Home-Based Business Start-Up: 7 Tips For Lowering Your Fear Factor
Instead of thinking about your start-up fears, let's focus on something more interesting like; free home-based business opportunities, and free advertising. This new thinking will greatly increase your confidence in being the boss.
By Bruce Scher
All of us who tell the truth will admit to having fears. Many people live their entire lives with one fear or another, but Anne Block, discovered how to side-step her fear factor into a home-based business reality.
Anne always dreamed of owning her own home-based travel business, but the fear of losing her savings kept her dream parked in neutral. Anne says, "finally a business associate told me how I could start it with no money, and to start looking forward not backward." Well, she started it in 1995, and her business is growing strong to this day. The 7 tips to lowering your fear factor are:
Having A Great Idea
By concentrating on why you want to start your own home-based business, and visiting other like-minded websites, reading ezines and newsletters on the subject, plus trade publications, gathering more knowledge about the subject, will raise your confidence and simultaneously lower your fear level. Repeat after me, more confidence, less fear.
If you don't have a great idea at the moment, visit the site below for a free copy of "100 Hot Home Business Opportunities," a survey of home business owners on which business they would start in 2003. http://www.homebusinessfree.com/home-business.htm
Be Your Own Boss
Numerous surveys have confirmed this to be the number one reason why business owners decided to go out on their own. As you research competitors websites, and read all you can on the subject, you will find your interest rising, and your belief in yourself increasing, to the point of you saying one day, I can do this. Your level of fear will definitely lower when I show you 5 ways to advertise - free. Read my previous article, "12 Free Tools For Starting A Home Business With No Money", request a copy by emailing me at: bruce@ownsmallbusiness.com
Paul Purdue, who founded ifulfill five years ago, with no money leverages the web's free benefits, saying, "I use the top free search engines, to avoid the need for spending any money." Presently, Paul ships about 800 packages per day, and hopes to reach 1,000 daily by midsummer and 5,000 by the end of next year.
With no money needed to start-up your home-based business, what are you waiting for? Now is the time to get started. Here are the 5 ways to get free advertising with specific links below.
- search engines
- writing articles
- reciprocal links
- banners
- press releases
Search engines are the most important element for bringing huge numbers of traffic to your website, and with no money expended. You can submit your website for free placement on the following search engines and directories:
http://www.google.com
http://www.lycos.com
http://www.altavista.com
http://www.alltheweb.com
http://www.about.com
http://www.dmoz.org
http://www.goguides.com
http://www.allbusiness.com
The Freedom To Be Creative
Many people in today's workplace do not feel inspired, challenged, or excited. The idea of working on your own interests, or hobbies for a profit, however, is very appealing.
By focusing on what type of home-based business you will start, and why you really need to get started today, should help to lower your fear factor one level. The 3 levels of fear are: high, moderate, and low. Lowering your fear factor just one level, should be enough for you to realistically consider starting your home-based business. Everyone has fears, but at this lower level, this should give you more confidence to pursue your dream.
The second most product type of free advertising is writing articles. It's an excellent way not only to get your goods and/or services sold, but to build up a sense of authority and trust in your customer's minds. A great place to start is: http://www.goarticles.com
Make More Money
Money is certainly a big motivating factor, and it may even be number one in your books. A lot of business owners start their home-based business for different reasons in the beginning, and learn to cherish the other reasons after being in business a while.
Having links on your website is very important to offer your visitors alternative places to go, giving them a sense that your site is complete and fair in distributing the information they are seeking. Also, it's your trading post with other website owners, as you build reciprocate links as a traffic builder. And lastly, search engines like Google give much importance to the number and quality of links in determining your ranking. The following site offers a free report containing step-by-step instructions on link building, as well as extensive links to articles and resources. http://www.linkingmatters.com
Convenience
Everyone has different motivational triggers, and for you the idea of starting work at noon and quitting at 4pm might be the biggest draw. Or perhaps, you prefer to work only 3 days a week, and spend more time on other areas of your life. By seeing how life can be different and of better quality, might be your answer to that drop in fear, and a rush in confidence.
Continuing with free ways to advertise, so money will be not be a hindrance to starting your own home-based business, banners are another way to get your message across to new and potential customers. The banner site helps you to easily design your own banner with prepared templates, so you just add your own text. Visit the largest banner exchange at: http://www.bcentral.com/products/bn/default.asp
Job Loss or Job Insecurity
As many as 2 1/2 million Americans have lost their jobs since our economy started to weaken in 2000. Although this worry was not prevalent before the economy tanked, I know it concerns many to give up the corporate world in favor of your own home-based business.
Remember, some of the best companies were founded during weak economic times, that's when entrepreneurs with a good idea begin, because they know business goes in cycles, and good times are just around the corner. And by developing your business in the soft times, you'll be ready to profit in a stronger economy.
Because of the uncertain economy possibly effecting their job security, Ray and Cydi White were interested in self-preservation of their financial future, and started a successful real estate service company. "We couldn't afford to be without income if something terrible happened, and started our business part-time while we were working to financially protect ourselves."
By starting part-time with 1-2 hours a week, working on your idea, if the unfortunate should happen, you'll have your home-based business as a back-up plan to keep you afloat.
The last method of free advertising is the press release. It's quite possibly the biggest tool in your free tool-box and the most effective way of reaching a mass audience at no-cost. Just recently, we have seen the phenomenon of the press release igniting the launch of the Segway, the human transporter of the future, as it was billed. It received a massive amount of free publicity, even getting corporate orders from the U. S. Postal Service and Amazon.com For free press release distribution visit: http://www.prweb.com
Getting Started
First step is to take your new home-based business idea on a search. Enter the keywords of your business into Google, and visit the top 30 websites listed. Look over the sites making notes which website design you like, which has good content, or great e-commerce products and services, and sign up for all the newsletters they offer.
This is valuable intelligence you are gathering, and after you assimilate all this information, along with a lowered fear factor, you'll be ready to open the doors to your own home-based business.
Bruce Scher is a home business advisor, and author a new eBook, "Full-Time Money Part-Time Hours"
"An excellent eBook" _Les Brown, Nationally Known Author
For more information visit: http://www.ownsmallbusiness.com or email: bruce@ownsmallbusiness.com
ownsmallbusiness@earthlink.net
Written by: Bruce Scher
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