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Life’s Little Luxuries No More
When both parents work from home, reality changes. Some things get quite a bit harder. Little things that we took for granted are no longer possible.
- When we want to take time off, there is no vacation pay. If we get sick, there is no sick pay. We can’t take time off unless we are caught up, and financially ahead.
- Home is no longer the place where you do not have to worry about work. Work is part of every moment, there, filtering its way through your day.
- Hobbies have to be replaced with work tasks. There isn’t time to paint, or read very much for recreation, or to watch movies, or indulge in other time wasters. Those pastimes have to give way to paying endeavors. A lot of those are fun, so it isn’t pure drudgery, but we still have to choose wisely.
Daily decisions are different. We have to choose for business and family, and somehow balance the two. Sometimes we can’t do things we’d like, because we are self-employed. Kevin cannot go to Scout Camp with Alex and Erik this year. There is no way we can afford for him to take a week off. With a deadline looming, I had to choose carefully before going to a women’s church luncheon today. It is just the reality of balancing live where the time you put in, or do NOT put in, affects your ability to meet payroll a week later.
It is easy to take some things for granted when you are employed by someone else. That equation changes when you are solely responsible for every bit you earn though.
It isn’t all bad. By making extraordinary sacrifices now, we are building something better. And the rewards are purely wonderful. I’d go into detail, only I don’t want my site to be banned by family friendly websites! In between all the work, there is good interaction with the family, and working with our clients is purely a joy.
Working from home IS a lot about what you give up. But it is equally about what you gain. Benefits that I’d not trade for anything!
What it Means to Love What You Do
Imagine getting up in the morning with your job on your mind, and a sense of excitement permeating the air. You know you have to shower and get breakfast, but those are mere details to get out of the way, not delay tactics to avoid work.
Imagine feeling like that every day.
When you choose the right career or business, it can be like that more days than it is not. For work at home moms, every day can be a delightful balance between kids you love, and work you love.
Ok, so it isn’t all sunshine and roses. But then, nothing is. But loving what you do makes work very worthwhile. It keeps you going over the rough spots – helps you keep on keeping on when it seems like it isn’t ever going to get you anywhere. Every business has those spots, so getting through them is a milestone to success.
It is more important to choose something you love and are good at than it is to choose something lucrative. Mere money is not enough to get you up every day to face a mire of tasks you hate. But enjoyment is enough to compel you to come back and figure out how to make what you love into a profitable venture.
Every task in your business won’t be fun. But there should be enough fun things to balance the drudge work. Every business takes HARD work, and more dedication than any of us realize when we are starting out. But work that provides enjoyable moments scattered through the day seems less like work than an endless repetition of things we do not enjoy.
When was the last time you thought that going to bed at night was an annoyance? When was the last time you felt like you’d rather finish a creative employment task than watch a movie? When was the last time you were excited about learning something new that helped you earn more?
If you haven’t felt those things, then you haven’t experienced the excitement that comes from doing work you truly love. My brother is not self-employed, but he said of his work, “Sometimes I have so much fun a this that I can’t believe they actually pay me to do it!” My father was the same. They are both loggers. Not something most people consider to be fun, but they loved their work.
As a teen and young adult, I’d have never figured that I’d love the work I do now, but I really do! Sure, there are many days when I am discouraged, and many tasks that I’d love to procrastinate. But overall, I love this, because I’m good at it, and I can genuinely help other people achieve meaningful goals. It gets me up every morning excited to see what is in my inbox.
If you aren’t feeling that a good deal of the time, then what are you going to change in order to get it?
The Last of the Baby Boomers
Baby Boomers are a generation that I’ve never particularly identified with. My husband, who is 6 years older than I, never has either.
Recently I read an article about Baby Boomers. It said that they are starting to retire now, and that the next 15 years would see the further retirement of more of them. I thought that was a bit close to my age range. Sure enough, later the article said that the outside date for Baby Boomers is 1964.
I was born in 1964.
Now, I don’t know where that information came from, or whether it is even accurate. Can’t say I even feel any sense of anything at the news. It never meant anything before, and frankly, it doesn’t mean anything now!
The retirement of the largest age group does present some interesting implications for some businesses. I’m not sure it does with mine.
The Baby Boomers were the first to say they did not trust anyone over the age of 30. I definitely don’t identify with that… nor did I ever. One wonders whether they do! One wonders whether they are not now saying they don’t trust anyone under the age of 50.
Personally, I’d trust a 50 something dedicated entrepreneur over a 30 something overeager corporate climber any day. But then, since I am not really a Baby Boomer, and never really tried to be, I couldn’t speak for the real ones.
Looking Out for Client Interests When Customers Stop Spending
As a web service provider, I share a responsibility for the well-being of many of my clients’ businesses. When recession hits, I can either schlump along hoping that things will get better, or I can learn enough to help my clients pull through. By helping them, I better my business along with theirs.
In order for that effort to be successful, I have to learn some things:
- I have to be familiar enough with my clients’ target markets to understand how they are likely to react in regards to the product or service that my clients sell.
- I have to learn strategies for cost effective optimization, so they can be implemented when need is great, but money is tight.
- I have to think creatively and logically, to help them find product or service adaptations to help my clients successfully adjust their business to keep it healthy. Generally, if I understand their business well, I can help them with this.
- I need to help them devise ways to alter their marketing to reflect the changes, or to change their target market enough to help compensate for loss of revenue from their current market.
Mostly, it is a matter of learning how customers think in relation to various products or services when money is tight, and then thinking of ways to help a business compensate.
It is also important that I keep in communication with my clients, offer help when needed, and help them spot trends early that may indicate that a recession is affecting their business. Sometimes they will know something is off, but a good stats analysis can help them define where the problem is – whether people have stopped visiting their site, or whether they are still visiting, but just not buying.
To a certain degree, whether my clients survive in a poor economy, is partly due to my efforts.
Scheduling and Being Scheduled
When you live by the dictates of other people’s whims, it is difficult to schedule. Sometimes there is no help for being overloaded, and getting behind!
We keep being advised to hold our clients to a schedule. If we worked with a different clientele, perhaps we could. But our clients are less able to keep to a rigid schedule because they themselves are sole-proprietors. They often have to balance emergencies in their own business, with no one to fall back on. The web work gets set aside, as lower priority.
We understand that. We really do! Which is one reason our policies have developed to accommodate that. One of our selling points is that the client sets the schedule more than we do. But we did have to change the way we explain things to them!
Generally I try to keep about half of my day unscheduled, and unplanned. Most mornings I wake to find that my inbox is full of plans for the rest of the day, and sometimes for a few more days as well! As much as possible, I try to get their work done quickly. But if it has not been scheduled ahead, it just has to go in the queue. Some clients aren’t so understanding about that!
But really, if they delay, and delay, and I have no idea of when the work is coming in, they cannot complain if I am overbooked when they finally turn it in.
The solution for us has been to communicate better with our clients, both before the contract is signed, and after. Letting them know when they turn something in, whether we are caught up, or running behind. I suspect our business will always be a feast or famine business, and we won’t be able to easily offload work onto other people. It is just the nature of working with very small businesses.
In spite of the problems, I really like working with our clients. They are amazing people, hard working, and perfectly willing to be reasonable as long as our emails are not filled with excuses.
While I cannot demand that they keep to a schedule, I can help them understand that they must work within my schedule once the work is turned in.
Spotting Growth Potentials in a Weak Economy
Many of my colleagues are noticing a slowdown in some types of work, as people assess their resources and put off purchasing upgrade services. Even within a slow economy, there are growth potentials. Finding them can help a business weather the storm, and be one of the survivors instead of one of the sinkers.
It is important that you begin the process with the basics in place – good optimization which was prioritized to your level of growth, combined with a solid marketing plan. If you go into an economic slump with those elements in place, you already have the edge. If you don’t, then trying to put those in place when you are already hurting is very difficult. It is easier to maintain a position if you are already on top than it is to fight your way up against a double challenge.
This means, if you feel that a recession is coming, get a good marketing assessment, make sure your site is performing well NOW, and implement a long term marketing plan to keep it growing. Once that is done, you can watch for signs of flagging customer response within your market, and you’ll be well positioned to respond in effective ways.
Certain things gain ground when the economy is tight, and having a basic understanding of how the market changes can help you be prepared to adjust should the need arise:
- Frugal solutions
- Cost effective marketing services – IF they can be proven to work, or carry a guarantee
- Work at Home solutions – the spirit of gambling increases in this arena, but so do the sincere startups.
- Businesses that have been coasting as a sideline may need to pull their weight, requiring purchase of services.
- Do it Yourself options increase in popularity.
- Free informational and instructional resources gain ground.
- Necessities continue to be purchased, though at a lower price.
- Some kinds of entertainment gain ground due to escapism behaviors, but prices may need to be lowered.
- There is more scope for creative solutions, but people are less willing to pay for it.
- Guarantees, reliability, durability, proof of efficacy, full value, payment plans, and other factors become more important, so offering them can increase salability of your product or service.
People don’t STOP buying in a weak economy. They spend less, or they economize more, but they do still buy. The key is to analyze your business, and determine where the money is transferred to, or where people want to economize, and then offer them that option.
Refusal to change, or changing in the wrong way, will kill your business. The earlier you adapt, the more likely you are to continue to adapt, and hold your ground against your competition. Watch your business trends. If you have declines where you usually hold steady, or plateaus where you usually gain, taking into account seasonal trends, then you may need to assess the changes within your target market, and find a way to adjust your product or service offerings to the needs of your customers – or find a way to attract a new customer base that is migrating from another area in the market.
You’ll also need to adjust your marketing materials to reflect the differences in what you are offering, and who you are trying to attract. Most changes are subtle, not dramatic, but they make a big difference in how people respond. Marketing assistance IS available that is affordable, provably effective, and which can help you make those small changes in a way that pays for itself and more.
So far several of our clients have discussed the potential recession issue with us. And those who are watching for it have largely just gone through a series of marketing adjustments anyway. They are not seeing signs of flagging business, but rather, are experiencing growth due to the prior changes in their marketing and website promotional strategies. They are already well-positioned to hold their own, because they optimized their site and developed a solid marketing plan prior to facing potential downturns in customer purchasing.
There is no reason yet to make a pending recession a self-fulfilling prophecy. But if you own a business, it is certainly time to prepare if you have not done so, and to keep a sharp eye out for changes if you are already prepared.
Less Rah Rah… More Ah-Ha
Many distributorship businesses miss the point when it comes to rallying the troops. They spend much time on “motivation”, but miss teaching critical concepts which would, by their empowering nature, inspire people with the idea that they could succeed with much more convincing effect than mere motivational speeches.
All the rah rah in the world won’t teach a scared newbie how to market. It won’t help them understand that there are marketing tactics which they can successfully do, if they have the desire to do them. The cheerleaders simply cannot bounce a team to victory unless the team has had useful training in how to actually win. All the enthusiasm they pass on to the players does not mean a thing if the players are confused about what to do, or if they are doing the wrong things.
I’ve spoken with people who had businesses that they did not know how to promote. One good practical brainstorm session, with a few key concepts explained, had them so excited to go try it that no cheerleading was needed!
I simply helped them understand what worked, and why. And what didn’t work, and why.
Once they understood that, and could see what their choices really were, they picked out things they could do and ran with it. Most people WANT to succeed. They need help knowing WHAT to do, and HOW, more than they need told that they CAN. Because when they truly understand the what and the how, they KNOW they can.
Forget abstract motivational speeches from people who are in positions far removed from that of the average business startup. Give them instead, empowerment through understanding how to succeed. And then, they will succeed.
Keys to Successful Offline Networking
Offline networking has the powerful advantage of face-to-face opportunity. Compared with online networking, offline networking has the potential to be faster, and more effective.
It still takes time. The critical factor of networking is always building relationships. And that is something that just cannot be hurried.
I’ve heard people tell me they joined a Chamber of Commerce so they could gain marketing benefits. Then they quit it, because it didn’t do their business any good. When asked what they did with their membership, they say they did nothing. No wonder it didn’t work!
Our local chambers have been some of our most powerful marketing dollars. We get contracts from them. But we don’t just sit around waiting for referrals.
We got to know the chamber leadership. We made ourselves useful to them – offered small things free. We attend Business After Hours, we volunteer to teach classes. We get out of our own comfort zone, and shake hands when we’d really rather stand in the corner.
We set up a booth at local events. We make sure we leave people with something, even if it is only a business card.
Twice, we’ve gone beating the streets, dropping cards and brochures at local businesses.
We’ve taught classes through the University Enrichment Program. And we’ve done other things to develop a local reputation.
I also attend local Women’s Roundtable meetings once a month – I didn’t just go once, I keep going. And I keep introducing myself.
Offline networking is very powerful once you get the hang of it. It is really about two things:
- Meeting people and getting to know them. You develop relationships with people, and become friends. It takes time to get past the initial suspicion in networking circles – they won’t trust you as a friend until they know for sure that there is more to you than an advertising tagline.
- Let them know what you do – not in a pushy way, but matter of fact. “Hi, I’m Laura, I am co-owner of Firelight Web Studio.” My business is part of who I am, so I just include it when I say my name. I wear a nametag – a custom one, not handwritten – that also announces my name. When I leave someone with something, it has my name on it also, and my company name. My business is part of me, and I want them to think of it along with me. I don’t get obnoxious about it, it is like the sig line at the bottom of an email – it is just THERE, if you choose to pay attention, but I don’t beat them over the head with it.
Over time, as you KEEP showing up, and keep doing things, it sinks in. You become part of the fabric of the business community. That takes repeat appearances though.
There are a HUGE number of companies that come and go. They show up, and then disappear. People do not remember them, and networking circles go right on without them. So when you show up for the first time, people welcome you, and then promptly forget about you. They’ll dismiss you completely and not even consider you, even if they have that very need the next week.
Why do they do that, when you just told them what a new and neat thing you do?
Because you have not proven yourself. They won’t take you seriously until you do! You have to KEEP showing up. You have to be there, with a smart answer, whenever they have a question. You have to show up where they think you ought to be more often than you are absent. THEN they remember you. Then they know you take your business seriously, and they’ll admit you to the circle of “real businesses”. If you don’t do that, they won’t bother – because they can see that you don’t bother.
Half of networking offline is BEING there. And this is the real advantage over online networking. You can visit a forum and be a lurker, and nobody will ever know you are there. If you just SHOW UP at a networking function, someone will eventually notice you, and introduce themselves. Just by being there each time, you gain ground, and learn to make it work. Pretty cool!
Find a networking venue. And then BE THERE!
Surviving a Recession
We aren’t sure if it is coming. We do know that if it does, it will affect a huge number of businesses, large and small. What do you do if it does come? How will you know if it is here, and if you are one of the businesses whom it will affect?
First, assess your business from a customer standpoint.
Do you sell a luxury, or a necessity?
Is your item high end, or low end?
Is the value of what you sell truly solid? MLM products are not – they are priced high to allow for complex compensation.
High end products often fall in sales during hard times. So do luxury items. Items that people can put off for a year, usually get put off for a year. People still buy, but they buy more conservatively.
The next thing is to assess some other potentials:
Does your product or service offer a potential income source? If so, it may actually gain ground if it is a good potential.
Does your service enhance business success? This can go either way – when businesses are in a pinch, they will look more to do-it-yourself options, or lower end solutions, but they may feel a stronger need to compete.
If a recession comes, you’ll need to be looking at the possible outcomes within your own business. You’ll need to understand the mindset of your own customers in regard to your product or service.
Watch your site traffic and business trends. Make sure you account for seasonal trends as well, but if your business slumps at a time when it usually would not, for a period of more than two months, it may be time to call in a pro to help you devise some strategies for recovery.
It is more affordable, and easier to compensate early on. The businesses that fail will be the ones that do not recognize when they are sliding into trouble, or who do not respond in an effective manner once they realize they are there. Plenty of businesses will fail. Yours might as well be one that succeeds.
Keys to Successful Online Networking
Successful online networking requires two things:
- Time – that is, you have to do it for a while before you see results.
- Time – that is, you have to take the time TO do it on a regular basis!
In addition to patiently doing it, you have to do the right things. The wrong things get you ignored, insulted, and potentially in court!
The right things include:
- Be nice. Just be friendly, and be yourself. That is the best way to make friends.
- Write regularly. People remember the names they see often.
- Be helpful. Find ways to offer help on little things.
- Be considerate. Reply to messages, say thank you about compliments, make compliments that are sincere.
- Give something of value. Write a tip, share a great find, tell a clean joke.
- Drop a signature line. Leave a signature line with a URL at the end of every post. Keep it short and sweet, or nobody will read it.
- Choose the forums for the right reasons – professional forums for professional learning, help forums to gain clients.
Along with DOING the right things, you have to avoid doing the wrong things:
- Don’t advertise. Nobody likes a hit and run forum poster who is only out for themselves.
- Don’t be pushy and reply to a request for help with “I sell this, come hire me.”, or any variation thereof!
- If someone asks for the service you offer, reply OFF list, not on list!
- Don’t break the rules. Forum rules are no joke, you’ll get kicked off it you are inconsiderate about them.
- Don’t expect clients from your first few visits. You have to stick it out before people take you seriously.
- Don’t be a lurker. It won’t do you any good if nobody knows you are there.
- Don’t be rude – you never know who is reading what you write. Even if you think you are right, or even if the other guy is rude, you’ll put people off and ruin your reputation.
Online networking is all about relationships, and those relationships are developed through writing – no writing, no relationships! If you feel that you do not write well, then get in there and start trying. I promise you, it gets better with practice, and any sincere effort is better than no effort at all.
It takes longer to develop relationships online than it does offline. The advantage is, you can do it on your own time. You don’t have to show up on someone else’s schedule, you can network in your pajamas at 11:30 at night, and nobody cares!
People want to do business with people they like, and trust. In order to BE liked, and BE trusted, you have to be nice, and you have to be consistent. Those things are absolutely achievable by anyone who is smart and has a heart.
Get in there, and start writing something – make your voice heard!
What is Networking, Really?
Networking is a buzzword that gets a lot of attention, because it is so frequently misunderstood.
Internet marketers have grasped this concept, stripped the essential concepts from it, and are now passing it off as a “fast and easy” means of promoting scams. Their interpretation of networking means spamming forums, and submitting blog comment spam, or using other social internet venues to push a purely marketing message.
That isn’t how it works. People seem to think that there is a shortcut to it though, which truly separates the pros from the impatient newbies. Those who work it successfully know there is no shortcut, and that there really isn’t a secret to it. Rather, the key to success with networking is nothing more than following age-old rules for gaining a good reputation:
- Be yourself – really yourself. Your BETTER self. Put aside your impatience, and just learn to enjoy being there, and find people you like.
- Take an interest in other people. They call it “social” networking, because it revolves around society and social rules – the same ones that gain a person a good reputation in person. No one likes a selfish person.
- Be helpful and kind. People want to do business with people they like, and they like people who help them. Find little ways to be considerate and to help where you can without giving away your business. There are always ways!
- Make sure they know WHO you are, and WHAT you do. Not by being pushy, but by always dropping a signature line so that no matter when someone wants to know, it is always there.
- Don’t advertise. Find ways to show your credibility that do not involve advertising. When someone asks for a service, answer them off the forum, and be polite about it.
- Follow the rules! Most forums and venues have rules about ads, and they define ads as anything that exists for no other purpose than to promote your interests.
- Choose your venues for the right purpose. If you are there to LEARN, then don’t expect to gain clients directly from it. If you want to gain clients, then find a forum where a high number of your prospects are likely to hang out.
- Many benefits are abstract, and ALL take time to build. When they do build though, they gain tremendous power.
Networking is the process of building associates, getting to know people, developing a reputation as a person of integrity. There is no shortcut for that. You have to get out there, get known, and be the kind of person that others want to turn to in a time of need. If they trust you to keep their interests at the fore, they’ll come to you first.
You just can’t rush it. Networking isn’t a bulldozer that sweeps all before it. It is more like needlepoint – painstaking at time, routine at others, but if you keep doing it consistently and neatly, over and over, eventually a pattern develops that is impressive and awe-inspiring.
It is all about relationships. And those take time to form.
Systems in Business and Family
Business systems are NOT those things you see sold on 1 page websites where someone claims that you can buy their guaranteed “system” and just plug it in and have it earn money for you. That kind is always a fraud.
Business systems are any one of the following things:
- Tools that streamline a repetitive task.
- Routines that facilitate smooth functioning of a specific segment of your business.
- Processes that are implemented to ensure fast and predictable results.
- Anything that you analyze, improve the performance of, and then repeat at higher performance.
Good business systems help to keep a business moving forward and help it absorb changes in personnel, clients, and projects. Good systems adapt easily to change, and are designed with sustainability in mind.
When I first learned about business systems, I realized that my father had taught me about them long ago. He just did not label them. I remember him saying, as he taught me to vacuum the shop floor, “Do it systematically!”
I also realized that I had already been using systems in our home – with a big family, certain things have to be done around routines, and standards. We had a daily routine. We had systems for giving haircuts, washing dishes, preparing meals, answering the phone, and yes, vacuuming the floor.
Within a family, some people wonder whether routines will replace humanity. In a business the same danger exists. This is why the best systems are flexible. They take into account the differences in individuals, and the need for periodic assessment and change.
Once you realize the power of systems, they become a terrific tool for keeping order in either a home, or a business, and especially when the home IS the business! They can smooth out regular annoyances, get you over the hard times of day, and help your kids know what is expected so they can meet that expectation.
In a business, they become the glue that holds the business together during the busy times, and through growth. That’s a powerful tool!
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Life from the Garden: Grow Your Own Food Anywhere Practical and low cost options for container gardening, sprouting, small yards, edible landscaping, winter gardening, shady yards, and help for people who are getting started too late. Plenty of tips to simplify, save on work and expense.
