Lifestyle Entrepreneur Business Network

Lifestyle Entrepreneur

Home Business Entrepreneur - 9 Proven Criteria to Get Started

February 5th, 2007

Selecting a home based business opportunity can be a challenge with so many people offering all kind of opportunities. Promising so many ways to get rich quickly. Keep your head cool and use our 9 criteria to position yourself correctly from the beginning.

After having interviewed literally hundreds of potential entrepreneurs I have found that there are three categories:

Wannabees

People who choose something more or less randomly with a very low financial investment not really committing themselves.

They typically buy a book they can resell, or they will start typing ads or surveys from home. Programs typically costing less than $50 to get them going. If it doesn’t work, they will try something else. It’s hard to believe they will become successful but at the other end, they didn’t risk anything.

Scared

The sheer amount of possibilities and the enormous amounts of money apparently available in this market makes them scared. They give up before they even try because they believe everything is a scam anyway. They simply don’t want to make any changes to their current situation or life.

Committed Entrepreneurs

People who understand that there are indeed ultra smart ways of making a very good living online provided you do your homework and stay committed. Provided they are able to protect themselves from negative circles of influence, they are ready to investigate a serious opportunity as it presents itself. Existing home based entrepreneurs are happy to help these people as it will allow them to coach serious, next generation leaders building the foundation for a strong and dedicated community of entrepreneurs.

The information in this article is for the latter group of entrepreneurs.

New to Home Business?

If you plan to start a home based business for the first time, criteria 1-6 are most applicable to you. Your main concern is the level of support and training. Becoming your own boss for the next period in your life means that you have to start to think a little different about business. Be prepared to take personal responsibility for your actions and learn multiple tasks. Even some personal development might be required to become more effective and self-reliant.

Experienced in Home Business?

If you have been working out of your home once before but are in the process of changing, focus on criteria 7-9. You want to make sure that your efforts will pay off this time… You have a big advantage in terms of a much shorter learning curve and your developed sense for business working from home.

1-Company

Always select a company that really exists, with real people and that has been in business for at least 5 years:

- They have proven themselves in time and are likely to stay alive successfully.

- Most likely, they have been scrutinized and investigated by different bureaus and administrations and survived different levels of allegations. This is a natural filtering process that happens to any company with a certain size and functions like a filter. This filter always works and weeds out the illegitimate schemes and unsuccessful businesses. So use it to your advantage!

2-Products

These should be real and marketable. Pyramid schemes where only money is passed around are 100% illegal and cannot exist for a long time. Just be aware of them and avoid them. More over, make sure you are excited about the products yourself. Believe me it helps when talking to others and when overcoming obstacles…

3-Training

Step-by-step program works best with personal contact to your coach. This allows you to learn from the professionals and make corrections as you go. Make sure the business plan has been proven to work and is generating results for those following the steps. Ideally, the training system should help you to become a problem solver who can handle small obstacles with confidence.

4-Slightly Challenging

Important: if you select an extremely simple business like typing ads or filling questionnaires working from home, you cannot expect any great rewards. Anyone in the world can do this and most of it can be automated anyway at lowest cost. How motivated will you be after 3 weeks typing the same ads over and over again…

5-Longevity

You want to do something for a longer time, become a specialist and this way you make sure the opportunity remains challenging and motivating enough for you to stay involved and focused. There is nothing worse than having to restart your learning curve over and over again and not make any progress…

6-Team

You learn faster and stay motivated if you can interact with an enthusiastic team. Make sure the team works professionally and is ready to help. There is nothing worse than to work at home without any one to interact with for support.

7-Investment

Common question of many people: ‘how much should I invest’. Difficult to answer. Some of us invest in powerful computers and large desks while others use the kitchen table and a simple laptop. What is important here is the level of flexibility to be able to make your own business decisions. Being your own boss means that you make your own decisions.

8-MLM?

You decide! Multi-level marketing business has created successful companies and I do know people who have become extremely successful in this business. The fact is that for this type of business you need to be a very good sales guy. If, like myself, you are not, then keep your eyes open. Because there are opportunities out there that don’t require you to change somebody’s brains around…

9-Compensation

Last but not least, how do you get paid? In many cases there is a balance between profits on products sold and a rewards for building teams in the organization (creating some kind of leverage). Compensation plans can be very sophisticated. Bottom line: spend enough time to check it out and ensure that the compensation plan has been proven to work already over a period of at least 5 years. Also remember, these is no value in getting compensated solely for enrolling other people in a program. These plans cannot be sustained for a long time and they might be illegal as well in certain states.

Once you have chosen your business, congratulations! The groundwork is done. Treat your new venture as an aeroplane on the runway. Load it with fuel and go full throttle. Don’t hold back so you don’t crash at the end of the runway…

Enjoy your day!

DISCLAIMER
The testimonials presented are applicable to the individuals depicted and may not be representative of the experience of others. The testimonials are not paid and are not indicative of future performance or success.