepreneur.

Understanding your current financial position is mandatory and doesn't have to take more than an hour of your time if you follow the five basic steps below.

1. Calculate how much money you currently have sitting in bank accounts, investments, registered retirement savings plans, GIC's, real estate, etc. If you were to leave your job today, would there be any form of payout (ie. sick plan credit, pension plan contributions, unused holidays, anniversary pay, etc.)?

2. Determine how much you earn on a monthly basis either through employment, child support payments, rental properties, dividends, your existing home-based business, etc.

3. Record your monthly household expenses. Some examples to get you started are:

- mortgage/rent
- property tax/house and mortgage insurance
- utilities (heat/water/hydro)
- phone/cable/satellite/Internet
- yard maintenance/snow removal
- groceries and household supplies
- vehicle fuel, insurance and maintenance costs
- medical
- child care
- personal care (hair/nails/clothing)
- entertainment (movies/sports/books/plays)
- club memberships, publications, etc.

4. List your monthly business expenses, for example:

- Internet
- phone (separate business line)
- autoresponder
- shopping cart
- long distance
- bank fees
- office supplies
- tools
- web hosting
- marketing
- advertising
- part-time help
- coaching services
- shipping/postage, etc.

5. Identify your outstanding liabilities such as:

- credit card balances
- personal loans
- lines of credit, etc.
When you calculate your earnings and revenue on an annual basis and deduct your personal and business expenses. How much do you have remaining at the end of the year? Can a portion of this be put aside to build your financial cushion?

If your current business revenue isn't enough to cover your business and personal expenses and if you were to quit work today, how long would you be able to survive on your other revenue sources or savings and assets, taking into account your monthly expenses?

Have you considered all unexpected expenditures that could arise in the next year or two?

Is your car running on its last two cylinders?
Has your furnace almost reached its life expectancy?
Is your vacuum cleaner starting to growl at you?
Is your partner's job secure or do you foresee unstable times ahead?

This exercise is by no means intended to scare or discourage. Financial stability is an area that needs to be addressed so you can keep your feet firmly planted and plans realistic as you build your home-based business.

Understanding where you are and what potentially lies ahead will help you make sound financial decisions as you plan your future.

After completing these five steps, you may realize your dream to break free of your job might take a year longer than expected, or you may learn that in order to move forward at a quicker pace, you may have to bring in a partner or investor, or learn to leverage your time, money and effort more efficiently to expedite progress.

Perhaps seeking professional guidance on reducing debt and managing finances is in order?

No matter what results you generate, don't let them shake your spirit. Knowing exactly where you are financially will help you make informed, practical decisions so you can create your ideal future.

To increase your level of success at home-based business, make sure you have a financial advisor and accountant as part of your success team.



Tweet   Bronzi Home Based Business Tips

Read More

Can Your Behavioral Style Impact The Success Or Failure Of Your Home Based Business?

Are you a risk taker? Do you like to interact with customers? Are you the type of entrepreneur who likes to work on group projects in collaboration with others? Or do you prefer to work alone analyzing detailed work?

A lot of questions, but if you are going to be successful in your home based business, the answers could be critical to your success!

Understanding your behavioral style can help you succeed in your home based business, whether your work requires you to talk on the telephone with vendors, meet in person with customers, work with others to deliver your products or communicate over the Internet. Every style has strengths and limitations. And strengths if overused, can be weaknesses.

Most people have a primary behavioral style that is their natural approach to how they tend to respond or behave in certain situations. The DISC® model provides a quick and easy way for determining your behavioral style. Most people are unaware of their behavioral style, yet their close friends, family members and even co-workers can often tell what motivates them. Getting in touch with what motivates you as an entrepreneur and what motivates your customers is an important tool for a home-based business. It can impact your bottom line and provide direction in all that you do!

Here are the four behavioral styles: “D”- is the dominant or the risk taking style. If you are a “D” you are likely to prefer entrepreneurial pursuits where you can lead projects and present new ideas. You will have no trouble contacting the CEO of a major company and scheduling an appointment. You might have a tendency to be a bit heavy handed and if you’re not careful, you could chase some customers away. The “I” style is the people oriented style, motivated by recognition and interaction with others. If you are an “I” you will be great at marketing your business and persuading customers to buy your products. You may even get your foot in to door with a customer when your product or idea is not well thought out and this could cause you to lose a sale. The “S” is the Steadiness or team player style that tends to be cooperative and prefers to work in settings with others.

If you are an “S” style you will excel in projects that provide clear steps and processes that are sequential. You will do well with customers who like your dependability and you calming reassuring nature. You may be challenged with changes to your processes or your projects and you may have to work harder when responding to changes. If you are a “C”, you are analytical and logical.
You are reserved and business like in your demeanor and are quite comfortable working alone. Your customers will appreciate your attention to detail and the high quality of your work. You may
be challenged with in person meetings or criticism of your work and you will need to take care to meet customer deadlines.

Because most home based businesses are operated by sole proprietors or micro businesses, understanding your behavioral style is a quick and easy way to get real feedback that will forever change your business life! When you are in touch with your behavioral style you will learn what motivates you, become more aware of your own style preferences and biases, and understand how you react when you are frustrated or under stress. Moreover, you will be able to learn how to communicate more effectively to meet the style preferences of your customers, your business partners and your vendors.

So what style are you? What about your customers? If you have a home based business and or have a business that is operated primarily on the internet, it will be critical for you to adapt your ads and even your website, to appeal to the several behavioral styles mostly likely to be reflected in that environment.

Because most of us have a combination of styles, to determine your overall behavioral profile, you should take an online assessment. Once you learn your real style, you are in a much better position to gauge others and align your business accordingly.

Knowing your behavioral style and how your tendencies impact the way you conduct your home based business will be critical to your success or failure.



By Dr. Devona Williams
and Kenny Anderson




Bronzi Home Based Business Tips

Tweet

Read More

7 Tips How To Work At Home Successfully

So, you've decided to start a home based business. Congratulations! and welcome to the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship. While there is a lot to learn, your effort will be worth it. The thrill of growing your business, the freedom and flexibility to set your own hours, and the possibilities of ever-increasing financial rewards are all wonderful reasons to start your home based business.

Now that you've decided to start your business, you might be wondering "How can I get it off to the strongest possible start?"

These seven tips will help:

1) Set up a separate working space in your home.
It doesn't matter if this is a small bedroom, one part of the garage, or a corner of the living room. The important thing is to have some space that you can designate as your working area. This will give you the space and room you need to craft your dream.

2) Stock your working space with materials.
This sounds basic, perhaps, but one underlying element of success is that you have easy access to the tools, materials, and other resources you need. Gathering everything close by also keeps you from wasting time searching for it, so this step can be considered a time management strategy, too.

3) Speaking of time management, your third step is to define the parameters of your business.
What days and hours will you work? When will you market? When will you provide services or products to clients? How will you keep all of this straight?

4) Balance action with planning.
One of the most common pitfalls to successful entrepreneurship is getting too caught up in action without enough planning. Stated another way, this means that you confuse "being busy" with "working on important projects." The best approach is to plan your next couple of goals and then work backwards to create step by step action plans to reach them. Once you have the plan, then it's time to take the action.

5) Network like crazy.
One of the fastest ways to grow any business is to make connections with other people. Be sure to share your passion and enthusiasm with others at every opportunity. Let people know who you are and what you offer. Remember, people can't buy if they don't know you're selling.

6) Present a professional image.
If you want to be treated professionally, present a professional image. Set up a separate bank account for your business. Install a separate phone and fax line. Create professional marketing materials. Be courteous and pleasant in all your customer facing interactions. Basically, be someone people want to do business with.

7) Automate your business as much as possible.
Granted, you are just one person (right now) and might have a lot of extra time to take care of all the details. This might work for now, but won't work into the future as you get busier and busier. It's best to set up automatic systems and processes right from the start to free up your time to concentrate on the most profitable activities.

These seven tips will get your home business started (and growing) in the right direction.



Tweet

Read More

Baby Boomers 5 Essential Things You Must Do Before Starting a Home Based Business

Don't quit your day job just yet. If you are a baby boomer looking to start a home based business, there are 5 essentials things you must do first.

Leaving the security of a job with an established 401(k) plan, health insurance or other benefits can create a real tug of war for baby boomers who want to pursue their dreams of owning their own business.

Analyze Your Exit Strategy
At the time of this writing, the youngest of the baby boomers are turning 42 and the oldest are turning 60. No matter where you fall into this group (and I am one of them), analyzing and preparing your exit strategy from your job will be crucial to your long-term success as a home business entrepreneur. Do you have adequate savings? If you're married, will you be able to participate in your spouse's health insurance?

Create a Financial Plan
How much is your salary now? What are your fixed, variable and frivolous expenses? Creating a solid plan so that you and your family will know exactly what the financial picture will be until your business gets off the ground and starts generating revenue.

Choosing a Business Model and Legal Entity
There are several business models to choose from; home party plans, consulting, and affiliate marketing to name a few. You have to make the decision based on your personality and what you are best-suited for. Choosing a legal entity for your business should be discussed with a tax accountant or your attorney. Options are sole proprietor, LLC or Subchapter S- Corp.

Set Business Benchmarks
You wouldn't travel across the country without a road map, your business is the same. Setting financial and business-building benchmarks will help you to create a focused plan that will help you to reach your success.

Get a Physical
What does getting a physical have to do with your business? Once you leave your job, most likely your health insurance will change and as unfair as it may be, trying to get new health insurance when in your 40's, 50's or 60's can be difficult. While pursuing your dreams of a home business is something you are probably very passionate about, if you do not have good health to enjoy the rewards of your efforts, then not much else is important.

The baby boomer generation is like no other before it or after it. Technically, we are considered middle-aged, but we are anything but middle-aged in mind, body and spirit. We know there is more meaning to life than a commute to an unrewarding 9-5 job, but there are also important steps we must take first. Planning and preparing for your home business now will lead to less headache's later on.


Tweet

Read More

5 Pillars To A Successful Home Business

1 - Hustle:
Generally, people who make it big have one thing in common—they are dissatisfied with the status quo. They will not take what is “common” or “expected” and let that define their lives—they move past it and excel. You must work hard and hustle.

2 - Character:
Someone coined the phrase, “character is what you do in the dark.” In other words, when no one is looking, will you behave differently than if someone was looking? If not, then you have character. If you are attacked, be tough—not hard. Don’t be a pushover, but be compassionate, gentle, and flexible—especially on procedure (not principle).

3 - Risk Taking:
This isn’t gambling, it’s a willingness to be bold, hearty, and to push forward. People who refuse to take risks are definitely going to lose. If you refuse a new promotion because you’re not confident of your skills, you will likely be passed over when a different chance arrives.

Don’t be afraid of rejection, just take it as part of life and you’ll find there’s nothing to be afraid of—especially in the word “no.” “No” is just another opportunity to find a way around an obstacle and to use creative problem-solving skills.

4 - Time Management:
We all know that one minute has 60 seconds and that one hour has 60 minutes. One day has 24 hours, and one year has 365 days. But one year also has 525,600 minutes. We don’t think about a year in such small increments, but maybe we should.

We waste minutes as if they’ll always be around, and the fact is that time wasted is time we can never get back. We might miss a deal or promotion of a lifetime by wasting just a few minutes.

Proper time management is essential as you climb to success. Continue to break goals down in to manageable chunks—do that with relation to your day and the time you’ve been given. You’ll accomplish far more this way and you won’t regret using your time wisely.

5 - Master Non-Verbal Communication:
It is said that our body language and facial expressions do much more communicating than our words will ever do. When the words that you speak don’t match the expressions on your face or the stance of your body, you confuse the listener and muddle your message.

Be aware that when you try to “multi-task,” you often end up short-changing something, and the last thing you want is to short-change people. Don’t try to do too much at once—your willingness to do this tells people they aren’t important, even if you’re expressing your appreciation of their work and effort.

Be aware of what message your body is sending off!


Tweet

Read More

4 Simple Strategies You Can Use To Build Momentum For Your Home Business Right Away

Be honest with yourself. Are you one of those people that believe that you just don’t have the time to get your home business up and running? You’re not alone. Many people I talk to claim they have too much to do and not enough time to do it. They wind up defeating themselves and their business looses momentum and suffers.

Full time jobs, family obligations, maintaining health and too many other distractions are the main reasons for not building momentum for their business. You can wind up feeling that your life is spent catering to every one else’s obligations.

However, I have some good news! You can find and maximize time to build momentum for your home business. All you need is to find time and commit to use that time for your home business only. Try the following strategies to make your home based business flourish.

1. Document Your Daily Routine
The first thing you will need to do find a quiet place and write down your schedule. Document the start and end time on events like getting ready for work, driving your kids to school, your commute to your day job, gym time and any other weekly commitments you have. Don’t forget to include weekends and family time (this is most important). 

After completing this exercise you should have a good visual of what your work week looks like. You should see openings in your week. Make your goal easy: try to find two hours you can commit to spend on your business. You should be able to re-prioritize some time.
 
2. Stay with the Schedule You Created and Re-Evaluate
The next thing you need to do is stick with your schedule. This can be tough because you are creating a new habit.  Once you get the hang of your new routine, you should always re-evaluate your schedule. You may be able to find more time to spend on your home business.

Sticking with your schedule means you need to discipline yourself to work. This means that you have to find a way after work, after little league games, after dinner and after putting the kids to bed.

3. Don’t Forget Your Family.
Spending time with my family is always a top priority for me. I have young children so I try to focus on the business when my kids are in bed. I find that using the evening hours is best for me to spend on my home business. It seems to be the most quite part of the day.

If you have to use your family time to spend on your business, make sure you communicate with your family so they have an expectation of what you are doing. However, I would recommend that you set a time limit so you can spend that time you want with your family. This will provide balance for you.

4. Embrace Distractions
As we all know life also throws us off schedule. Try your best to embrace that fact instead of fighting it. If your child stays up late, focus on helping your child quiet down and go to sleep. Try not to focus on what you could be doing. Don’t worry. The work will still be there when you are ready.

If you have to stay late at your day job, then choose to work late. Usually, you’ll find that it is better just to focus on one thing at a time. You’ll be more efficient and effective. Having a clear and guilt free mind while working on your business is most productive.

To handle new ideas that can distract you while you are working, keep an MP3 Recorder handy so if an idea comes up you can record it or write down the idea in a notebook. You can always prioritize those thoughts at a later time. You will also find that you are using less energy dealing with distractions instead of fighting them.

So there is good news when it comes to finding time to work on your own business. Don’t despair and don’t get frustrated. Just remember that you have total control of your time and you alone can change your habits to build your businesses momentum.



Tweet

Read More

Article Video Robot - What If Your Articles Could Talk?

Imagine if you could hire a full time a video and audio producer at your disposal who would turn every article you have written into a Web Video - bringing to life your article's messages.

Because I'm going to introduce you to a Never-Before-Seen Technology That Will Bring Your Article Marketing To The Next Level!

It's called The Article Video Robot and it will convert your articles to LIVE and TALKING videos in minutes.

Go check it out here:
http://articlevideorobot.bronzillasheppard.com/

All you have to do is Copy & Paste Your Article Into This Software And it just
Converts Your Article Into A Hot Marketable Video Instantly!

You don't even have to leave your desk or touch a camera!

Here is a free video that will show you how it's done:
http://articlevideorobot.bronzillasheppard.com/

I Guarantee You That after you see this, it will Change Everything You Have Heard, Seen Or Tried In Article Or Video Marketing.

It's push button easy and only costs you 0.97 cents per article.. Yes, for only .97 cents what if this guy would turn all your articles into videos (up to 10 mins), including the voice-over, animation, all the graphics and submission to 17+ video sharing sites like youtube, veoh, metacafe.. all this for just .97 cents! Do you think it's possible?

This pricing will go up soon, so check it out while you still can.

Cheers!
Bronzilla Sheppard


Tweet

Read More

Bronzi Home Based Business Tips Review

Hi there, welcome to Bronzi Home Based Business Tips first video review. Videos is a easy way you can get to build backlinks to your blog or website. Advertise your business on Youtube and other video sites and just do plain old video marketing.

I had decided that I wanted more traffic to my blog. I figured that I wanted to make some videos. But, I didn't want my videos to be just a home made ones. I wanted it to be more professional. I started to search and found that this could be very expensive.

Then, I came across this, "Article Video Robot".

This is awesome!

Well, long story short I typed in what I wanted it to say, add pictures and picked a human narrator to talk for me. I added my social networks, my youtube channel and other video sites to share my video on and whala my video is down below.

Now, one of the best parts about this is you get to send your blog or website link, too with your video. This is how you get your backlink and visitors to your blog or site.

You can make your video about anything. There are different skins and music you can use. You can even use your blog posts to make videos. Did you write any articles? Use them for your video. There is even a plugin for your wordpress blogs.

Well, you have to check out the video and then check out Article Video Robot here.

If you decide to get, use this coupon code for 50% off:  
AVR2-SALESBGS

Let me know if you like the video. Thanks






Tweet

Read More

Differences Between Marketing And Advertising

Marketing and Advertising, although they sound similar but in reality they are not. Advertising is only a part of the bigger game called Marketing. Marketing encompasses complete conceptualization of a brand right from research to designing to advertising to sale. Advertising, on the other hand is a component of the marketing process which is nothing but conveying the message through variety of mediums to promote the product.


Advertising is one of the most important component of a marketing strategy and also the most expensive. Advertising constitutes sending the message across the public about your company, product or services. It also constitutes behind the scenes work like the process involving formation of various strategies and coming up with a right one to target the viewers. The strategy consists of planning things like placing ads, deciding what media to use, what time, frequency etc. The advertisements are generally placed via mediums like television, snail mail, newspapers, internet, emails, radio, magazines, mobile messaging, flyers, billboards etc. The most popular one is of course television although advertising on internet is becoming increasingly popular too.

Easiest way to differentiate advertising from marketing is to consider marketing as a cake and if you cut the cake, advertising as one of the pieces of that cake. The other pieces of cake are market research of the product, product designing, media planning, PR, product pricing, customer satisfaction, customer support, sales and many more. All these components or pieces of cake should work independently but collectively in achieving the bigger goal i.e. sell product and build company’s reputation in the market.

Marketing is a marathon process involving many tasks that involve hours sometimes days of research. The research part of marketing takes the longest duration as it involves thoroughly understanding the behavior of people towards a product. Designing the product and developing advertising strategy is also a time consuming process. Only components that take less time are executing advertisements and sales. Marketing can also be perceived as a medium between consumers and the company.

But many companies often make mistake of confusing advertising with marketing. They try to ape big companies like Coke and Pepsi in advertising but they simply ignore the work that goes behind that. The classical example of this is, take the case of logo for instance. Many business owners are so hysterical about the logo of their company in their advertisements that they think that it will simply bring in the sales. But what makes a logo works is none other than the reputation of the company and the logo must have a feeling to it and should truly reflect company’s values. One should also remember that these companies spend fortunes on advertising which a new start up business can’t.

Rather than spending unnecessary money on branding your product one should invest money and time in communicating to the consumers that they can address their expectations. After building reputation and growing to a big size company one can think of these lavish ideas. Educating the consumers also helps as it will give them an understanding that you know what you do and are best at doing that.

Smart marketers are aggressive in approach rather than passive. They provoke reader’s minds by prompting them to do something rather than just making them knowledgeable of the product. Smart marketers also bring home the names, addresses and contact numbers of people who are really interested in hiring your company by employing aggressive marketing. Thus having a good marketing campaign speaks a lot about the company and their products and advertising gives that finishing touch to the hard work done by the marketing people in selling a product.


Tweet

Read More