Work Yourself Up!

Can a Guy with a Wife and Family Start a Business?

Is starting a business impossible when you've got a wife and kids?  Escape from Cubicle Nation asks the question and has some thoughts and suggestions for people trying to do it...

Agree with the advice.  And I can't speak from experience on this issue, but I'm going to chime in on the discussion anyway.

I'm a single guy.  I'm 35 and has had my own company since 1995.  I worked odd jobs for the first 2-3 years, including stints as a phone psychic, a UPS guy, the orderly at a mental institution, and various sales jobs.  I'd work a job, save up a few bucks, quit, try to do it on my own, and eventually have to go back to the job world, when I ran out of money.

I was miserable and this made it very difficult for me to be in a relationship.  In fact, the fact that I was so unhappy and difficult to deal with during this time was one of the main factors in killing off a relationship I'd been in for six years.

Eventually, it became time for me to make the move and do it for real.  My resume was a synonym for trouble.  People didn't want to hire me, because they knew I had no interest in sticking with them for any length of time.  So I walked out of my final job, knowing that I didn't have the option of going to get another.

I don't know that I would have been able to do it with a wife and family...especially in a situation where they were expecting me to bring in all the money.

And I don't know that I would have put other people into the situation that I was in.  Any of you who have started a business know that the very beginning, especially on your first business, isn't always the best of times when it comes to income, time, and relaxation. 

Can you really take the risks needed to start a successful business when you have others to worry about?  I'm interested in hearing your stories about your situation when you started things.

Now for something which I'm sure will piss a few people off...

I definitely wouldn't have been able to do what I did had I been married to somebody who expected me to bring in all the money, but didn't want to help me do it.

I know a lot of male entrepreneurs and am always amazed at the number of them which have stay-at-home wives that don't get that working for yourself if a two-sided coin and refuse to help with anything that is business related.  Yes, you can vacation any time of the year.  Yes, you have opportunities those with a job working for somebody else don't have.  But, unless you want to go broke, you've got to put in the effort when it's time to work.

This means answering the phone, fulfilling orders, creating products, doing marketing, etc. 

I see my friends, who feel stuck in their relationships, not wanting to choose between the work they love and the women they married.

is this a way to live? 

These guys are having trouble keeping an existing business going.  Can you imagine starting up something in a situation like this?

Things would be much improved, for both parties, if they'd work together.  Even somebody who doesn't "get" the business can answer phones to take messages or help with local deliveries, such as taking things to the post office.

The smallest things like this would cause a ripple effect, leading to more money and time for the husband...which I'm sure would come back to the family.

Again, curious to know how you started your business and what your situation was like.  And I'd like to know what your situation is like now.  How are you balancing work and home responsibilities?  Feel free to share below.

The Best Way to Make Money Online

Here's a recent inteview I did with Wendy Wallace of DesireToGrow.com.  In it, I talked about starting my online business in the early 90s, what I've learned about doing business since then, and how I've been able to not only maintain things for so long, but grow them.

Wendy asked me a lot of questions about the best way to get things going, especially when you're under the stress of money or similar situations.  I feel this is a very important aspect of being successful both online and offline, so take a listen if "money stress" is something that you deal with in your life.

After you're done listening, feel free to post any comments or questions below.

Want more?  A couple of things for you...

You can get more insight into my mindset within my new book, Ask, Believe, Receive - 7 Days to Increased Wealth, Better Relationships, and a Life You Love. If you're into self-development material such as "Think and Grow Rich" or similar books, you'll like this one.

For those of you who are interested in more of a "business" process, try my workbook, Quit Your Job (and Never Go Back) - How to Create, Start, & Market an Online Business for Under $500 in 30 Days or Less.

Building an Effective Business Plan

Getting started with a business can be a very difficult process. The average person only has a very limited amount of time during the day in which they can work on their business. Not surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of startup businesses fail within their first year. Most entrepreneurs fail at what they do because they simply don’t take the time to draw out a business plan.

If you’re going to build a business you absolutely have to create an effective business plan. Starting an online business is no exception. If you are reading this because you are desperately trying to start your own online business, then today might be you’re lucky day. Today I am going to share with you a surefire plan to get your online business off of the ground.

The first thing you are going to need to do is to uncover some sort of problem or need within a target market. This is your market research phase. You’ll need to spend some time hanging out in forums, discussion groups, and networking sites to get a feel for your target market. A target market is anything like pet owners, single working moms, archery enthusiasts, artists, etc. Just about every target market you can think of has some kind of online community like a forum.

After you have spent some time studying a target market online you will eventually discover some kind of common problem or need. If you decided to target artists, for example, you might discover that many artists have a hard finding employment. This could be a problem you could try to solve.

Once you have discovered a common problem within a target market you will have actually completed the most difficult step. The next step will be to find information that help solve this problem. Your ultimate goal is to put together an information product that solves the problem you discovered within your target market. Selling information online is fantastically profitable and owning your very own information product is the best way to start making real money on the internet.

If you discovered that artists commonly had problems finding employment you would then want to uncover information that helped them find employment. The trick would be to find out how artists seeking employment can find employers who want to hire them. By doing a little more research you could easily uncover such information. This information would then become your product. You know exactly what your target market needs, so selling your product is easy.

Many online entrepreneurs are scared to create information products because they are not very good writers. Admittedly, it does help to have a writing background but not being able to write very well should not stop you from creating your own information product. There are many highly skilled writers online who can write your information product for you. All you have to do in most cases is provide them with the necessary research.

There will always be people who have problems and these people will always be willing to pay for information that promises to solve that problem. Selling information online is the best and easiest way to start an online business. Best of all, creating and marketing information products is sustainable business model that can easily build you a fortune if done correctly.

Internet Marketing and Piracy

As most of you know, I am primarily known for my work in the music industry.  And as most of you know, it's been a pretty big deal to the industry at large that folks can now easily download music using P2P and torrent sites.

But now, with better technology and online access which is getting faster and faster, the issue of piracy has moved from music to other forms of entertainment and intellectual property...such as online marketing.

How will the IM community respond to this?  Will people still pay $2000 for a home study course when they can get a digital version of the same thing for free?

And is making a copy of something the same thing as stealing?  This site doesn't think so...

Thoughts?

Successful Entrepreneurs Set the Course and Stay On It

Somebody once told me, "Entrepreneurs are quick to make decisions and slow to change them."

I agree with this.  All too ofter, I see people changing up their course of action, without giving things the proper time needed to actually work.

For example, one week they're be working on Ebay, while the next week they'll be doing something with Google Adsense.  And the week after that? Who knows?

With that said, I think it's important that you find a business which is a good match for you.  This should be fun, so you want something that is both enjoyable and fits into your schedule.

Over the next month or so, I'll be posting information about various ways to make money online.  If you're looking for a good "match" that will both make you money and be enjoyable to do, I hope you find this information helpful with making that decision.  But if you're already working on something, please don't let what I'm saying detract from what you're currently doing.  If you can work it in your current business model, use it.  If not, skip it.

To summarize...  Let's say I post some things about Ebay.  Can you sell your current product on Ebay? Or, can you create or license a new product quickly, which will allow you to generate leads for your current product?  If so, do it.  But don't drop selling apples via your own site to sell oranges on Ebay.

MLK Jr. and Online Marketing

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States.

MLK had a dream.  He wanted people to live together as equals, without being judged by their color of skin.  While we're getting closer to that, it hasn't happened yet...except in online and direct mail marketing.

Selling via the web, email, or physical mail is great because everything is based on the quality of your presentation.  Your prospect can't see your clothing, your gender, or the color of your skin...unless you want to show it.

So the fact that you're a house wife, or you weigh 500 pounds, or you only have one leg, or whatever else you feel might be an issue in the "real world" of business, doesn't matter here.

Online, you can be as good looking as the hottest movie star, you can be as nicely dressed as a Paris fashion model, and you can be as "normal" as you want to be.  With the current "sales letter" format, nobody questions this stuff.

So don't let the fact that you're not "typical" keep you from starting something.

How to Make Wise Decisions

Have you ever felt nervous about making a decision that could affect the rest of your life?  Sometimes even seemingly minor decisions can send you into a fit of anxiety when you begin thinking of all the things that could go wrong.

It's fairly common for people to vacillate back and forth between several choices, whether they are related to career, money, business, opportunities, or even relationships.  How do you know which choice is the best one for you in any given situation?  Sometimes the best choice is obvious, but other times they all seem to hold a glimmer of possibility - and the threat of regret.

The good news is that making wise decisions is a matter of weighing the potential pros and cons of every available outcome.  Below you'll find a simple 3-step process to help you make wise decisions no matter what part of your life they may affect.

1)  What Do You Stand to Gain?

When you've got more than one option to choose from, a great first question to ask of each one is, "What do I stand to gain from choosing this option?"  If the rewards are big, you might be willing to withstand a bit of risk in order to benefit from the opportunity.  Conversely, if the payoff would be small, you might not feel so confident about taking a chance right now.

2)  What Do You Stand to Lose?

The next question to ask is, "What do I stand to lose if this option doesn't work out?"  No one likes to think of the negatives in a potential opportunity, but you could save yourself a lot of heartache with a bit of foresight!  If your losses could be huge with a particular option, you might decide to hold off for awhile to see if the odds improve over time.

3)  What's the Worst Thing that Could Happen?

Finally, take it one step further and ask, "What is the worst thing that could happen if I choose this option, and would I be willing to accept those consequences?"  It may seem like a very pessimistic question, but it's extremely effective at clarifying the situation!  If you couldn't handle the consequences of making such a choice, then you know immediately that it's not the right choice for you at this time.  If, on the other hand, the consequences wouldn't be so bad, you know it's a viable option for you.

What do you do if all of your options hold the same potential rewards and consequences?  Go with your gut!  Take a few minutes to think carefully about each possibility, and then choose the one you feel strongest about.

When it comes right down to it, there are no guarantees in decision-making.  You simply weigh the pros and cons, listen to your intuition, and do the best you can.  In the end, there really isn't any such thing as a "bad" decision, because you do learn something from each one you make.  If you keep that in mind you should grow more confident with each choice you make, which will help you make even better decisions in the future.

Boo!

It's Halloween!!

And with Halloween comes a good opportunity for you to look at what scares you.  Probably not the kids (and adults) running around in costumes.

There is a lot of "scary" stuff in business.  Can't tell you how many times I've seen guys who are really sharp and really deserving of something better than they currently have, but get stuck and continue to live a life where they're spinning their wheels, not really moving forward and staying in basically the same income and general situation, year after year.

We've all seen out friends do this.  And it's easy for us to see that they're stuck.  It's easy for us to see that their relationship sucks or their work situation sucks.

So what's holding them back?  They're scared of the unknown.

It's the same thing that's probably holding you back.

So what do you do?  Shine light on it.  The darkness is never really as scary as it appears.

Take a small bite, the first step, or whatever else you need to do in order to get things going.  Those things add up.  And in a year from now, what you currently find scary won't be such a big deal after all.

Should You Know Every Aspect of Your Business?

Shared some thoughts on Next Internet Millionaire a couple of days ago and commented how I didn't think it was important that people know customer service, since most people outsource that aspect of their businesses.

Got a comment which said, "you should know every level of your business even if it is sourced out."

Yes, you should...but only the basic concepts.

For example, I was in Austin, TX over the weekend, broadcasting my radio show from Austin City Limits Festival.  I was in the "media compound" with a lot of technical stuff, including satellites, ISDN lines, Internet connections, WiFi, etc.

I don't know how to work any of it.  But I surround myself with people who do.

I understand the basic concepts, which is all I need to do my job.  And I'd argue customer service is the same way.

Next Internet Millionaire - How to Lose Your Dignity in 15 Seconds (or Less)

I've already written a review of Next Internet Millionaire, Joel Comm's online version Donald Trump's Apprentice show.  Had pretty much written if off, but keep seeing folks talking about it on message boards, so I just checked out the fourth episode, thinking that maybe I was wrong.

I wasn't.

The episode starts out with Joel asking the contestants to answer some support email.  They have 10 emails to respond to in 15 minutes.

This was crazy to me, as EVERYBODY in this business, especially "Internet Millionaires", outsources this task. But it got even more crazy when contestants had the option to answer only one email if they'd eat two live worms.

WHAT?!

Yet another task that has nothing to do with online marketing...unless maybe you're in the worm business.  And none of these guys has anything do with worms.

But here's where it gets really disgusting...

Nobody refused or even questioned this task.  Is there anything people won't do for money...or 15 minutes of online fame?

I work in the music business.  I know folks who do needle drugs, hire hookers, and do any number of crazy (and stupid) things, but I don't know any who would do this.

Have some dignity, folks.  This stuff is all over the Internet.  Regardless of who wins or loses, there is always going to be video of you letting Joel have fun at your expense, eating live worms, so you can get out of answering a few emails.  If you were really looking to stand out, which is the point of the show, you could have had a lot more respect by simply refusing.

And yes, I know it's just a game, but the image doesn't really work for most of the contestants.  Can you imagine Joel doing something like this?

And for the producers of the show...  Wasn't knowing your audience one of the lessons you guys have talked about?

Again, I'm in the music business.  And I'm involved with both radio and television because of it.  I know all about entertainment and what it takes to get people to watch, listen, and buy.  And I can tell you with complete certainty that folks who like Fear Factor aren't watching Next Internet Millionaire, because it's a marketing show, and people who are watching it for the marketing don't care about the worms.

The support email exercise could have been such a valuable part of the show.  And if the contestants' responses sucked, a critique would be been both a valuable lesson and entertaining.

When you're on television, you're got to do things for ratings.  Broadcast television goes to EVERYBODY in the country, so they're trying to get as many people from that pie as possible.

But this is a NICHE show being promoted to a list of targeted people.  You don't have to dumb things down to a "Jerry Springer" level and rely on tired reality television gimmicks.  The online marketing crowd is smarter than that.