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What Seven Crucial Areas Should You Look At In A Home Based or Online Business?

After reading books The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris and The Sovereign Individual: Mastering The Transition To The Modern Age by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg, I had a vision of what I wanted in a business that would allow me to travel and work when and where I wanted. I wanted simplicity, high compensation, and ultimately freedom, both financial freedom and time freedom. If you're considering a home based or online business, there are seven critical things you should consider in your evaluation. Thinking about the following crucial aspects of a home based or online business will save you much time, money, and stress as you take on a very rewarding career or better yet, adventure.

The Art of Sharing Online

The internet has made it possible for businesses to share information to anyone in the world with the simplicity of online resources. There are more and more tools available for these entrepreneurs to distribute valuable information to current and potential clients. If you learn the capabilities of the following tools you will be able to open your business to a community of users who you may not have been able to reach out to individually.

Lesson #1: Embrace Your Inner Child
“The most sophisticated people I know – inside they are all children,” said Henson.

Pulling The Right Strings: How Henson Achieved Success

“When I was a kid, I never saw a puppet show,” Henson recalled. “I never played with puppets or had any interest in them.” It is with thankfulness from children around the world that Henson’s interests changed over time. Such familiar characters as Kermit the Frog, Ernie, Rowlf the dog, and Miss Piggy have since become ingrained in the national psyche. Henson revolutionized the worlds of children’s television and puppeteering and had a blast along the way. How did he do it?

Lesson #2: Keep it Simple

Puck has never been one for pretensions. Despite being a gourmet chef who caters to the who’s who of Hollywood and many of America’s other elite, Puck has refused to succumb to the glitz and the airs of many of the other top chefs. He has kept his recipes simple and their presentation equally so, his restaurant designs unfussy and his overall message clear-cut: “I think people can walk by, and they see the menu. It’s not intimidating and the food is interesting. If they get good food, friendly service in a nice environment, people will come back and tell their friends.”

Taking Haute Couture to New Heights: How Chanel Achieved Success

When Time magazine published its list of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, Chanel was only the person in the fashion industry to be named. With that, her influence on not only her own field, but on the world as a whole, became obvious. “When I can no longer create anything, I’ll be done for,” Chanel once said. She was a dedicated workaholic who devoted herself competely to her work until the day she died at the age of 88. What were Chanel’s succses factors?

Lesson #4: Act With Integrity
“Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, once told me something I’ll never forget,” recalled Thomas. “She said the one suggestion she got in life that helped her most was to ‘pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ‘Make me feel important.’”

Jim Henson Quotes
Jim Henson Quotes

Grinding Out Success: How Kroc Made McDonald’s A Golden Triumph
“We provide food that customers love, day after day after day,” said Kroc. “People just want more of it.”

Lesson #3: Time is an Entrepreneur’s Best Asset
“Time is your most important resource,” says Kamprad. “You can do so much in ten minutes. Ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good.”

Ingvar Kamprad Quotes
Ingvar Kamprad Quotes

Coco Chanel Handbag

The launch of the first Coco Chanel handbag in 1955 marked the beginning of a fashion revolution. Coco had retired in 1939, and had been written off by most in the industry. Her perfumes could still be bought at Chanel outlets, but she had stopped making any new designs, and had effectively retired from the fashion business. When she made her comeback at the age of 71, and introduced the innovative and hugely popular Coco Chanel handbag, her success was thus all the more remarkable.

Lesson #3: Find Inspiration Around You

Despite his ability to create fantasy worlds and invent creatures the likes of which the world has never seen before, the secret inspiration behind Spielberg’s films is actually his everyday life. From his own childhood experiences to his current fatherhood role, Spielberg takes ordinary events and turns them into extraordinary tales. This is one of the key reasons why Spielberg’s films have been such a success. However out-of-this-world the stories he tells may be, there is always a unique simplicity in their messages.

Lesson #5: Make It A Business Less Ordinary

“To me it’s not about, ‘Todd, how did you do it?’ It’s why weren’t they doing it?” says McFarlane. “I always scratch my head; that boggles my mind more than anything else.” McFarlane might be modest in his admissions, but his route to success involved more than just doing something that others were not already doing. Rather, McFarlane took something ordinary and gave it a little something extra by taking away all the unnecessary extras.

Lesson #3: Know Where The Value Of Your Product Lies
“The greatest feature of the business is the almost endless chain of blade consumption,” said Gillette, “each razor paying tribute to the company as long as the user lives.”

Eating His Way to the Top: The Success Factors of Duncan Hines
Duncan Hines was a modest man who found his passion late in life, but made it count more than most. From his first published restaurant directory to the Duncan Hines cake mixes that populate kitchens around America today, Hines left a lasting legacy on the industry. How did he do it?

Where And When To Begin Marketing
Guerrillas are never stopped by analysis paralysis. Don’t let it stop you.

Geek Marketing 101
I found a great blog entry that explains technology marketing. Here are the first three elements of this top-ten list:

Simplicity & Dignity
A parent or teacher who treats a child with dignity builds the self-esteem of the child and automatically increases the child's performance, which generally improves the child's conduct.

Guerrilla Effectiveness

There is a world of difference between efficiency and effectiveness, and it’s in that world that guerrillas flourish. They are well aware of the power and omnipresence of the 80/20 rule and have probably read Richard Koch’s book, "The 80/20 Principle" because even its subtitle -- "The Secret of Achieving More with Less" -- is guerrilla through and through. It dramatically emphasizes the effectiveness that can be gained by simplicity.

What's An Appropriate Web Site for Your Business?
Web design and features are a lot like fashion in a way - trends and looks come in out of style with the changing seasons.

Guerrilla Learning
Let's start with the bad news. Much that you have learned in the past, although God's own truth at the time, has changed, leaving you misinformed or uninformed, so that a lot of what you know is wrong. In social situations, your lack of information is inconvenient, but in business, it's suicidal.

Building Your Own Social Network

Social Networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace are all the rage at the moment for the potential they offer some businesses. They do offer tremendous applications for building community and even building business but these giants also possess some real limitations for most businesses due to the overwhelming size and potentially unfocused nature of the community inhabitants. (Do you really want some creepy 16 year old reading all the private, intimate details about your products?)

Ten Questions With Garr Reynolds
All hail Garr Reynolds! He has written the definitive book about making great presentations: Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter). To give you a taste of his book (and increase my link count), here are ten questions (really thirteen) with Garr.

Why Bigger Goals = Less Competition
SPRING 2005, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY I had to bribe them. What other choice did I have?

Where Baseball Meets Business

Sometimes I think that we make business success all too hard! In most cases the basics are ignored in favor of the latest new and usually complex strategy, theory or latest best seller unveiling the new secret success silver bullets. But sometimes, most of the time in fact, if we just slow down and face the fact that the truth may be in the simplicity of the solution. Simple is not always easy. Simple is not always cool or flashy. But, SIMPLE works! In this article we'll briefly discuss 3 key rules that could become your benchmark for future personal and business growth.

One of Silicon Valley’s Founding Fathers: How Wozniak Became a Household Name
“Now computers are a big business,” says Wozniak. “Sometimes I wonder, ‘Am I the master of the computer?’ When we talked in our club, computers were going to be so simple to use that everyone was going to be a master and be able to create whatever they wanted to. Now I feel like a slave sometimes. I have to do it their way. It wasn’t the feeling we were after in the first days.”

Network Marketing Secret of Success: A System
Have you ever wondered what is the secret to owning a successful network marketing / home based business? It is really as simple as having a simple system for all areas of your work at home business.

Arising from the Ashes of Professional Burnout

Even though I had wanted to be a veterinarian since I was 7-years old, after 12 years in practice, I found myself at the point I didn't know if I could stand another day in the office. I was frustrated, tired and worn out by the constant stresses of practice that included staffing headaches, client turnover, and financial strains. On top of it all, the stresses at work were having a profoundly negative influence on my personal life. I felt disjointed and disconnected from those I most cared about. My life was out of balance and nearly out of control. The pain of burnout became so bad that I started abusing alcohol and drugs in an effort to numb myself so I could make it through another day. I even contemplated suicide...

The Key to Power
Regain power over your own destiny.

Buzzwords are BS!
Three adjectives and a noun are not a positioning statement!

10 Steps to Simplying Your Life

Perhaps you woke up one morning to realize the old joke is true: "Even if you finish the rat race in first, you're still a rat." Or maybe, the thought crept in more slowly, wedging itself into your consciousness while sitting in the five o'clock traffic jam as you commute home. However it appeared, you now realize it's time for a change to a simpler way of life. But how do you start? These 10 steps will provide you with guidance to propel you along the path. 1. The 1st step may be the easiest for many people because by the time you're reading this it may already have been accomplished. That is making up your heart and mind that it's time to simplify, even better if the decision has moved to the level of being committed. If not, don't worry. It's quite possible to test the waters of simple living before diving in.

Slow Down, You Move Too Fast

He stood, gripping the sides of the counter, his fingers white knuckled from the strain. I'd seen my boss, Mr. Burke, stand there countless times before, studying the inventory, looking for just the right item for the customer, but I'd never seen him like this; his face and neck a livid red, his neck muscles strained, beads of sweat on a brow that only moments before had been dry. I heard Allison, his assistant whisper, "Go get Mrs. Burke." Someone scampered away, relieved to escape the tense scene. I stood there frozen, uncertain what was happening, even more uncertain what to do. After all, I was just part-time help, spending a few summer months between college semesters learning about the real world of business.

4 Marketing Basics Will Get You to 6-Figures and Beyond
There are four key areas where many business owners let fear make their decisions for them instead of tapping into the grace and ease of Divine Guidance. Discover a simple checklist for quieting fear and self-doubt to create a 6-figure (or beyond) business.

The Power of “Liz”
The power of our primitive Lizard Brain is unbelievable. This has more control over us and others than one thinks. Understand how you can turn this reality into a viable tool that works.

The Essence of Beauty and Brains in Self-marketing Through Websites
Find out how to get the most of self-marketing through effectively maintaining a website.

Profitable Online Business Ideas and the Power of Duplication
Most people never see their online in-home business as a way to duplicate their own time and efforts. But if they have involved just one other person in their business, that is exactly what they have done. They have just doubled their own time and efforts. You can do that over and over, and teach the ones under you to do the same. Thats the power of duplication

Less is More
The web and digital marketing has given us the chance to deliver more content than ever before. Content that our audience can use to get to know us, our products and our value. That's great news. At least it should be. The problem? We overwhelm our audience, giving them too many options, too many different aspects and angles - and we lose them. We just plain drown them in too much information.

How to Get Your Name in the Paper Without Advertising
As marketing professionals, one of the most common misconceptions that we run across in our business is that marketing is nothing more than advertising, and that advertising is the only way to get your name in the paper.

4 Steps To Generate Leads With A Sequential Autoresponder
Internet marketers, unless they got stuck in the last century, already know how effective and important a tool a sequential autoresponder can be. However, here is one way to use it that might not have occurred to you or it might have but you decided against using it.

IS YOUR BUSINESS PUTTING YOUR ASSETS AT RISK? BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS: THE SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP

One of the first decisions a startup business owner makes is which organization form to choose. This is an important decision as it affects personal liability, income tax, and administrative costs. In this article, we discuss the sole proprietorship, arguably the easiest and most common form of business organization. The sole proprietorship has distinct advantages and disadvantages that should be understood before adopting this business form. If you are risk averse and don't want to lose your retirement savings, your cars, or your personal home, you need to read on.

Be Your Own Publicist: How to Write Savvy Online Press Releases
Learn how to be your own publicist in just a few, easy steps. These simple writing tools will teach you how to write effective, impressive online press releases.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE REAL ART OF ‘CLOSING-A-SALE’ IS?
I LEARNED A GREAT LESSON FROM SOME PROS. ON THE REAL ART OF 'CLOSING A SALE'.

Accounting for Dummies - Part 2
This article describes the simplest of methods to keep your accounts - an inexpensive spreadsheet solution (for less than a takeout lunch) which is extremely easy to use. Even people with no accounting experience will quickly get the hang of this. See a preview here: http://www.scrambled-card.com/tour15.htm.

Achieving Practical Outcomes to Complex Purchases at the Heart of the Emptoris Acquisition of Click Commerce
“I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Physician, Poet, Writer, Humorist and Professor at Harvard (1809-1894)

Using Mind Maps to Get More Done, Make Better Decisions, and Take Action Faster - in Less Time
AWAI's VP of Marketing and Co-Managing Partner, Rebecca Matter, shows how you can use mind mapping to better organize everything you do so you can make better decision and get more done in less time.

KYSS Chaos Goodbye: How to Keep Your Strategies Simple and Gain More Time to Enjoy Your Riches in Niches!

As a Nichepreneur®, you lead a busy life. Backbreaking labor isn’t always enough to outdo competitors. To-do lists stack against you. Your foundation remains uncertain, squabbling over big ticket items to bail you out of a down economy. Sadly, good intentions don’t always yield top results. To ensure lasting business success, you must embrace niche simplicity. This article tells you how to keep your strategies simple, to help you to get rich in your niche.

The Integration of Innovation and Marketing Best Practices for Business Excellence Part1

During an economic down turn marketing and particularly funds for innovation and growth are amongst those hardest hit. As new, profitable innovations are owned by marketing, whilst their financing comes from the ability for the current business to generate profits, there is an intimate link between marketing and innovation. Considering current business and innovation as distinct silos, managed in different ways by separate functions, may mean that the organization is missing a significant opportunity to maximize the skills, knowledge, resources and networks of the organization. Innovation Expert, Kevin Weir and Marketing Excellence Practitioner, Phil Allen explore how companies can keep their marketing and innovation machines turning even in tough times by taking a more integrated approach to innovation and marketing.

Awaken Your Brand's Cognitive Itch
The term 'cognitive itch' was first used by James Kellaris of the University of California to describe the experience of music that gets stuck in your head and you just can't get rid of it. This same phenomenon can result from watching commercials, Web-videos and even full-featured multimedia websites.

What's your one thing? Tips for creating your USP.
Have you ever thought about what sets your service or product apart from your competitors? What's the "one thing" you can say your small business has that no one else can claim? In this article, you'll learn the three essential steps to creating your own unique selling proposition.

Leading in Uncertain Times
What happened?! Almost overnight we have moved from a growing economy to uncertainty in direction and solutions. We can evaluate the what, why and how but it leaves us needing to lead and navigate in unchartered waters. There are five key steps that leaders need to take to move through this challenging time.

Simpllicity: The Neglected Value
6 practical pointers to bring simplicity into your personal and work life.

What Sets a Small Business Franchise Apart
There are small businesses, there are franchises, and then there are small business franchises. Similar to each of the others but entirely different, small business franchises are absolutely the best of both worlds.

FOR THE WANT OF A NAIL
For the want of a nail is a great old rhyme that communicates a very powerful message about how to ensure success in doing what is important to us.

How Long Do You Need To Keep Your Business Records?

This question comes up a lot here at the office. I am asked at least 3 times a week as there seems to be lots of confusion out there in the “real world” amongst business people. The answer is it depends… If you just complete a Self Assessment Return each year as a consequence of having a company car or other employment benefits, then you should keep your paperwork relating to your claims and expenses for...

Sales Coaching Tip: Stop Confusing Motion with Progress to Increase Sales
Are your sales suffering? Maybe, it is time to determine whether you are in the motion business or progress business?

The 16 Most Persuasive Words In The English Language - Part 1
It is possible to become much more persuasive that you are now, and within a few hours, by applying some simple but powerful principles of persuasion understood by very few sales people.

Moving up the Value Chain
As consultants, our rewards and reputations are rooted in the value we bring. But value is always a perception; like beauty it exists in the eye of the beholder.

Insurance Producers - What Business are You In?
You probably think that’s a pretty stupid question. You’re in the insurance and investment business. Oh, really?

Get Over Yourself and Publish Your Prices Already

Jakob Nielsen has published his annual Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design for 2007. It’s classic Nielsen—high on quality, low on filler. Number 10 on the list is my favorite by far and always sparks healthy debate amongst my colleagues. (That’s probably why it’s my favorite.) Nielsen tells us to plainly answer your user’s most burning questions. Be forthright, not mysterious. And always answer the most obvious question which is “How much does it cost?”

How to Go From Dud to Stud in 30 Days

Last Saturday, in blizzard-like conditions, we left Boston for a much needed family vacation. We arrived in the Bahamas three hours later to find sunny, tropical, 90 degree temperatures. Blizzard to Tropical in three hours got me to thinking, as usual, about selling which, for a lot of salespeople, has become more difficult in the past 90 days. Learn how to go from Ice Cold to Red Hot - Blizzard to Tropical - Dud to Stud in 30 Days.

Is Selling Simple or Complicated?
Tessa Stowe dispels the notion that selling is complicated and offers advice for finding a simple sales process.

ROI – 411 for Measuring Human Capital
Looking for a quick lesson on ROI? This article explains what exactly ROI is, how it relates to HR, and easy techniques to utilize within your organization.

Hit Pay Dirt with Prospecting Letters
Prospecting letters can uncover gold—but only if you observe these tried-and-true rules:

E-Commerce Mistakes that Make You Look Like a Complete Beginner

When it comes to buying online, customers want to know that your e-store is a place where they can order confidently and securely. Unfortunately, many of these same customers never complete a purchase at your store. Recent studies show online shopping carts are being abandoned at a staggering rate of 59%. When you consider that over half of your potential customers may not be buying from you at all, what can you do? The best thing you can do is look at your ordering process. If you have any of the "gaps" below in your shopping cart - it's time to look for a better e-commerce solution.

The Little Internet Marketing Tactic That Could
Learn about a powerful yet simple Internet marketing tactic that is often overlooked.

Techno-Stress: Six Survival Rules
Are you drowning in emails, spam, computer programs that freeze and more? You could be suffering from a severe case of techno-stress. Create your own new set of rules to help deal with techno-stress so you can use the tools to 'master your day.'

Are Multiple Supply Chains Important Survey Response 2
A 2006 Report made the following statement: "Designing and operating multiple supply networks to meet the needs of specific market segments--supply chain innovation and the use of multiple supply chains will be important to future revenue and market share growth." Based on your own experience is this an accurate assessment? If yes, why? If no, why?

Powerful Small Business Names
It’s all in the name, but don’t believe the hype! That is a caveat to live closely with. Many online sales letters push their introductory content through the threshold of credible to incredible, and amazing to the absurd. In print media, we stick to the principle of ‘KISS’ – less can be more readable.

7 Ways to Make Your Home Page a Home Run for Usability

Your home page is the single most crucial page of your site. This is the page that will be the primary entry point for a majority of your visitors. It is also the page that sets the stage for the rest of the site giving visitors a birds-eye view of who you are, what you're about, what you can do for them, what you offer, and how they get the information needed. The importance of making sure your home page is user-friendly cannot be understated. This page, more than any other, has to pull together so many elements without being overbearing or overloading the visitor with information overkill. Despite the over-reaching purpose of the home page, simplicity is the key. Provide the necessary information and usability elements and you'll lower your bounce rate and improve site conversions along the way.

Book Review: Made to Stick
Have you ever wondered why you remember what you do? The authors have distilled the essence of “sticking” (remembering a message) into 6 principles (”SUCCES”)

Getting to the Nitty Gritty of Your Solution
It is quite ridiculous to go about creating a solution by attacking many different angles at once. There should be no more than two parts of a puzzle that get your attention when putting out a fire or giving your business a complete overhaul. There is the inner focus and outer focus.

Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy
Author Sarah Ban Breathnach can become your daily coach moving you forward in a most positive way throughout an entire year, at the end of which you will be a happier, more organized, more disciplined person, leading a simpler life.

Follow Your Bliss
“The happiest are those who have made a profession and a lifestyle of being in touch with their bliss; the most frustrated are those who have accepted one job or another because they didn’t know what else to do, and once employed have never had the time to figure how to get out.” -- John Lane, Timeless Simplicity

Building Accountability into Your PR Plan
Keep it Simple! Build Accountability and Simplicity into your PR Plan this year. Stick to the "KISS" principle.

Effective Working Practices - Three Tips To Clear Out The Clutter
Making life simpler around the office will lead you to become more effective as well as more efficient. Ready for simplicity? Here are three great ideas.

Franchise Made Simple
The simplicity and beauty of franchising is that it is basically a form of business where instead of starting uneasily and trying to decipher things on your own, you’ll already find plans and formats that have been applied and tested before.

Presentations - Easy as 1 - 2 - 3
A view on the simplicity that can be associated with the word presentation.

Professional Presentation Skills
Simply going through the process of a presentation and its relative simplicity.

The Different Chinese Astrologies
Jon explains the different astrological systems developed in China over the centuries. He offers his thoughts on why he favours the simplicity and directness of I Ching Astrology.

The SIMPLICITY of (Business) Success
Where your business success and financial independence will be found: SIMPLICITY.

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