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If Your Home Business Fails You Need A Plan Of Action

Even if you have a very sucessful home business, you should know that over 90% of home businesses end up doing poorly in their first two years and don’t last longer than four years. Many people have a very viable business but become sick of doing it, while others see changes in technology that make what they do obsolete. What do you do with all your customers in this situation? How can you transition out of your home business without losing money? This guide answers all these questions, and then some.

1. Selling Your Business

Yes that’s right, selling your business might be a good idea, depending on a few things. If your business was incorporated you will have a better chance of being able to sell it. Other businesses, such as electronic repair, rely on your own personal knowledge and effort to run. In essence, you can’t sell a business where you basically are the business. If your business would be inoperable without your training or knowledge, no one will want to buy it.

2. Selling A Home Business

You often get far less for a home based business than you would others. The business will not come with premises and likely won’t be able to transfer any employees you have. The only exception to this rule is when a very large business decides to buy you because of your unique branding and customer base. In essence, they will both eliminate a competitor and expand their customer base at the same time.

3. Make Your Business Attractive

OK so you are going to sell. Great. Now what? You have to make your business as attractive to potential buyers as you can, right? Being able to provide potential buyers with sales figures, trends, and growth patterns is a great way to convince people to buy. Theyre in it for the money, and even if the business costs them a lot if you can prove to them that they will start seeing profits they won’t have any reason to turn you down.

4. Get The Price You Want

Never sell to the first person who offers, you need to get offers on the table from everyone you can think of who might be interested. If you have the ability, get an accountant and a laywer to take care of the details of the transaction. If you can, plan your sale in advance. The best sales usually come from businesses that take a year or more to sell and are always prepared to walk away from the bartering table. You also have to pay tax on the sale of your business.

How to Start a Business and Still Be There Next Year

So, you want to know how to start a business and still be there in a year or two?

You need plenty of drive and determination if you want to succeed. While drive and determination are broad ranging concepts, I’m talking about the ability to get out of bed in a morning, not have that second cup of coffee, and not «just browse the internet» before you start calling potential customers or negotiating a price discount with key suppliers.

Evaluating your own personal character strengths and weaknesses as compared to a successful owner of a small business is a great idea. (If you don’t know any successful business owners then now’s a good time to find one). What else?

Now, where did I put that..

We’ve all been to the small workshop where the owner can’t find anything, didn’t know you were coming (even though you phoned last week) and hasn’t got your order ready. It’s far from impressive.

Being organized, following up on the details and managing projects is all down to you. Even if that means delegating. And while we’re talking about tricky situations, how well do you handle tricky situations or deal with different personalities? (I mean difficult personalities, but diplomacy is needed). Keeping your word and following up on your promises shows high personal integrity and is valued greatly by all the people you will deal with.

As a potential business owner, you will need to get yourself technically up to speed and develop successful working relationships with key professionals you need to make your business work. Customers, suppliers, staff (hopefully some day), accountants, probably lawyers, and of course the bank manager.

Let me think it over

I struggle with this one myself. Sometimes there’s just no substitute for straightforward — quick from the gut — decision making. As a small business owner you will often need to make rapid decisions under stressful conditions or tight deadlines without the ability to consult.

Ok, but what about when you’ve already been on your feet for 12 hours, your children kept you awake last night and the computer just crashed? Physical and emotional stamina is essential. This is because you can only live on the adrenaline and excitement of being an entrepreneur for so long. There is nothing more frustrating than wanting to keep going, but having nothing left in the tank. It’s very important to know when to take a break

All that for that?

You’ve dug deep, you’ve made the calls, got the goods, delivered the product, collected the money, paid the supplier, the accountant, the taxman, the rent, the, the, the…

There’s nothing left. You’ve been a busy fool. Oh No. Better give up now. No not really. Resolve to learn from mistakes and make essential changes is critical. We’ve all heard research that shows poor planning is responsible for many failures, but not as many as running out of money. Cash is King for a reason. Without it you just can’t go on.

Many different operational aspects of your business end their life either in or out of your bank account. Things like managing inventory (stock), delivery and production schedules and quality control all need to be managed through your financial statements. A tight fist of control and mastery of your business dynamics will have you ordering that new car soon enough!

Get your credits into the emotional piggy bank first

The first few years of business start­up is the hardest. It’s important that you brief your family so they know what to expect, but it’s as important to make sure you have their support during this time. You’re not going to be as well off as you used to be until you make the business profitable and trade above break even. You’re going to be short tempered, tired and crotchety at times and you’re not always going to be home in time for dinner.

There are no guarantees that you will succeed, and there are many risks when you start out. Careful planning can eliminate many of these, but even the best plan in the world cannot take everything into account.

Now you know you’ve evaluated your own personal character strengths and weaknesses and know you’ve got what it takes

How Soon Can You Expect To Make Money?

With the exception of some not for profit organizations most people go into business in order to produce revenue (income) and profit. Unfortunately, when it comes to a home business, and especially network marketing, many people forget this important point.

In a traditional business, whether a Ma and Pa shop, or a large franchise store like McDonald’s, business owners know to watch their numbers. A business must make a profit in order to survive and, if it doesn’t, adjustments must be made accordingly.

One of the reasons for the high failure rate in small businesses, home businesses, and MLM (network marketing), is because due to the low entry costs and requirements people often don’t treat them like, «real businesses.»

Two things commonly happen:

1) Many people have the attitude that since they didn’t have to invest much to begin with they really don’t have to be too concerned about whether they make money or not, or how soon. Of course, that often ends up being a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s not just that way with a business, but with many things in life. If you come to own something that cost a great deal or required a lot of effort to acquire you tend to appreciate it more than something of lesser perceived value.

When you consider that network marketing has made some people just as much if not more money than many other traditional kinds of businesses, with incomes of as much as $1 million a month or more being achieved, treating a MLM as if it isn’t a serious or real business is a huge mistake!

2) Because the entry cost can be so low people overlook the cost of not making money, and also have a tendency not to pay attention to how much their other expenses associated with their business (such as trips, conventions, and/or buying extra products or services over and above what you really need) add up over time.

For example, let’s say that you spend $500 to sign up for a new business. Not a lot of money at all, maybe the price of a cup of coffee a day and some change.

Weeks go by, and then months, maybe even years, and you still aren’t making any money. Perhaps you don’t think much of it because, you think to yourself, «I only spent $500 to get started in this business anyway.»

But what are the true cost? Let’s say that in addition to your startup cost you have also been spending $150 each and every month on buying your company’s products and services. (Perfectly ok if you enjoy and use all of the products you buy; not ok if you are buying more than you need simply to qualify for a certain level with your company!) And let’s also assume that you are spending $50 a month on meetings, conventions, or seminars (many people spend much more).

So, even though you really haven’t paid much attention because you only invested $500 to begin with, if your business hasn’t yet started making you money then you are really spending AND LOSING $2,400 a year, in this hypothetical example. And, here again, in reality many people often end up spending much, much more.

Going back to the example at the beginning of this article about a traditional business, like a McDonald’s. Those kinds of businesses often have much higher costs associated with them, such as a store lease or mortgage, equipment leases, payroll, etc. It isn’t uncommon for a traditional business to have to operate for months or years before making a profit.

In contrast — though networking marketing is NOT designed necessarily to make you a very large amount of money overnight — you can and should be able to generate an ever increasing residual income for yourself over time, and starting in relatively short order.

Everyone approaches a new home business differently. Some people prefer to roll their sleeves up and dig right in, expecting to start making money almost immediately. While others prefer to first spend time learning more about their new business, and/or obtaining any available training. So it’s acceptable, if you choose, to take a few weeks or even a month to «prepare» for your new business. However, especially if it is your goal to start making money right away, it is entirely realistic with most networking businesses to start earning viable amounts of money within as little as 30 days.

Certainly within 90 days you will want to start seeing some kind of payoff in return for your efforts. And no more than 6 months should go by without positively starting to see income coming in. In fact, ideally, you should try whenever possible to not only earn enough money to cover your original startup costs, but you absolutely should be making a profit (in other words, extra money) within this time.

If after 30 to 90 days, 6 months maximum, you are not making a profit, you should seriously reevaluate!

To summarize:

1) Always remember to track ALL of your directly related business expenses, including how much you spend on leads, products and services, meetings, trips and conventions, training, etc. You must add these expenses to your original startup costs.

2) Subtract how much money you’ve earned from the number above (your total expenses) and this will tell you how much money you’ve made (profit), or how much money you’ve lost and/or are losing.

3) To repeat: If after 30 to 90 days, 6 months maximum, you are not making a profit, you should seriously reevaluate!

Don’t continue down the same path if you are only spending more money than you are making, and not making any profit in return.

Remember, except for a not for profit endeavor, the purpose of being in business is to make money. And in order to make money you have to actually make more money than you spend.

How to Increase ROI on People Development Investments

Organization X brought in an outside seminar company to «give the supervisors and managers a little boost.» The seminar company suggested the executive group attend a preview as a way to support the development, to become aware of what was going to be presented, and to customize the message to meet the unique needs of the organization. They were all too busy. OK — how about a 4 hour overview ? Still too busy. The CEO ended up telling the seminar company to «Just give the people your message — so and so at (biggest company in town) said it was a great program.»

And so they did. They delivered an intensive 5 day, 4 hour per day leadership skills seminar to all the supervisors and managers in the business. They focused on trust, communication, self development, goals and objectives and using teams as a key means to deal with the businesses challenges. They discussed ways to overcome the adversarial relationship that existed between the people who did the work and their bosses. Homework and on the job assignments were developed; action plans formalized; personal skill requirements identified. At the end of the seminar, the attendees were fired up. They interpreted the messages coming from the seminar leaders as coming from their management — there was no reason for them to feel different. Bad assumption.

When the seminar participants returned to work the following Monday, they did so with an enthusiasm that had been missing for some time. When the CEO asked them about the seminar, they were positive and enthusiastic and thankful they had the opportunity to attend. The CEO and his staff felt good — everybody seemed motivated — money well spent.

And then the managers and supervisors started to use their newly acquired behaviors, beliefs and skills. And the trouble started. The leadership wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but they knew it wasn’t what they expected. They reacted with their «business as usual» approach, and the managers and supervisors became frustrated and angry.

Things were back to where they had been before the seminar within two to three weeks, except all the seminar attendees had developed a layer of cynicism that they had not had before. Whatever trust there had been in the organization disappeared, and the leaders were puzzled that what had started off with such high expectations had turned to negative before their very eyes.

If this story sounds familiar, it’s because it happens every day, in all kinds of different organizations. It happens because the purchase of a service — a potentially very valuable service — is done when leadership sees the need for change, but the activity is not leveraged by internal design and development dedicated to ensuring the message and outcomes are what the leadership wants. The result is unintended consequences and frustration for all involved, including the development organization. They became event managers — not contributors to identifying and developing change and growth strategies and actions.

How to ensure your own critical people development investments are effective and carry a high ROI?

Ask yourself these seven questions. The answers will help define the best way to go about developing the skills, expertise and abilities of your people while increasing your ROI on development investments.

1 — How much time will be spent on customizing this seminar to meet out unique requirements? Are we trusting to a third party to represent our interests to our own employees? Focused time spent on development and customization of programs to fit your organization ensures that the objectives of the effort will be consistent with leaderships needs and expectations. Never trust to a third party to represent your interests to your employees without your extensive input — they can’t.

2 — How many people should be sent to public seminars? When a public seminar appears to meet your objectives, send a team of at least three people. Why at least three? To paraphrase what Peter Senge says in his 2008 book — «The Necessary Revolution» — one person, even the CEO, can’t make change happen by themselves, two people can have a conversation, but three or more can make change happen.

3 — Are we expecting this activity to improve individual poor performance? Don’t use seminars to attempt to improve poor individual performance. It’s not gonna happen. That’s a subject requiring one on one work, with the manager of the poor performer leading the way.

4 — Have we reviewed the content and objectives of the development? Do we support the objectives and message? For seminars to be successful, the leaders whom the participants will look to for support must be fully acquainted with the objectives, and sign up to support the participants. When the leadership says it’s too busy to spend the time necessary to get conversant with the content, spending money and effort on the content is a waste.

5 — Are our actions consistent with the message we are sending? Realize that action from the leaders within the organization speak louder than any words from even the most accomplished speaker or celebrity. Action speaks so loudly that what is said cannot be heard.

6 — Can we accomplish the same objectives using our own people? Who do we have that can teach others? Who do we have that can learn by teaching others? The best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else. Use that principle to develop the people in your organization. Make your own people your best meeting and seminar and meeting leaders — and your champions of change. Use outside services to train your own leaders.

7 — Are we using this activity to meet our needs, or are we trying to squeeze our needs into the goals of the seminar? Use third party seminars and development activities to advance the goals and behaviors identified by the organization. Don’t let the tail wag the dog.

It’s tempting to look for answers and silver bullets in the literature provided by professional development organizations. And their expertise is valuable. But its value is so much greater when blended with the unique needs of your organization. Plus, there are no silver bullets.

How to Find a Fundraising Auctioneer for your Charity Auction

Copyright (c) 2010 Red Apple Auctions LLC

If you’re new to charity auctions or new to working with auctioneers, you might be unsure of how to go about finding and selecting a charity auctioneer.

Here are six steps auction planners can use to not just survive the selection process, but actually enjoy the conversations.

#1: Locate some auctioneers

If you’re starting from a blank slate, visit the National Auctioneers Association website* and use their «Find an Auctioneer» search tool. Auctioneers with a «BAS» credential indicates that he or she has had specific training and testing in fundraising auctions. It’s a good way to start weeding through the masses.

Similarly, if you research your state auctioneers association, many state groups also have a similar search tool useful for finding area auctioneers.

Another great option is to call other organizations whom you respect which are conducting their own charity auctions. Ask them who they use, and why.

#2: Research and compare auctioneers by studying their websites

To be frank … in today’s society, if a business doesn’t have a website, they aren’t doing much business. You can glean a lot from how serious a company is simply by reading what they have posted online. — Is the content fresh? — Do they showcase videos? — Are they active in their communities? — Are they even … relevant?

Almost weekly, I have auctioneers who contact my company, inquiring as to whether I’m hiring contract auctioneers. Before calling them back, the first action I take is to Google them and see if I can find their website. If I can’t find a website …and/or a photo … and/or a video … I’m not interested.

When I emailed back one auctioneer to inquire if he had a video, he said, «Sure. Search on YouTube.» What?!? Are you kidding me? This guy wasn’t even going to make an effort to provide me — his prospective employer — with a direct link to a video he would prefer for me to watch? Gosh, that made for an easy «delete.» I immediately knew that his customer service wouldn’t be a match for my company. Trust me, you’ll be able to pick up on similar cues.

Here’s something else to watch: If an auction firm’s home page seems less focused on fund raising auctions than it is on real estate auctions (or auto auctions … or consignment auctions … or antique auctions … or … whatever), then the firm probably is more knowledgeable about real estate. This might a perk for you … but only if you plan on selling some land and chattel in your benefit auction.

#3: Create a form with standard questions, and call some auctioneers

I tend to think it’s best if you can talk with all of your candidates within the same time period so you can compare them in one swoop.

Key questions you might want to ask include: — Are you available on our gala date? — How many events do you conduct per year? — How many events have you overseen with our guest count? — Could you describe the way you work with clients? — Do you have a video? (If they don’t, ask when you can watch them next perform.) — Can I speak with some of your clients who hold events similar to ours? — Could you explain your service offerings and pricing structure — … and whatever else is relevant for your event (emceeing, for instance)

HINT: Don’t begin by asking, «How much do you cost.» In most cases, a charity auctioneer will need to know a bit about your event before quoting a price.

#2 HINT: If you’re familiar with the Kepner-Tregoe ranking and weighting method for making decisions, it might be fun to use that process to help you decide. (Did I just type Kepner-Tregoe? Oops! My years spent in the corporate world are oozing onto the article…)

#4: If the auctioneer has given you referrals, you can call them

When you call the referral, ask if he or she is — in any way, shape or form — related to the auctioneer.

If they aren’t, ask about the auctioneer’s communication and performance style. We already assume the group liked the auctioneer (hence, they are a «referral,»), but we want to find out if the auctioneer’s style would fit in with our guests and organization. Ask questions focusing on that.

#5: If you want a proposal or need a final interview, set it up.

Request a proposal only if you’re serious about the auctioneer.

If you need the auctioneer to meet key decision-makers face-to-face, set up the meeting. Keep in mind that meeting face-to-face isn’t always an option due to distance. But early on, I did conduct a lot of in-person sales calls, especially if the Board was responsible for approving the hire.

#6: Ladies, it’s OK to say no.

(Hm. Haven’t we heard that before in a different context?) If you’re not into an auctioneer or know that you definitely don’t need his or her services, don’t ask for a proposal. Know that it’s completely fine to say «no thank you.» You won’t burn bridges or hurt feelings unless you drop the ball. But if you’ve moved along in the process and you’ve received a proposal, it’s only polite to let the auctioneer know when you opt for someone else. Give them a call (gosh, use SlyDial if you find it that awkward) to thank them for their proposal, and let them know you’ve opted for another candidate but will keep them in mind for next year.

When I worked as an event planner at GE, I always called my vendors to deliver the bad news. It seemed to be the polite thing to do. And besides, I might want to work with them later and I knew my courtesy would be remembered.

Good luck!

* National Auctioneers Association website is http://www.auctioneers.org/