Can You Make Money with Home Based Businesses?

Posted by Cheap Airfares in Opinion on 11-05-2009

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The answer to this question is a definite YES! I have lots of business associates in the USA, Europe, Australasia and New Zealand who are working in a home based business and making good money each week. In fact the woman who introduced me to my new business is only 25 years of age and she made over $500,000 in her first 12 months of home business.

I am now replicating her results, but please read on and you will learn about what I have achived and experienced in 3 very different situations and how in the end I succeeded in taking control of my future.

My Traditional Business Experience
I used to own and manage a very profitable and high profile restaurant and bar in Brisbane, Queensland for a period of over 12 years. I started it from scratch and like most traditional businesses it was really expensive to set up and the running costs were enormous.

Although I earned a lot of money with this venture, I finally decided to sell it when I came to realise that the long hours and constant stress of managing over 30 employees, dealing with various government requirements, endless paper work and hundreds of customers per week was absolutely destroying my life.

You can become very wealthy with a standard business but you will need to be extremely committed as you won’t be able to walk out and close the door anytime you want. There will be lots of work to do and deadlines to meet, customers to service and more than likely, staff to hire and mentor unless you want to do all the work yourself. The hours are generally very long and in most cases the business can end up taking over your life. Another point to consider is that you’ll be on your own to work things out and solve any problems as they arise.

My Job Experience
After selling the business, I decided that a job would be a better alternative to owning a business so I set about finding one and little did I know what I was in for! I spent 8 hours a day scouring the employment classifieds, networking, perfecting my resume and attending interviews for jobs I didn’t even want. I felt undervalued and demoralised and almost gave up hope before I finally landed a job with a company as an Events Manager.

All good you might well think, but unfortunately this was not the case as now I was into something that would cost me 12 hours of my time, 5 days a week as I got dressed up for work, traveled to and from work and actually did the work. I was working under considerable pressure and was totally stressed out by having to answer to a boss and co-ordinate every single element of each event from travel and accommodation arrangements, key note speakers, entertainment and right down to sorting out what type of lettuce should go on the dinner plates of the attendees. What a nightmare! But the thing that annoyed me the most was that I was doing all of this to make my boss richer while I had to settle for a small pay packet at the end of each week. JOB = Just over broke.

My Home Business Experience
As you might have guessed, I didn’t stay in my job as an Event Manager for long. I had spent seven months of my life trying to find the right career and after only 1 month I resigned.

I had no idea what to try next but I was determined to find something that would tick ALL the boxes for me and knew that I first needed to get very clear about what I really wanted.

I did not want to:
Own and manage a stressful, traditional type of business
Outlay a lot of money to get started in a new business
Answer to a boss and have to beg for time off work

I did want to
Earn a lot of money
Work from home
Take control of my future

With the above in mind, I spent the next couple of months researching my options until I was eventually attracted to an advertisement (placed by a 25 year old lady) about a home based business opportunity. I must admit that I was pretty hesitant to begin with but I decided I had nothing to lose by finding out more so I answered the ad and within 1 week I was up and running with my very own home based business.

On my best day so far, I earned five thousand dollars but what I really love about my home business most is that I actually took back control of my own life. I now work the hours I choose, from the comfort of home or anywhere I like really with my laptop and phone. I don’t have to juggle and manage staff anymore and gone is all the stress. I fit my work around my life, generally about 25 hours per week and I absolutely love what I do.

It’s not for everyone however and if you are considering getting started in a home business you should ask yourself the following important questions:

1. Is the business aligned with your income and lifestyle goals?
2. Do you have some money and time to invest into the business?
3. Can you work diligently as your own boss and without supervision?
4. Will there be anyone to help or guide you if you get stuck along the way?

Yes! You can make money with home based businesses. Lots of money!

Christine Hamilton is currently making money in with home based businesses. For more information about what she is actually doing, click work at home BSCH110509

Selling Skills

Posted by Cheap Airfares in Opinion on 30-04-2009

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“I can’t sell”, I hear you say. Rubbish, everybody can sell. If you ever got hired, sold your car or sold yourself to another person (ie. got married or formed a relationship), you have demonstrated an ability to sell. We sell ideas to other people all the time, we just don’t view it as selling.

The role of a sales professional is to find out what the prospect wants rather than whether the customer wants something at all. Once this is done, a sales professional should then help the customer satisfy that need to the customers’ satisfaction. The principle skills a winning salesman needs are:

* Putting your customers in a acceptance state of mind, making them feel at ease and unpressured.
* Showing interest in their questions or issues.
* Using opinions as selling points (both yours and theirs).
* Supplying facts and helpful information.
* Meeting objections in a positive way and never becoming defensive or aggressive.
* Seeing things from the customer’s point of view.
* Suggesting additional merchandise or services.(Value adding)
* Building repeat business.

It’s important that you learn to apply these skills, although if you use courtesy, friendliness, honesty and you know what you’re talking about, you’re 90% there. Not difficult when you think about it.

I know of quite a few small business people who would never consider themselves sales people but have remarkable success at selling their wares by just being themselves. Is this being a good sales person? Probably.

An old friend of mine, Ross owns a pet shop in one of Sydney’s trendier suburbs. He spent many years of his life working for the ADF. It never ceases to amaze me, and his business partner, how this “untrained” person can sell products by just being himself. He is a natural salesman.

On the days he looks after the shop instead of his partner, the numbers are always up compared to when he’s not there. If you were to ask him if he thought he was a good salesman he would probably say no, but the sales figures speak for themselves.

He does it by being a friendly, nice person that loves a joke and a talk with his customers. Most of his clients would never go elsewhere because they like him. I’m sure even if he put his prices up, he would still attract the same customers because they have a relationship with him. They feel good about shopping at his shop; he makes sure they do. Everybody can sell, simply use your own personality and be friendly and courteous. Treat customers the way you would like to be treated.

Top sales people make a point of remembering regular customers’ names, ensuring each time they come to the store they receive a small discount or offering other little extras like helping them to the car with their parcels. As I mentioned before with my friend, he fosters friendships with his regular customers. This fosters loyalty to the business by the customer, quite often regardless of price, because they get preferential treatment. You’ve probably had the feeling yourself when you constantly use a particular business and each time you walk in the people don’t just ask for the order.

Generally, sales people feel awkward about asking the customer for the order. These sales people will never be really successful in sales. A lot of sales are lost simply because the sales person doesn’t put the onus back on the customer to make a decision, they simply leave the decision up in the air which allows the potential customer to quietly drift out the door without having to commit themselves to a decision. How many times do you do this? I do it all the time and think to myself, “I’m glad nobody put me under pressure, I probably would have spent money”.

This article supplied by forex trading, sale training course and web design brisbane.

Gold, Oil, and Forex

Posted by Cheap Airfares in Opinion on 21-04-2009

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Oil, Gold and the foreign exchange are three different markets that have a lot in common. If you want to learn about Forex trading, knowing what one does may give you an insight where the other markets may be going. It would be useful to become familiar with those different markets as a trader and have some Forex education.

Let’s have a look at those separate markets and how they are all interconnected.

GOLD
There is an inverse correlation for markets such as gold or oil that are priced in U.S. dollars in the commodities markets. When the U.S. dollar declines, not only do foreign currencies go up, but gold prices also go up. Studies have shown a negative correlation between gold and the dollar that is, they almost never move in in-step, but almost always move in different directions.

The value of EUR/USD versus gold prices, on the other hand, shows a very high positive correlation, this means that the value of the euro and gold prices often go hand-in-hand, suggesting these markets are both better off when funds are flowing away from the U.S. dollar.

Gold prices may be considered as an important component in looking at the forex market. A trend change in gold price may give a good clue to where the USD may be heading in the Forex market.

OIL
A increase in crude prices directly relates to a weakness in the American. Foreign oil producers view the increase in oil prices as a way to maintain their purchasing power in U.S. dollar terms. Forex brokers will tell you to counter the impact of higher oil prices a weaker dollar could ultimately give rise to inflation.

Oil is a key commodity driving global economic growth, and oil prices and the foreign exchange have a key relationship in the global economy.

Now lets have a look at the impact an increase in oil prices may have on the different major trading currencies around the world.

Japan: Economy suffers as it relies on imports for most of its energy needs, therefore the Yen weakens.

UK: Benefit the economy as UK produces oil. British pound strengthens.

Oil in world business has a heavy impact on the Forex market. Thus any disturbance in supply is likely to affect the foreign exchange market.

Some of these factors may be terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars. In such times a shift from the dollar to the euro as the designated currency in crude oil could occur thus causing an immediate decline in the value of the U.S. dollar.

Gold and oil are not the only commodities affected by changes in forex values. Exports of agricultural commodities account for a large share of U.S. farm income.

When the value of the dollar rises, it tends to limit buying interest from an importing nation as the commodity becomes too expensive in terms of that nation’s domestic currency.

When the value of the dollar declines, it reduces the price to an importing nation in terms of its currency and encourages it to buy more U.S. agricultural products. The influence that one market has on another market naturally shifts over time so these relationships are not static but should be the subject of ongoing study.

You as a Forex trader should be aware of the impact that those different markets have on the Forex. Though the changes may not be instantaneous, it may however tip you off on any possible trend changes in the near future. Happy trading. BSFT220409