Are you an action taker, or a procrastinator?

What is the main focus of your business? No matter what your market, the goal is to make money. In order to do that, some planning is needed.

Sadly, many people don’t take action because they don’t know what to do. That is in business as well as life. You know where you want to go but without a roadmap, you aren’t going to get to square one, let alone the destination.

Knowledge is one of the great equalizers in our society. It’s who you know but also what you know that counts. But even more important, it’s what you do with what you know that counts. Sometimes, you can outsmart someone with better contacts by simply using your noodle.

If you want to be an entrepreneur, learn all that you can about the ins and outs of business, including:

* Business start-up
* Writing a business plan
* Website set-up
* Advertising
* Marketing
* Product branding

The more that you understand on the front end, the easier it is to formulate positive actions you can take to get results in your business.

So, what’s next? Well, since you are armed with the knowledge, it’s time to put that knowledge to good use. Most businesses need money to get started, even Internet businesses. The start-up costs are quite low with the latter, but you’ll still have to have some funds.

Nothing in business will just fall into your lap, so a bit of pro-action is needed. Go in search of what you need. Make a list. If it’s money, calculate exactly how much you will need plus a cushion to see you through to the first client payment. If it’s equipment, list that also.

Now, you have a place to begin. Talk to family and friends about your business venture. Host a gathering to present your business enterprise and see if they want to invest. If it’s a smaller venture, it could be as simple as asking your spouse if the family can spare the start-up funds.

Scour the Internet. There are tons of sites that offer free content and eBooks on various aspects of marketing. If you want to create a business website, check out reviews on website hosts and blog hosts. Join forums and business groups with similar interests and ask questions. A large part of the information you need to get your business off the ground comes at no charge - you just have to be willing to ask for it.

Before going further, consider what you have accomplished so far. Your business idea has taken shape in your mind and been translated into tangible efforts. You have your starting money, equipment, and resources to set up a website and begin marketing your product or service.

Now, implement what you have learned. That’s right - TAKE ACTION. You’ll encounter glitches along the way, but you have established relationships with other businesspeople to help you overcome them. Success in business comes in small steps. With every piece of knowledge and contact you make, another opportunity is born to help you move a step closer to your goal.

So, to get the results that you want in your business, you must take the necessary action.
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Online businesses are started everyday, and so you want to join the mobs and start an online business of your own. Just like a brick and mortar business, there are things to tend to before you actually start finding clients and making some money.

Below are some tips for your journey into entrepreneurship.

1. Flesh out that idea. At this point most traditional businesses would construct a business plan. It details your strategy for getting started, how you will make sales and when you expect a profit, among other things. If you know what area you will start with, that’s great. If you only have a general idea, you need to do some more digging. Research the viability of your idea, check the competition and make sure there is a place for you, your products or your services.

2. Do some keyword research. This is a helpful tool for identifying your market and for niche marketing. When people search on the Internet, they use certain words that will return the results they seek. Those keywords can be widely used (getting millions of results) or not (with a few thousand results). Some words are overused on the web. You’ll want to pass those up in favor of others that haven’t been exploited by online marketers. Keep a record of those keywords for later.

3. Set up an office. You’ll need a place to work with a computer, desk, chair, and Internet access. Most people have all-in-one printers so they can manage other office tasks easily. Since your business runs in cyberspace, invest in the fastest Internet connection you can get in your area. Don’t entrust your business profits to dial-up.

4. Create an online presence. This will be your headquarters. If you don’t know how to create a website, do a little reading on the subject. In the meantime, shop around for a good webhost. Here are a few things to look for: tutorials for set-up, decent price, lots of bandwidth, design templates, extras, and 24-hour assistance. No one wants to be left hanging after they’ve paid their money.

5. Choose a domain name. The name of your business website needs to appeal to the search engines. You can use some of those keywords you found to come up with a name that is relevant to your business and catchy at the same time. When using more than three words, use hyphens between words to make the name easier to read. A domain name search will tell if the name is available or not. Register your domain name with a reputable service. Be sure to renew it every year so you don’t lose it.

6. Use some simple techniques to drive traffic your way. SEO content is one avenue. If you love to write, create eBooks to sell or give away on your site. Join business forums to learn about online marketing and how to showcase your product. For selling products, you’ll need to add an online storefront to your website.

Are you interested in starting an online business? Use these tips to get the ball rolling on your venture and get it while you can.

How important is a website for your business?

The goal of any business is to make money. To do that you need to get the word out about your products or services. One way that you let people know you exist is with a business website. And today you can reach prospects and customers not only in your local neighbourhood, but all around the globe.

Some ask if a business website is truly important. The answer to that question is found in the advantages of the website to increase business profits. A business website is an advertising tool you would be unwise to pass up.

Advertising offline is how businesses tell others about their products. You run newspaper ads, use billboards (if you can afford that), direct mailings, and flyers - to name a few. The more visible you and your product are, the more people you have a chance to attract.

A business website does the same for online businesses and home businesses that want to move into new markets. Think of it as your online billboard, but this one is more affordable. Using a business website, you get to showcase your products in the most flattering light possible. Anyone who visits will see the best you have to offer them.

Business websites work for small as well as larger businesses. Websites can be set up to run an online store, answer questions for customers, provide useful content, and gather information from customers. All of these things you have to do yourself with a brick and mortar business that has no website presence.

Business websites allow for the streamlining of almost all processes pertaining to your business. You can send electronic invoices to clients, pay business expenses online, and pay any contracted employees. The paper trail is a thing of the past with virtual businesses. But, if you did need a document, they can be safely accessed on your computer or flash drive and printed.

Business websites allow for 24-hour shopping. Showcasing your products at a trade show or flea market allows you 8-10 hours a day to attract customers and make a sale. With a business website, anyone in the world can view your products on your website and purchase what they want. It could be three o’clock in the morning where you are but your store is open for business half way around the world where it is later in the day.

For brick and mortar businesses and virtual ones, a website adds credibility to your products. A potential customer can see and get all the information they need about a product before they buy. Posting customer testimonials helps, too. For brick and mortar, a website shows that you have taken the next step in your business growth. Now, the customers who spread the word about you to their friends have a place to direct them to that doesn’t require getting in the car and driving somewhere.

A business website is a great asset to any business. With so many web hosting companies, and the inexpensive costs of purchasing domain names, setting one up is easy to do and it gives you an online presence to increase the visibility of your business.

Increase the visibility of your business and get online with a website today.
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Are you a procrastinator? Imagine knowing how to beat procrastination and JUST DO IT!!

Why do it today if you can do it tomorrow? Thinking like that is the beginning of the end when it comes to getting anything done — work or home chores.

The key to being more productive at work is to stop procrastinating before it gets a foothold in your thinking process.

Why do you procrastinate? There are several reasons and some might surprise you. Fear of failure is one reason. No one wants to be make mistakes but they are a part of life and they do happen to everyone.

Fear of success is also a reason why you might procrastinate. Here is the rationale: If you succeed you will be expected to do so all the time. The pressure alone can stop your work.

Stress causes procrastination, too. It is easier to deal with a problem by hiding and pretending it will go away than meeting it head on. The problem is that the day you are ready to deal with it never comes.

Use the following five tips to stop procrastination from hindering your work.

1. Make a list. Use dashes instead of numbers so the items on the list aren’t ranked in any particular order. Add deadlines so that you can prioritize the list. As you finish a task on the list, cross it off with a colorful pen. Every time you look at the list you will get a sense of accomplishment.

2. Set aside time for other tasks. All work and no play, as they say. Sometimes when you work, you’ll notice your mind thinking about taking a break and doing something else. We’ve all done it. Avoid those breaks in productivity by scheduling time to get away and take a break. Knowing that you will get a break makes you want to stay focused on your work until that time.

3. Don’t overload your schedule. If you have too much to do in a small span of time, procrastination will surely creep in. No one wants to slack off at work, but biting off only as much as you can chew is not the same thing. You are more productive when you can manage your tasks instead of drowning in them and missing all of your deadlines.

4. Find coping mechanisms. Stress can lead to procrastination. Deal with the stress before it affects your work. Learn breathing techniques; take an exercise class; chant a mantra. Whatever will relax you can also keep you working.

5. Stay organised. A desk piled with papers, folders, and sticky notes is not what you want to see every morning you walk into the office. Keep your desk neat and everything where you can find it when you need it. Organisation stops you from abandoning the task at hand because of a misplaced file.

Procrastination is hard to beat because it comes from within us.

Make good use of the above to regain your level of productivity in the workplace, and follow the five tips to beat procrastination once and for all.
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If you’re feeling confusion, frustration or overwhelm, consider the suggestion that you may need to declutter your office and your mind.

Who realises that the state of your office would affect the state of your mind? Simplifying things around your office, whether at home or in another building altogether, will lead to greater peace of mind and a more productive environment.

Your office doesn’t start off in a mess. The desk is clean, papers are in piles, and you can see the telephone. Every time you walk in, you’re ready to work because everything looks so neat. Over time, all of that usually changes.

For a home office, clutter is not a unique problem. The clutter is not only papers and mail for your business but also other people’s stuff: family paperwork, bills, kids’ toys, newspapers, kids’ homework, and an assortment of odds and ends. The possibilities are endless.

It has been eluded to that an out-of-control office space can lead to a depressive state of mind. The process of finding what you need when you need it is frustrating. The thought of taking the time to slim down those towering piles of paper creates anxiety. Dealing with that adds to the pressure of work deadlines.

Don’t worry because help is on the way. Following are five tips to change your view in and of your office space.

1. Do a little every day. If your office is already a mess, the problem won’t resolve itself in a day. You don’t have to take a holiday to clean your office. Instead, create a plan of attack detailing what decluttering tasks need to be tackled around the office. For the first week or so, those piles might still seem daunting, but relax in the knowledge that you are whittling it away.

2. Stop junk mail at the door. Junk mail has a way of piling up…everywhere. Most people hit the highlights of their mail as they walk to their desk or back in the house. Anything that you know is an advertisement, throw it away right away.

3. Use of filing cabinets. They are there to help you. Use hanging folders inside to organize invoices, finished project paperwork, requisitions and more. If the paper is in a filing cabinet it is off of your desk. Easy to read labels assist you to find any of this information later.

4. Go paperless. In today’s society, more and more businesspeople are throwing off the paper for the virtual. Instead of keeping dozens of paper invoices, create computer files for the information. If you need a copy of the invoice, it’s as simple as accessing the file and printing it. To avoid losing the information, back it up on a flash drive or hard disk.

5. Put everything in its place. Every home or office has a junk drawer. That’s where the odds and ends we can’t be bothered with organizing seem to end up. Instead of creating a black hole in your office, find a place for everything right down to the paper clips, and stick to it.

Organizing a mess is not easy. However, once you’ve decluttered that office you will feel better about working there.

Make a deal to avoid future clutter by using the above five tips. You will not only improve your efficiency, but you’ll be more productive as well.
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Blogging is a relatively simple process but admittedly can be a lot of work. While it isn’t hard to post to your blog, coming up with ideas to write about, getting the traffic and the revenue from your blog that you desire is a tougher proposition. Maybe you’ve been blogging for a while and still aren’t seeing the traffic numbers you’d anticipated.

Here are 5 ways that you can enhance your blogging skills for more effective results.

1. Keep up with the times. As you can imagine, no one wants to read last month’s news. A blogger needs to know what is going on in the world yesterday, today and tomorrow. Some important issues may stay in the headlines for months at a time but your audience will want fresh updates on those topics. Knowing what is going on around you will make your blog content interesting and worth reading.

2. Change your content often. It’s disheartening to lose traffic you’ve worked hard to attract just because you haven’t updated your posts. You might not need to post every day but you can be sure that your readership will drop off if you only post once a month. Readers like fresh content and they will go where they can get it so you need to keep them occupied. If you can’t manage to update your blog regularly and often, hire a virtual assistant or a writing company to produce interesting content on different topics that relate to your theme and post the information on a regular basis. This would work well if you have more than one blog and not enough hours in the day to manage them all.

3. Network, Network and Network some more. This will help you get your content out there. Register with search engines and join social bookmarking sites like Technorati and Digg so people can see what you are doing. Share your blog address with friends on your profile page on MySpace or Facebook. Twitter your updates as you post.

4. Pay attention to your readership. When people post comments they like you to answer them back. Some visitors ask questions whilst others just want to let you know that they agree or disagree with what you’ve said. Take the time to talk to them. After all, they took the time to visit and post a comment. Their comments can drive the direction your blog takes in the future if you want to keep them as readers and increase your traffic.

5. Keep your ads to a minimum. Ads are one way for bloggers to earn money from their sites. That’s all well and good and a few ads are great and will attract attention. If you post too many, however, visitors might be turned off. It’s important that your content is the main attraction. It’s good if the ads coordinate with your blog niche, but only a few and at the top of the page if you want them to be clicked regularly by visitors.

Effective blogging is an art and creating interesting, updated content to keep readers coming back takes effort and commitment. Even if you already blog, use these 5 tips to enhance your current sites and boost your value to the blogosphere.

You’ll be amazed with your results as you become a better blogger.

How many of your emails actually get your message across effectively?

Let’s take a look at 7 Tips to Ensure Your Emails Are Effective so you get more out of your emails and build better relationships with your recipients.

As our inboxes become more deluged with messages, it is important to ensure you follow a few simple tips to ensure you continue building relationships with your people and don’t have them scrolling down to the unsubscribe link.

1. Be concise
Less definitely means more. Experts say any message of more than 100 lines is considered long and it will probably not be read in it’s entirety. Even with the advances in technology, with many having high speed internet and cable, there are still many users who continue to use dial up, and often the longer the message, the longer it takes to download. Avoid confusion for your recipient by focusing on one topic per email only, with a clear call to action from your message.

2. Use attachments with care
Used carefully, attachments can be a wonderful tool however it is important to remember that another program is usually required to open this attachment, eg Adobe Acrobat, a picture viewer or an audio program. Does the recipient have the necessary program? Another issue is that as we are often so busy, the thought of waiting for these programs to start so we can open the attachment puts us off, so we ‘couldn’t be bothered’ opening the attachment. Also be aware that some attachments with strange extensions have the potential to contain viruses.

3. Be careful when you send mail to multiple recipients
It is important to never lose the trust your customers have entrusted you. When sending mail to multiple recipients, make sure the content of your message is relevant to everyone. You don’t want to annoy some people because they have no interest in what you’re sending. The most important point in this category though, is to ensure you NEVER disclose all recipient addresses in your “To” field. Privacy laws are very strict, and if you don’t have a program that customises each mail to each individual, make sure you use the ‘bcc’ and insert you addresses in the blind copy field instead.

4. Take care when formatting
Not all email programs are simple, so keep the simplest format possible. Keep lines at no more than 63 characters in width as studies have shown the range of ‘eye-scanning’ allows readers to quickly recognise and absorb the content when kept within this width. Emails are more effective when sent in text as opposed to html as many email programs do not accept the latter.

5. Allow for recipients to unsubscribe
Always provide an unsubscribe link in your mails. When someone in your list files a request to be unsubscribed, always take that request seriously. If you don’t take them off your list and keep sending them your e-mails, you are now sending them spam mail.

You and your business can get into serious trouble if you are reported as a spammer. Not only may you be reported to the authorities but you will be blacklisted by many internet service providers resulting in the loss of subscribers and many more potential subscribers.

6. Provide great content
Providing information that is relevant for your recipients is crucial for your emails to be effective and to build your list of subscribers. This content should continue to build on the benefits of your services and why they should continue to receive your messages. Educate and inform your people, and avoid ’selling’.

7. Avoid ’shop talk’
While you do want to pass on informative content and establish your credibility, you do want to gain and maintain rapport, and continue building the relationship so avoid writing in jargon or too much professional talk.

A good e-mail to your people should provide great content and continue to build on why they should receive and keep reading your messages. Don’t look to be over eager or persuasive in pushing your offerings but instead, ensure your message entertains or educates as well as provides reason for them to want to receive more from you.

Follow the above 7 Tips To Ensure Your Emails Are Effective and not only will you have fewer unsubscribes, but you will be able to massively grow your list.

By Danette Hibberd

A simple strategy - Create A Success Team to Accelerate In Business

The road to success for female entrepreneurs or solo professionals is rarely easy. But, know that you don’t have to go it alone.

You can utilise the same principle that has been employed by the large corporations and heads of government for the past 70 years. In fact, you can create your own board of directors.

The principle that emerged with the late Napoleon Hill during his time as he researched and interviewed hundreds of the world’s wealthiest men of the time for his major personal development and wealth creation work, was the practice of Master Mind.

You may recall that when Napoleon Hill researched and interviewed hundreds of the world’s wealthiest men of the time for his major personal development and wealth creation work, Law of Success and then Think and Grow Rich, he came up with the theory of Master Mind. This principle is in fact Lesson One of the Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons.

Hill’s definition of Master Mind was “a mind that is developed through the harmonious co-operation of two or more people who ally themselves for the purpose of accomplishing any given task”, and “is created through harmony of purpose and effort, between two or more people”.

Thus, you can make the same Master Mind principle work for you.

How?

Form your very own Mastermind or Success Team.

Let’s go back - to a time when you attended a live event or seminar and because of being amongst like minded, positive people, you were really excited about your potential for what you could achieve.

Perhaps in the midst of all your excitement you saw yourself achieving success, set some really big goals and maybe you even vocalised them, telling others about what you were going to do.

Sound familiar? If so, keep reading as the following may also ring true for you.

Later that week or even several weeks later, the goals you had set start to sound unrealistic or negative chatter rears it’s ugly voice inside your head. Whatever the reason, you got discouraged and you no longer feel so enthusiastic about your potential for success. It had all been wishful thinking.

Be aware, this happens all the time and is not your fault. In today’s society there is so much negativity, including discouragement, disappointment and of course distractions. These forces may be overcome with both strong belief and discipline.

Sadly when we do feel disheartened, we tend to doubt ourselves, say negative things such as we’re not good enough, we’re not strong enough, not motivated enough, not skilled enough and so on. However, the fact that we have become ’stuck’ on our way to achieving more is most likely that we lack one thing.

What is that? Support.

A common fact for the solo-professional, most female entrepreneurs or work-at-home people is that the journey can seem long and hard. On top of that, the road is often lonely. We become overwhelmed because now we are trying to do the gamut of tasks to run the business, whereas when employed, we concentrated on one particular role. Now, we are responsible for the marketing, the technology, the customer service, the creation and production of products, writing, meeting clients, accounts, record keeping, controlling databases … the list goes on. In this crazy world, we also miss the stimulation and support of other coworkers.

But remember as I said earlier - you don’t have to be a one person band all the time. You don’t have to go it alone.

You can easily gain help, assistance and that yearned for support by joining an existing or creating your own success team. This doesn’t mean you need to hire expensive consultants or professionals, but as the saying goes ‘two heads are better than one’. Imagine the difference if there were four or five heads!

What Is A Success Team?

This is simply a group of like-minded people whose goals are to help each other achieve their goals. It is important that each member agree to assist the others, and not just be on the ‘take’.

Working with this concept will really harness your potential, and enable you to reach your goals with a lot less stress, worry and doubt.

How Does A Success Team Work?

Members of your team provide each other with the support, encouragement, information, knowledge, contacts, and more. Many problems that were blocking your progress can easily be solved when discussed openly with the members of your team. It is not expected that others solve your problem or do the job for you, but instead you will be encouraged to discover the means to pursue and eventually achieve.

Generally, an appointed time and date is scheduled - either weekly or fortnightly for a period of about two hours. Each member is allotted an equal amount of time to present their task at hand, any challenges and any successes. As well as receiving support, they will offer suggestions, feedback and alternatives.

The two most powerful questions asked at Success Team meetings are:

1. What do you want to achieve?
2. What’s stopping you?

As each team member continues to ensure the other members of the team remain focused on their goals, progress is inevitable and success is achievable.

Why will the team members offer to help you?

Because you will do exactly the same for them.

- Your problems will seem less challenging when faced objectively in the group, as they are always worse in our own mind.
- Creative juices begin to flow as others seem to have better ideas than we do.
- Your courage is boosted as others are usually more brave than we are.
- Other team members may also be escaping their own feelings of loneliness

As the expertise of each member of the success team may be in a different area, when all heads are put together the results are usually amazing. Having the company, the collective ideas, the amassed expertise and the support will enable you to experience more success than you would if you were to ‘go it alone’.

When joining a mastermind group, or creating your very own success team, the ideal number of participants is four or five. Having fewer members restricts the expertise, the creativity and increases the chance of dropouts and meeting cancellations. Too many members will either make the meetings go on too long, or limit the amount of time each member has to present their case.

When creating your success team or seeking a master mind team to join, it is preferable that members be acquaintences rather than best friends, people you trust and ones that you know are willing to contribute.

To boost your chance of succeeding in business as a female entrepreneur or a solo professional, don’t continue to try to everything yourself. Avoid being disheartened, staying stuck or being filled with anxiety and doubt.

Find a master mind group to join. If you can’t find one - create your own Success Team.

Your goals will be achievable and your success inevitable.

Do you want to accelerate in business by being in a mastermind group or success team? - Check our Platinum Membership Program - become part of a monthly massive momentum mastermind group which will provide you with extraordinary knowledge, strategies and support to go for your goals

Danette Hibberd

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So, you say “I have a business idea” - but now what? Where do you start?

The following article outlines the steps providing the “What now” and “How to” get your idea off to the best possible start.

You’ve got four pre-planning steps to go through before you should even think about launching your company.

Prospective clients often ask this question: “I have an idea and I want to start a business, but where do I go from here?” Depending on their background, their proposed industry and what they have accomplished at the time the question is asked, my answer varies. However, one component of my answer never changes: I always advise clients to do some pre-planning. “If you’re going to take a risk,” I say, “why not a calculated risk?”

Here are four elements of planning that can help an aspiring entrepreneur move from point A to point B.

1. Personal Assessment
Ask yourself: Do I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? You must consider your willingness to endure these factors:

* The lack of emotional or financial support from family, friends and significant others. The road to entrepreneurship can be a lonely path. Be prepared to hear some negativity from the ones you love. Do you have the emotional stamina to handle this?

* The risk involved. Some people are risk-averse, and the thought of starting something that could fail is unbearable. If you are one of these people, business ownership is not for you.

* The long hours and holidays with little or no pay. Do you have any obligations that would hinder you from working the hours you need (e.g., a health problem, family obligations or school)? If so, you must analyze whether you can balance these competing interests.

* Working alone while having to be a self-starter and innovator. For some, this may be a daunting task. For an entrepreneur, it’s essential.

You must also have working knowledge of the industry and its patterns. In the book What No One Ever Tells You About Starting Your Own Business, Craig Hartman of Preferred Industrial Services admits that his lack of technical knowledge and business management skills significantly impeded his company’s growth.

2. Research
A participant in one of my workshops said she had no competitors because her business idea was unique. This is a mistake most startup businesses make. There is always competition, and that’s why research is important. Doing initial research about the audience you want to target means asking yourself several questions:

* Why do I want to start this business, and what pain would I be relieving? Compare your business to an aspirin. If your customer doesn’t have a headache, why would she take your aspirin? There must be some pain. Also, ask yourself whether you’re starting a business you love. If not, find something you are more passionate about.

* How does my target customer buy, and how do I conform my product or service to fit what this customer wants? If your product or service targets young people, you should study young people’s habits. Don’t be like the woman I met at a networking event who owned a consulting company geared to help high school seniors make the transition to college. She complained about not being able to grab their attention. When I asked for a sample of her materials, she handed me a traditional looking postcard with no website address included. Obviously she didn’t know her market very well.

* Who are my direct competitors, and what are their selling patterns? Learning about your competitors during your planning stage gives you some idea of the scope of the market and how you can position yourself and your business.

* Based on the above answers, how do I develop my concept further? Inevitably your concept will need revisions at this stage. The key thing to remember is that a business is only as good as its concept and its ability to woo its customers.

I had a client who wanted to start a private transportation service for the elderly. She was unaware that her locality offered services that already had forced private companies out of that market. Imagine what would have happened if she just dived in without doing initial research.

You can collect your data by surveying potential clients, researching at the library or hiring someone to conduct a feasibility study. Do whatever works for you, but don’t skip the research stage.

3. Finances
When my husband decided to start his own business, I was still working in the banking industry. He’s an attorney who hates to plan. With my financial planning and business banking background, on the other hand, I wanted to plan ahead.

I remember taking a piece of paper and jotting down all of our expenses vs. income. I asked how he proposed to supplement his income. He was quiet for a minute. Then he said, “Well, with the sales coming in . . .” I interrupted him: “Well, yeah, but you can’t count on that, at least not for the first six months. So during this time, how do you suggest we pay the bills?”

He suggested the credit cards we had started to accumulate just for this venture. I quickly jotted down some figures based on potential credit card scenarios: If this balance is charged on the card using this interest rate and these finance charges, this payment will have to be made. Then I asked him how he planned to pay the credit cards after we charged them, plus pay business and personal expenses.

He had no answer just then, but it got him thinking. We finally came up with a budget strategy that involved saving some money and borrowing some money to ensure that we paid our bills on time.

If you’re thinking about starting a business, you need to seriously consider your personal and business finances before you make this leap:

* Start formulating a budget strategy based on an analysis of your current spending habits and income.

* Think about what you or your family would need to save for six months to one year to pay your bills.

* Analyze your personal expenses vs. any business-overhead expenses.

* Start the mental preparation for not receiving a paycheck for a year or two.

4. Professional Expertise
Start aligning yourself with professional expertise during the planning stages. You might need initial advice from an attorney, an accountant, an insurance broker, a business consultant, a marketing or sales expert and a business banker. Here are a couple of tips for reeling in these individuals throughout your planning process:

* Call and try to get 20- to 30-minute phone consultations. This gives the experts a chance to learn about your business and maybe give you some free tips. It could also be the first step to building a relationship for the future.

* Start attending seminars or workshops hosted by these individuals. This will help you gather valuable information that could prove useful in the long run.

* Skip the drive-through window at your bank. Go inside and start talking to your bank representatives–even if it’s only about your personal accounts. Building these relationships may prove advantageous when the dialogue about your business plans comes into play.

Once you’ve gone through these pre-planning stages, the next step would be to start the registration process and write your business plan. If that sounds too difficult, hire professionals to aid you in this task. Whatever you do, remember: If you are willing to take the risk, take a calculated risk.

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Cheryl Isaac is a startup business consultant and the founder of Isaac Business Services isaacbusinessservices.com, which helps entrepreneurs launch their businesses while keeping their full-time jobs.

Note to all female entrepreneurs, women in business and solo professionals.

To be a successful female entrepreneur, you need to understand the requirement to develop multiple streams of income today. The first step to financial freedom is the ability to create a passive income, and to achieve this, it is their ideas and their expertise which they trade, not just their time.

Women who take on the role of an entrepreneur, establishing a fully fledged or smaller home based business, and even those in the corporate world can learn how to turn their passions into profitable income streams.

So, how do you create an active income using your expertise?

For those solo professionals in the service industry, an active income can be achieved in a number of ways including conducting seminars and workshops, public speaking, and services such as consulting and coaching. In other words, your income is earned in exchange for your time. As long as you are ‘face to face’ or one-on-one with your customers, you have the ability to earn. Mother nature ensures that there will only ever be 24 hours in each day, therefore a ceiling is created on the amount of active income one can earn as it is relative to the input of hours at work.

Were you aware that you can also earn passive sources of income?

Fortunately, it is now so much easier to earn additional income passively. These avenues include licensing and selling your products and programs, reports, assessments and even selling someone else’s products or services, otherwise known as affiliate marketing. All these avenues may still utilise your expertise however and they give you the ability to create enormously profitable income streams without the need to trade your valuable time.

In other words, you have the ability to earn ‘while you sleep’.

Therefore, it is important to take a check of your life, and ensure that you continue to create wealth by freeing up more of your time and switching to ways where your income is earned from more passive sources.

We, as female entrepreurs know too well the feeling of being trapped in our business, not having enough time to take care of our career, our families, friends and still find time for ourselves.

With all the tools and resources available to female entrepreneurs today, it has become easier to redesign your business around your preferred lifestyle, freeing yourself from working in your business, and instead working ‘on’ the business. The perfect scenario is to work less, earn more and live your life on your terms.

Did you know that due to the popularity of the internet and especially the web2.0 marketplace, the most successful way to leverage your expertise into an extremely profitable business is turning your expertise or what you know into products and programs. In other words, you must create information products.

Information products will enable you to create instant passive income. With the right systems in place, your business can run on auto-pilot, being fully automated to let the money continually roll in even while you sleep. For your business to be automated, you will need the right technology, systems and support.

But where do you start? It all sounds easier than it is, right? As long as you have the desire to succeed as a female entrepreneur or a solo professional in business, it is important to position yourself in your micro-niche as an expert, then use your expertise to create your own information products to teach others what you know and help them solve their problems.

The following 7 hot tips will show how you, a successful female entrepreneur, the steps to model your business around your expertise, put your business on auto-pilot and create a lucrative passive income by leveraging your time, earning more whilst working less and live the lifestyle you desire.

1. The first tip is to establish yourself as an expert.
Use the internet to brand yourself and become known as the expert in your niche around the globe. This will raise your profile, and have others seeking your lead and your expertise. Because you are ‘the expert’, others will not only want to provide you with an active income through one on one leadership, but will be more apt to purchase your products and programs resulting in a great passive income and freeing up more of your time.

2. Design your passive income marketing funnel
The marketing funnel is a process whereby you establish trust with your many prospects in the beginning by offering free reports, newsletters, audios, videos or similar. Allow them to ‘taste’ what you offer with little or no risk or cost to them.

This process allows your prospects to become potential clients as they may move down the funnel where you offer higher priced products or services. As they progress down the funnel, it becomes easier to sell your high end services as by now they fully trust and believe what you have to offer will be of certain benefit to them.

Don’t make the mistake of trying to sell your high end products initially. This will more than often result in losing the prospect before you have a chance to let them know who you are or what your expertise can provide.

3. Learn the skills and info-preneur strategies to create passive income
Multiply your profits by creating information products with what you know and use the power of the internet to create instant passive income. Look around and see the many different ways you can package your information and sell it online. Learn about content development to leverage the content you already have from your presentations, articles and workshops. Learn marketing strategies such as article marketing, web 2.0 marketing, affiliate marketing, social networking, blogging and pay per click advertising to determine which tactics are right for you and your business.

4. Nurture your creativity
Both creativity and innovation are key to thinking about new ideas and what you can do for the future of your business. It is important to block some time out in your week specifically for creative right-brain, intuitive thinking. It is during these quiet times that you will get your inspiration. Sadly, when you are constantly busy, you have neither the time or energy to come up with new ideas for writing or creating programs. And how can you create a passive income stream if you don’t have the products?

5. Use systems and automate
The key to leveraging your time and expertise is the use of systems. Install a system for every function in your business to make sure that you do one thing only once, and then it should be either delegated or automated to be done in future. Systems and automation can be set up for such procedures as getting client referrals, for contact management, for delivering your newsletter, recording sales, taking payments, for your recordkeeping, for marketing, conferencing, teleseminars and for product development.

It is true that everything you do in your business can and should be made into a system. Reduce the day to day tasks that zap your energy and inhibit your creativity by leveraging the power of technology and the internet.

6. Delegate
Your business will plateau or even stagnate if you try to do everything yourself. Although often difficult in the beginning, it is important that you learn to delegate. Surround yourself with a great team to support and help you create your highly profitable business. Outsourcing has become a popular exercise where you can delegate those tasks you either don’t like to doing or those that take you away from doing what you are good at. Try to concentrate on the tasks that ‘earn you the money’.

7. Seek a mentor and support
In order to grow yourself and your business, to make more money and be as successful as your vision, you will need to seek the support of a mastermind group or a coach/mentor to motivate and drive you. Too often, female entrepreneurs are coaches themselves, and feel that this support is unnecessary. Oftentimes when their businesses are in the early stages, finances are continually being spread over to other areas and this important mentoring is ignored. Remember, even the very successful multi-millionaires continually use mentors to maintain their businesses on the cycle of success.

Finally, use collaboration with others and joint ventures to leverage your expertise. As long as you have a purpose and passion for your business, your success will continue and keep growing with your contributions and your followers.

Have a think about your business. Are you trying to do everything yourself? Are you giving yourself time to be creative? Are you making use of strategies and resources of experts that have done it before? Or perhaps you are continually trying to re-invent the wheel.

Fast track your journey and leverage your expertise to be the successful female entrepreneur that you desire to be.