This is a post about what you should try to avoid to do when you start a home business. I failed at every one of these 9 tips when I started. Actually not only when I started but with some of the things in the list, I made the wrong ting many years before I understood that I had to change in order to get better results.
The list is made of 9 very important things to remember when you start your home business. If you get them wrong it will have a major impact on your results. They are not in any specific order as every part can be equally important.
List building
It didn’t take long after I started my online journey before I was told that I had to build a list. It was a very good friend of mine, Goran Thisell, who told me this. Unfortunately he passed away far too early and I can’t discuss my marketing with him anymore. He told me that the list is an asset that you own and handled correct it can your own ATM. I wish I had done what he told me then.
I didn’t start list building until years after that. Later I have built some lists but it has never been a number one business task for me. That is a pity as it really is the most important thing you can do. My excuses were that my English wasn’t good enough and I didn’t know how to write good emails.
Hire your own mentor
This is a difficult one as it is a major cost to get a good mentor. As a new business owner the cash flow might not be very good and most often it can be negative. In that situation it is not easy to make a decision to invest in a mentor. I didn’t and as a matter of fact I didn’t do that until late 2017. There are many reasons for that but I did feel that it was too expensive for many years.
Now I understand that I was completely wrong. Yes, there is a cost to it but that is actually a good thing. For some strange reason we are more compelled to do certain things if we have paid a lot for the service. And what is a lot? Let’s say the price for a mentor is $497 per month, and the advice we get generates $1000 a month. I doubt that anyone will say that it is a bad decision to pay the mentor that money. The sums I use are only examples but I am completely confident that my mentor will help me to a completely new income level.
Should I have an office outside of my home?
The short answer is: Yes. It is comfortable to work from home but it is also very difficult to be effective if you have other family members around. They want to talk to you, ask questions or maybe watch tv in the same room. You try to explain that when you work, you have to concentrate and should not be disturbed, but it is not that easy.
With an office outside of your home you will be more efficient and get more done. I have tried both and working from home is not recommendation. We are in the middle of a move right now and I will have a home office in the new apartment. It is still better than what I am used to as I have had the office in our living room for the past 2 years.
Build your network
During my ears online I have got some very good friends. Still this is something I haven’t done in a way that I should have. What I mean is an active approach to build a network of other marketers. As long as you don’t have your own product, a network is not that important. But you should always have a goal to make your own product and the best way to prepare for that launch is to have a large and talented network.
Time for family and friends
My way of living is to not be bothered by things that I have done wrong. I try to learn from them and then go on. One thing I do regret is that I spend far to little time with my sons when they were young. I thought that I could made that up later but the later did ever come. This is far more important than trying to make some extra sales. I didn’t understand that then. This was when I started as an entrepreneur and before the internet. I took care of old cars, a junkyard, and sold used car parts.
Test everything
How can you know that something is successful if you don’t test it? The simple answer is: You don’t! Even if you think that you have found out the best way to do something, there is always something that can be better. There are two parts of testing:
1. Testing existent promotions in the form of AB testing.
2. Testing new ideas. Test as fast as you can and try to implement the idea when you have them fresh in your head.
Don’t chase the final pixel
This was a major one for me for many years. It still can be a problem when I forget what I have learned. What is it about then? Don’t try to be a perfectionist. I have made a lot of websites with different layouts  and a lot of imagery. I have changed colors, sizes and the positions. Sometimes it could take hours before I was satisfied. What I didn’t understand that it is not about me, it is about the customer or the website visitor. And I have no idea about what they think. So, the best way is to publish your work as fast as possible and then improve based on the results. This is where testing is the key again. The same go’s for copy. Write and improve, write and improve.
Take care of your body and mind
I read somewhere that if you can’t take care of your body, you certainly can’t be successful in business. It all starts with ourselves. I believe in that. And it is not only our bodies, maybe even more important that we take care of our minds. There are great programs to improve our memory as one example. I love to learn new things and read a lot. But if I don’t remember what I read, it’s only a waste of time. I will post more about what I have done to improve my memory in another post.
Find a sustainable business and stick to it
This is a difficult one. I suppose that I could say that I have failed with this last point in 12 years. I have tried a lot of different things and I have also known that it will not last. I have made some money and at time I was very pleased with that. It paid my rent and got me some food on the table. But then Google or Amazon or some other major player changed their algorithms and suddenly my business was gone. Another problem if you keep changing your business is the risk of buying program after another in order to find the right one for you. This is the famous shiny object syndrome SOS. I have been there and try to avoid it if you can.
Have you started you own business yet? What are you struggling with? Let me know in the comments and maybe I can help you.
