This part of the process is incredibly important – please resist the temptation to skip it and head right to the “juicy” part where actual techniques for earning an income are revealed.
Do one thing – get a shiny new pad and pen. Then, before you even attempt to earn a penny from a home business, start drawing up a plan. Here are a few things that you absolutely MUST include in your plan:
• What income you wish to achieve from your new home business? What is your target for your first year? Targets should be made challenging yet achievable.
• What about longer time-frame targets? What do you hope to achieve by the end of year two…or year five?
• What type of business actually appeals most to you? Desire in what you do can really pull you through the rough times. Jot down a few home business ideas that you feel you may be able to start with a bit of interest.
• Is your business going to be part time to begin with? Do you wish to make it full time (and if so what time-frame will you allow yourself to make this happen).
• How much time are you willing to invest in making the above a reality?
• How will you use the profits that are generated – will they be ploughed back into growing the business or do you need to withdraw them for personal use?
• What form will your business take? Will you operate as a sole trader with unlimited liability or will you opt for a more formal limited company structure? Both have their pros and cons but if you like to play it safe (and limit your personal liability in case anything happens down the line) then a limited company may be your preference.
• How will you raise finance? Many of the techniques described in this book require little or no capital to get started but supposing you decide to do something different – you may want to consider how you will pay for it all. Some sources of finance include personal savings, family/friends and bank loans.
• What other goals do you wish to achieve via your new found home business income? Do you wish to quit your job? Buy a new car? Go traveling? Go ahead and write these points down as they are very important motivational triggers. When you need encouragement return to this segment of your plan and remind yourself WHY you’re putting in so much effort.
This is an overview of where you’re heading – you see it has been suggested by people far more intelligent than I that if you simply create a sort of “top level goal” for yourself then your mind, having something to aim for, is more likely than not to make it happen.
Perhaps you’re still trapped in a job – include in your plan how you will make time for your business. Can you shift to a part time job (and can you afford it)? How do you plan to raise finance? Are there any areas in your life that you can moderate to help fit in your new plans for a highly successful new business?
Have you heard of a very famous old saying:
“If You Fail To Plan, Then You Plan To Fail”
Pure simplicity isn’t it? But also very, very true. It holds especially true when you begin a huge and demanding venture such as creating income streams from home. If you do not have some written blueprint that details HOW you will achieve $500 or $2,000, or $10,000 per month then how can you expect it to become reality? Your mind has nothing to aim for – your efforts will be inefficient and helter-skelter – and I’m sorry to suggest that you will probably not end up going very far (rather just become disillusioned and give up). Do NOT let this happen to you.
People who write down what they want to accomplish, more often than not, get there in the end. I don’t know why it’s this way…IT JUST IS. This isn’t something that I just pulled out of thin air – entire books have been written with this concept.
So before we go onto the powerful ways of creating an income stream in your PJ’s, why don’t we first spend 20 minutes or so to scribble a few things down in that new pad of yours.
Here’s an example of a very simple plan. Let’s say that I’m relying on my homes business to generate a part time income of $500 per month – I think most experts would agree that this is a fairly achievable target to get within a relatively short space of time. 17 sales of a $29 product would get you this target (that’s about a sale every 2 days). You could probably become something of an expert at just one of the home business methods described in this book and generate this cash target.
If you wanted something approaching a full time income (say $4,000 per month) your plan would be somewhat different – this is a more challenging target so your plan may be somewhat different (you would need to have access to high quality knowledge, resources and tools – but it is certainly achievable). You may want to investigate different methods of producing an income so that you have several streams of modest income all generating one large amount.
The point is, determine what you NEED. Then decide on what steps you must take to get to that place.
Don’t make the mistake of drifting aimlessly – a plan firmly imprints in your mind where you need to be going and above all it prompts you to take action.
