business success Archives - Her Business Directory™

How to Network Like an Expert

You know it’s critical to your success, but are you doing it with forethought and a solid strategy in place, or do you just “wing it?”

Admittedly, most of us are squarely in the winging it category, but there are some quick and easy changes you can make that will put even your most important networking tasks on autopilot.

Outsource the research: First step, hire a VA who can find and connect you with potential JV partners, affiliates, guest interviews, and all the other marketing options at your disposal.

With a list of requirements at hand, he or she can spend an hour or two on Google and bring back a list of hundreds of people you can then reach out to. What would a list of 100—or even 10—new JV partners do for your business growth?

Automate the initial connection: Create a script or email template to use when you first reach out to potential partners. Your VA can send this in an email or make a call on your behalf, but having the s…

Common Work-at-Home Positions You Can Apply For

Working at home sounds like a dream come true to most people. No tromping out in the cold weather, no need for business clothes, and perhaps a way to truly have integration of family life and work without being fired. But, what sorts of positions can you find that you can do at home? Inbound Call Center Agent An inbound call center agent takes calls using their home phone and computer system from the comfort of their home office (or kitchen table), taking orders for products and services. For example, you may work on a project for well-known home shopping networks or food chain establishments. You’ll be trained, and have practice calls before you get started. You will make between $8 and $20 dollars per hour from home doing this. Some positions are independent contracting and some are full-fledged employees. Outbound Call Center Agent An outbound call center agent makes outbound calls to a list of leads given to them by the company they work with. They will try to sell some…

10 Tips to Succeed in Your Home Business

Virtually everyone would jump at the chance to start a legitimate home business so they could work at home and attain financial freedom. But not everyone has what it takes to transform a home business opportunity into financial success. Here are ten tips that will help you achieve your personal and financial goals through running your own legitimate home business.

Secure your start-up funds. Any successful business owner will tell you that you need to invest money in your business in order to make money. A home business is no exception. Expect to spend a maximum of $5,000 for a legitimate home business opportunity. If the opportunity is sound, you should be able to get back your initial investment within a matter of days or weeks, but you do need that initial investment.Get high-speed Internet. If you don't already have DSL or a broadband Internet connection, you should have it installed. The best home business opportunities are Internet based, so you need reliable a…

Tips For Turning Your Favorite Hobby Into A Successful Work-At-Home Business

Many of us dream of the possibility of creating a successful business right from our homes, one that is sustainable and we can run without ever leaving the confines of our humble abode. Alas, there are numerous businesses which begin and end with these great ideas each year. But some people have the know-how to create a business, which can effectively be operated from home and they have learned the secrets to doing it profitably.

Some of the most innovative of the work-at-home-business ideas revolve around the craft business. Many people are interested in having a home-based craft business; furthermore, some have been able to parlay this fun activity -- which others just see as extracurricular fun -- into a business that grows and thrives, increasing in sales each year. Those in the craft business will tell you that having a business sense is imperative, and it is even more important when you run a home-based craft business to love what you do and to let that love…

5 Ways to Stay Motivated in Business

If you own your own business or are an entrepreneur, you can often be faced with challenges that strike down your motivation to go on. But here are a few ways you can reign in the troops and find the gumption to keep going.

Define your core values. Core values encapsulated in a mission statement will guide your company through times good and bad by helping you find direction and bringing you through turbulent times. “Making money” is not a goal that’s sure to keep you motivated when clients aren’t coming, but “delivering sustainable sources of energy” or something similarly specific will help you stay motivated towards a goal that forms the bigger picture.Take a look at the checkpoints. There may be a gap between your desired results and the actual results of what’s happened so far because your goal is monolithic and too far into the future. Take a look at smaller components to get a more accurate picture of how things are progressing, which will also bolster your mo…

11 Small Business Grants All Women Entrepreneurs Should Apply For

All new business owners need as much capital as they can obtain. With female-owned firms accounting for an estimated 11.6 million small businesses in America, that financial need is especially important for female entrepreneurs.

Statistics show female entrepreneurs are less likely to receive small business funding than their male counterparts and are more likely to receive a shorter-term loan with less capital and significantly higher interest rates.

Fortunately, several lenders, nonprofit organizations, and corporations have acknowledged the unique disadvantages faced by female entrepreneurs and begun to offer grant money to support self-employed women.

From federal grants to state grants, the experts at ZenBusiness have pulled together 11 grants offered to women-owned startups to help jumpstart their businesses.

Eileen Fisher Women-Owned Business Grant

Amount available: Between $10,000 and $40,000

Previo…

The Great M’s of Success

People who have studied successful people over the last 300 or more years have found certain traits that accounted to their achievements. These success techniques not only helped them forward but also kept them there even in times of depression, recession or other personal disasters. Four of them are The Great M’s of Success in business and life. <b>Mentoring, Masterminding, Marketing & Motivation</b> I have heard it repeated over and over again, "Get Yourself a Mentor." Get help, advice and guidance by someone who has already been there and made it. A mentor can save you years to a lifetime of mistakes. They can excel you forward, in ways you never could on your own. You’ll have a much greater ability to achieve your goals because you will have a blueprint to guide your way. Surprisingly, many people if not most will go to a friend or relative for advice. People who have never succeeded and have no ambition to go anywhere, and then these same people are sur…

How Your Diet Will Influence Your Business Success

Let’s talk about the food you eat and how that has an impact on how you feel, how healthy you are, and finally how productive you end up being throughout your busy day. In turn, this will help you become more successful at your job or in your business. In other words, the topic today is how your diet can influence your business success.

When you think about improving your productivity and your bottom line, cleaning up your diet isn’t usually the first strategy you would consider implementing. The changes the food we eat make on a day to day basis are subtle and easy to miss.

It is a little easier to see when food affects us badly. Think back to the last time you had a big lunch of pasta and felt like taking a nap after your meal. In this case, the food you ate made a big difference in how much you got done that day. Choosing a healthy light lunch would have served you much better.

While the food you eat has small daily effects that …

Why It’s Important to Study Your Competition

With millions of websites, companies, and blogs, competition today is fierce - especially on the internet. The internet and most especially social media are responsible for creating waves of interest. With that in mind, it is important to know and study that competition fast and furiously. Rather than spend so much time trying to outsmart the competition, studying and making them your ally is a wise choice. Studying Your Competition Go on other blogs; check out their services and the quality of those services. They may have other products or services that you have not yet incorporated into your business model, for example: * EBooks * Videos * Newsletters * ECourses Go on their Facebook fan pages and follow them on Twitter. See how many likes they receive, how long they have been around, and how they follow the trends. Marketing and Social Media Check out the competitions marketing strategy. Take a look at what may or may not be working for them. * See where and when and…

Getting organized is the key to Efficiency, Effectiveness and Economic Success

Women Who Work From Home Know that Being Organized is the Key to Success

If you want both your business and your home life to flourish, it is important to get organized. Creating some simple organizational steps can keep you from being swamped with work and overwhelmed with laundry in no time.

ESTABLISH GROUND RULES WITH YOUR FAMILY

Tell your family and friends your work hours and your criteria for availability during those hours. You can create a sign for your office door that indicates you are working and when you are available. When I am deeply entrenched in work, I leave the door slightly ajar when my family is home. That is their sign not to disturb me until that door is fully open.

ESTABLISH BUSINESS HOURS

Setting up specific working times during each day has many benefits. First, you’ll be more consistent with your work. Once you’ve gotten used to starting and stopping …

Small Business Success Secret

The real secret to small business success has nothing to do with technology tools, the internet or anything like that. In fact, it isn’t even a real secret. It has been around since man started to communicate. It’s WORDS! Words carry enormous power. They can make you laugh hysterically, or destroy a relationship or friendship. Words have more power in them than any other tool at your disposal. Effective use of words, especially in business, means skyrocketing sales, satisfied clients, happy employees, and a profitable and secure future. Yet, less than 1% of small entrepreneur businesses use words with full power. The power of words can be learned and used effectively by anyone, and when this power is harnessed there’s nothing on this earth that can stop you. This art of using words is what is called copy writing. It makes or breaks your sales and advertising material. One of the ways an “amateur” copywriter who is writing for his own product or business can bea…

Five Secrets of Successful ‘Mompreneurs’

If you’ve ever wondered how some women seem to be able to do it all and have it all, you’ve come to the right place. The first thing to know is that that there’s no such thing as a Super Mom, and that women who appear to have it all, don’t. What they do have is a life that works well for them. And you can too. Successful mom entrepreneurs all have a few key characteristics: * Confidence, or at least a willingness to take a risk. Everyone, even the most seemingly perfect person has insecurities. The difference between successful mom entrepreneurs and others is they have the ability to take a risk. This takes both a high level of confidence and the ability to push past any insecurities and surge forward to achieve what they want. * Resilience, which means a positive attitude and the ability to adapt (because what are you going to do when your youngest gets sick on the day of a big teleconference?). Successful mom entrepreneurs are great at bouncing back from mistakes and…