Relationship Marketing | Build Your Online Business

A growing number of men are pursuing successful businesses from home; however, it would appear that the majority of home-based businesses are managed by women. Many of these women are mothers, especially of small children; wives; caregivers for elderly parent/s; involved in social and volunteer activities, and the list goes on. While these are normal, everyday activities and responsibilities, they can create tremendous stress for solo-professionals working from home.

It is important to maintain a proper balance between personal and professional life when working from home:

a) Location: Your office building is your home. Your office may be a desk and chair in an already occupied room. Or you may have a room designated as your office. Can you make and receive phone calls without interruption or background noise? At the start of your day, do you dress as if you were expecting a client in your home, or as if you were leaving for a job outside the home? Nothing excessive, but doing whatever is necessary to make you personally feel (more…)

Today is August 1^st and the start of  the “Ultimate Blog Challenge” coordinated by Michele Scism  and Michelle Shaeffer with the hashtag #blogboost on Twitter.

The last blog challenge I participated in was in June, coordinated by Dr. Jeanette Cates with Twitter hashtag #blog30.  During the challenge I submitted 21 posts; 9 short of the goal and was a little disappointed with myself that I’d not met the goal.  However, I reminded myself that in setting goals, you may fail to reach them the first time but the solution is to pick yourself up and start again.

Before committing to the Ultimate Blog Challenge I debated whether I should participate in another challenge for these reasons:

1)  To meet the goal I am obligated to write and submit a post on one designated blog for 31 days.

2)  I have other blogs that I need to write posts for, two of which I’ve neglected.

3)  One of the goals I’ve set for myself and my business is to focus more on Article Marketing.

4)  Another goal is to increase my online visibility.

Here are the reasons why I went ahead and made the commitment: (more…)

People chose to work from home for different reasons.  Many persons who work from home do not have an online business even though they use their computer extensively.  In order to be efficient and productive and thereby contribute to your success, it's important to have systems in place. Systems are defined as a set of detailed methods, procedures, and routines established or formulated to carry out a specific activity.

Here are three systems in your home office that could be great time savers, but at the same time can rob you of your time if not used wisely.

1.Your Computer As a Time Saver: I cannot imagine running a business from home without a computer.  Your computer allows you to store huge amounts of information and retrieve them with a few clicks of your mouse.  The volume of software on the market allows you to be creative, and of course, access to the internet allows you to communicate quickly and effectively, as well as do research quickly.

If you're in Direct Sales, for example, you can use your computer to send your customers an e-card.  I like to send an actual greeting card through the US mail and my customers invariably call to thank me.  Just for reading my post, go ahead and click the greeting card link and send a card to yourself or someone you care about.  I'll pay for your card and your postage. (more…)