Have you been wondering if you should or should not start an internet based business opportunity? It should be clear that deciding to join an internet based business varies by person and that prior to joining an internet based business, the following questions and statements are designed to stimulate your thinking and open your mind to the possibilities and pitfalls to watch out.

The following list of evaluation criteria should be considered in making your decisions when reviewing your home based business opportunity.

1. Apply commonsense like you would use in any offline business building situation.

2. Attempt to understand their past and what have they have done before.

3. Can you get a reference? Do they have credible testimonials?

4. If you get in trouble with their process, can you ask questions of them?

5. Define their complete process to success. Is it a step by step handholding process?

6. Is there an adaption process to your real world?

7. Hopefully the opportunity doesn’t cost you a dime to get started.

8. The opportunity or system contains a serious internet based advertising component.

9. The manner in which duplication of process and system should be readily evident.

10. Determine if there is someone real that can help take you over or through a hurdle, if and when a problem or unplanned fork in the road occurs.

11. Determine if the system can quickly produce results. Does the system or process give you confidence in taking on your next steps?

12. How specialized is the system? Is it a process that you and others like you can use successfully?

13. Is there a process to remove the technical issues and get you to the business operation quickly?

14. Will the new business model provide you with respectable credibility?

15. Will it provide prospective customers or clients a taste test or freebies that are of substantial value to your prospective customers?

16. Does the process help create long term loyalty amongst your customers and potential partners?

If you answer the questions and statements above in the affirmative, then you should now be comfortable knowing that you can change your mind, and then change your life. If you follow the guidelines above, you can set in motion a chain of events that will move your life dramatically in new directions. Because your success is mandatory, follow this process and you will earn a significant increase in income from your internet based business that will allow you to work from home.

Do you want to get your business on the internet, operate your back office more efficiently, reduce your cost to talk and help devise a plan to get clients now?

Is this you?

You are in business for any length of time, have probably tried a million solutions and spent lots of money, and you come to the realization that you may be in business and having fun but not making money. You may have discovered that you are spending money, not making money and not having fun.

Or you may be getting ready to start a career transition and want to make a change. An internet business seems like a great possibility because it let’s you stay closer to the neighborhood, family and other personal activities of interest to you. It has a strong appeal to you, your lifestyle, but you feel a little overwhelmed at getting started and all the options available.

You are looking to grow your business, you feel stymied with your identified market and you love your business and career options but you do want to build a long lasting and rewarding relationship to live your business not just work your business.

Find a Job You Love and Never Work a day in your Life Again.

Whether in career transition mode, just starting out or in need of a business overhaul, you feel a little exhilarated but stressed because you are in business and having some fun, but know there must be a better way to pull it all together,

Take the time and explore the many ways you can increase your customer base and improve your business using the internet. The internet can help you operate more efficiently, communicate more profitably and help you get more clients, now.

• your need could be as simple as building an awesome but effective website that sells your services.
• your need s may be that you want more time and need to automate your business processes and operate more efficiently
• if you talk a lot with your customers and need an affordable option to sound professional and want to reduce your cost to talk and make the process profitable, professional and cost effective.
• maybe you need more clients and want an effective long term strategy for client acquisition and management, you want to get clients now

Too many businesses start small and never grow because they never look end to end and see what hampers them. They never seek outside help and use the strategies that large business use to help themselves grow. You are usually lost fighting the day to day battles and don’t take the time to pull back to look and remember your long term goals.

Being lost in the forest, it is hard to see the beautiful trees, the golden nuggets right before your eyes"

And no we don’t propose any radical get rich quick strategies here, no magical internet in a box solution that sounds so tempting but gives you a thousand templates and why to but now how to or support. To us it is about the people, your unique vision, the right supporting technology and addressing the end to end business development process, now not later.

Remember, it is not a question of how well each process works; the question is how well they all work together.

When I write about getting your business on the web or building your business through an internet based business model, I usually spark a lot of thought in the community. When I reviewed the queries on this series, a common question I get is, just what is the selection criteria? Specifically what would one look for when making a decision on an internet based business opportunity? Well I thought about it and here is the process in a nutshell one should pursue.

How did you come across the internet based business opportunity? The approach says a lot. Put more credence in someone you know then someone you just met. The internet is no different. Ask yourself; does it appear that these folks who just approached you will be around for a long time? Are they living a life or appear to have some sort of lifestyle besides pushing out email after email.

One of the things I notice is that after a while, the same email shows up in my email inbox from 5 different internet marketers but they are all offering the same unbelievable solution to life. After a while the warning signs should be going off since they are probably all using the same “canned” email letter and are probably sitting right next to each other.

Longevity, did the guru just appear in your inbox? Does his operation appear to have a history? Will he or she be around for a while? Is there anything they are doing that you feel you could talk to them about one-on-one if required? Notice the distinct absence of any personal information in their emails or on their websites, but notice there is lots of personal talk. It’s a big disconnect. Can you find any past information on them anywhere, in any ezine or website or even offline?

Are they offering a follow-up plan? Scammers or those people whom have never really tried the product they are selling usually have no follow up plan whatsoever. If the objective is to sell someone else’s great product and move on, then the worst thing to them is a committed customer. The only commitment they want from you is for you to purchase their next product, not using and exploring the good and the bad of the current product.

In terms of follow up, one great way to see if there is a real sales person behind the business opportunity is for real. Send them an email. See if they answer and how do they answer. If you don’t get an email, then they really don’t need your sale because they are building their business off of the quantity of sales, not the quality of sales. Don’t fall for your email in my spam box because if you don’t pay or pay incorrectly, they somehow magically find you.

Ask them about their process to greatness. How have they done it in the past and why does it work? As a career coach and consultant the important thing to me is that success is mandatory and it should be to you also.

Summing it up, you should notice that the answers followed the recommended plan of earlier models. First, use the same common sense you use offline, who are they and where did they come from? Attempt to understand their past and what they have done before. Can you get a reference, do they have credible testimonials? Finally determine their next steps and their process. Can you touch them? Will they answer an email or a phone call? Is it a step by step handholding process? Is it a clear enough process that you can execute and get an update if your circumstances don’t fit their cookie cutter process? As you move your self through this process, your next step and direction will clearly reveal itself.

Are you sick and tired of people “showing” you an income opportunity and then not demonstrating how you can earn an income with it using your situation? How many get rich schemes have you seen so far?

I hate to say it but you are just being charitable by giving your money to someone without getting an exact procedure that they used along with how it will be adapted for you to do what you have to do to make it work for you. We all start from different points in life and most times you do have to adapt for your current life’s situation. If you don’t then this is where the formulaic business book in a box approach falls off. You encounter something not in the plan and have no clue whether to avoid, ignore or attack it. You stumble for a while, give up and walk away. Another great idea, book, software left on the shelf.

Well to truly change your life you do need to change your mind. Start changing your mind today by applying a proven method. First, you research and look for proven business models that have stood the test of time. Then understand it, start to adapt and change your mind to take it all-in. Then get a hold of the business process and ensure you understand the step by step process that takes you to the long term goal. We don’t go the moon or on vacation with out a map so why make a career change without a supporting process.

As we say, first map out a process for an internet based business by defining the supporting IOVC technology components. These components are internet, office, voice and clients. Use the internet as your website store front, ensure office automation to improve your back office, use your voice to reduce cost and ensure intimacy with your customer, and make it personal. Finally we say attend to your customers or clients because without a customer you will not have a business for long. You need a way to help manage them on an ongoing basis. An IOVC strategy and technology approach has a history with proven experience and a process attached because it is a set of standard tools applied systematically that have been use, combined and applied over time.

Applying the IOVC, internet, office, voice and customer focused strategy and technology process means you get an exact almost blueprint copy the components needed to make a success of the new business model you are considering.

Bottom line is don’t let a few bad apples and negative experiences of the past cause an opportunity to learn something new, past you by. Take the time to learn about what may be your next great career transition. Find out exactly what you have to do in order to achieve your desired results. Then make sure you have someone along like a coach, consultant of past business owner to help you achieve your desired level of success.

So, it is possible to drastically change your mind then change your life? Do you wonder if you can really change your lifestyle fast by applying and using one of the internet based business building systems that are all out there just waiting for you to join?

The answer is it’s probable. Why am I saying probable and not giving you the absolutely wonderful, over the top – you have got do this and make a trillion overnight story line. Well it is because I understand the game, painfully so as they say and probably like you, can say, spent the money, saw the absence of real results and closed this past section of my life out with the familiar saying, been there, done that.

As you can already tell, I like you in the past, have been working for other people and looked to grow a business and get away. And being stepped in corporate tradition, one tends to apply the corporate mantra to the internet based small business world and figure all you have to do to be successful in a new business model is to follow what they are already doing!

Well to be successful in the small business world and especially the internet based business world, surprise, surprise, it does work that way. There is a big if though and the big if is - if you have someone demonstrate a proven process and demonstrate that they intend to stay with you for the long haul. You do not want the short term, here is the solution, give me your money and then they are gone with the wind as they say. You are then left to implement with your own devices.

In order to make a success, a few changes are definitely needed by you, they are that you need to change your mind and then start to change your life. The change of mind is to open your mind to ignore some of the negatives of the past, and to try things you don’t know. Then you need to not walk blindly into the next situation, versus make sure you have a plan. To change your life successfully, you need a proven plan and a process that you can follow because it has every step laid out for you precisely in the manner that it was done before.

As a current and former business process analyst, we make systems work, new or old by applying age old processes that are sometimes tiring to the newbie or existing user but work well over the long term. It is this dedication to sticking with a working and proven systematic business process that ensures success.

The next component that ensures success is tha application of systems to the process that ensures the system will continue even when you can’t sometimes. The process needs to have office automated procedures to help you increase your work and effort. This way you start to enjoy the work and the mundane activities get handled automatically. And yes sometimes even while you sleep.

So what’s a person to do? You need to retain not lose your common sense. If it’s too good to be true, it is. You should look for a proven process, a strong systematic approach with a real supporting person. My final advice is if the E-book promises untold millions and yet has no supporting team, RUN!

Do you dream of being the CEO of a Fortune 500 company? And the Fortune 500 Company is your own? Have you wanted to buy that new home you’ve dreamed of for so many years? Exactly what is your idea of success? Success is having achieved that which you determine you will do.

If you have not decided what you will do and what your life will be then someone will decide for you. It is up to you to determine what your success will be. It’s not dependent upon materialistic measurements and it cannot be based on any judgment other than your own.

Success may be something material, such as money or a new home. It could be something egotistical, as the power and notoriety that comes with the position of CEO. It could be emotional, as finding love and commitment. Success may even be unselfish and altruistic, as seeing children in third world countries healthy and safe. Success has no particular name or identity. There is no one method to describe what success is, other than the definition above. It means something different to each individual.

All successful people, however, have one thing in common - they act and for some, success is the journey. The journey in the end is the most important part of all. The journey is what you do when you move, grow, and build your self and your business. How you execute the journey can be hard or easy. A key to making the journey a success is to change your mind then change your life. If success is mandatory in your life then you owe it to yourself to follow a systematic process

Think about it what make s the building of a building so successful. It is that they follow a blueprint. The people who build the people are not necessarily schooled in constructing buildings for years. Usually the brick layer knows how to lay bricks and the electrician puts the wires in the wall and the glass maker fills in the holes in the wall. Individually they are all great, but none of them are builders of buildings by themselves. So don’t you put the burden of your success on yourself and try to do it all. So think about it, because when you change your mind it will force a change of life. Follow someone who has changed their life, think like them but be you. Follow their path but make it your own.

Imagine how much more money you will make with your very own “sales person working for you 24 by 7. Imagine this sales person costs very little to operate once the sales person is set, trained and educated on your business. Imagine even better that this sales person can communicate with your customers on the issues that are top most on their mind at that moment. Further imagine this very inexpensive sales person can help coach your customers and make a decision to buy your product and service. Now envision that all of these internet, office, voice and coaching capabilities are being done without you being in attendance. Sounds too good, to be true? Well read on and I think you will see these claims are true.

Your problem is you need to reach more customers? You have nagging concerns that you could be doing a lot more with your business. You may even have an existing web site but like most people you do not really use it. Your situation is that you have limited exposure to the internet and the World Wide Web. You also do not have enough knowledge to make good use of the internet and items like time or in-house expertise are limited. However you know for a fact that you need to expose your business to a wider audience. You need it fast.

To help further stimulate your thinking on the many benefits of the web, review the following twenty, very compelling reasons. You owe it to yourself to explore the list of benefits that your business could enjoy.

1. Helps you expand your customer base.

2. Provides you with the ability to network more

3. You can make information available 24 x 7

4. You can serve your customers when you are not physically present

5. You can heighten general public interest in your business

6. You can pre- release time sensitive materials

7. It allows you to sell your products unattended

8. You can make pictures, sound & files available

9. Provides ability to answer frequently asked questions

10. Can help you reach the specialized market

That is just a boat load of compelling reasons to get on the web and those are good all by themselves, but a major reason is you want to provide your business with the power to touch over 650 million people. That touch power cannot be had with any brick and mortar business because 650 million people never walk down just any one street anywhere. But they do on the web. There are not many places that allow you to gain a potential market like this for your products and services?

Now that you understand the benefits and you know that the website and internet tools are critical success factors in today’s global economy. You need to take advantage of all the technical office services and solutions using internet, office, voice and customer focused technology that is available to help you succeed.

With the proper introduction to the World Wide Web, you can quickly learn how to use these communications technology to improve your profits, gain more customers and improve your bottom line. You owe to yourself to get your business on the web.

Description

Imagine how much more money you will make with your very own “sales person working for you 24 by 7. Imagine this sales person costs very little to operate once the sales person is set, trained and educated on your business.

About the Author (text)

Gregory L Burrus, http://www.techoss.com , a former Director of a Fortune 500 Telecommunications company, consults for major telecom and operational support system vendors. Greg provides small business solutions as an internet, office, voice over internet protocol technology solutions.

Avoidance, procrastination, overwhelmed, perfectionism are all the daggers in the heart of efficiency. Use the following tips to overcome procrastination in your life.

1. Write it down, Write it down. There are many details that you have to remember in any given day, why should you try to keep it all in your memory? At the very moment that you remember something needs to be done, the very best thing to do is get it to your memory device. Then, just when you need to recall it, it will be available for you in an instant.

2. There Can only Be One! Keep it all in one place. Once you have developed the knack of writing everything down, your next step will be to keep your writing/recording it all in one place. Otherwise, you are going to spend valuable time procrastinating. Notice as you tend to search for your notes, you conveniently procrastinate more as you engage in a number of elaborate preparatory activities, all along you are avoiding success.

3. Stay fit, stay healthy. A keen memory is a well-nourished mind. Eat healthy; get plenty of sleep and lots of good exercise. These will all see you through to having the energy to do more and to having a good memory that stays focused and alert.

4. Get it out of your head. Record your every thought. You might find yourself driving when a good idea comes to mind or you might recall something that you really need to write down. No need to pull over and start writing, record the idea instead on that wonderful MP3 player or IPOD that you received for the holidays. If yours does not record, well get one! This way you will be better organized and it is safer then digging around your bag for one more electronic device. Use your handy recorder to be your second eyes and ears.

5. Deliver advance warning. Step into the future and call ahead to yourself. When you are at the office and you want to do something when you arrive at your next destination, call ahead to your answering device and leave yourself a message. Better yet, if you have the new VOIP (voice over internet or cable services,your messages are with you all day. They follow you; hence you have another organizing tool to help stop the procrastination. As soon as you get to your destination, you can listen to your message and execute on what needs to be done ASAP.

6. Have confidence in yourself. Avoid the perfectionist mode. Not everything has to be perfect. You will notice the world is very imperfect and it has survived. If you keep thinking I am forgetting something and saying you have a bad memory, you will probably continue to have a bad memory and you will do nothing. It is important to have a motivated, I CAN remember and I CAN DO success attitude. Remember, some procrastination is purely a lack of self confidence that is being covered over with the perfection syndrome. You end up feeling you can’t get the job done, so stop the excuses and have faith in yourself and stay motivated.

7. Build email reminders. You can type in what you want to remember, such as a buy milk reminder versus the reminder to buy Christmas gadget for your nephew, or special event. You will receive an e-mail reminder when the date is approaching. This is a terrific way to jog your memory by using internet technology.

8. Love those sticky notes. Want to remember something prior to leaving your home? Just mark it down on a Post-It Note and stick it to the inside of your door. Get the ones with the bright, neon colors; post them where you have to see them. Need to make an urgent call first thing in the morning? Leave a Post-It Note on your telephone. Need an oil change, need to pay a ticket; leave a Post-It Note on the windshield.

9. Create Visual memory joggers. Visual reminders will help you remember and stay focused. Use visual reminders for remembering your goals. If your goal is to take a trip to a Barcelona or Tahiti in a few years, keep a magazine photograph of Barcelona right on your desk or on your refrigerator. If your goal is to lose 25 lbs. in five months, maybe a current picture of the successful new you or for some of us the old de-motivated you is motivation enough to stop the procrastination and move towards your goals.

10. Use timers and alarms. Take advantage of all the electronics that you carry with you. Who doesn’t have an alarm on their cell phone? Do what I do, set alarm clocks and timers throughout your day. Have a 30 minute activity; make sure it doesn’t run over its allocated time for the day. Want to leave for the ladies luncheon by 6 p.m.? Set your cell phone to beep a few minutes before it is time to go and jog your new no procrastination mindset. Make sure you get to the next activity on your schedule.

11. Multitask better. Not enough time in the day, but you need to get more done. The key to successful multitasking is to plan two activities in advance and avoid giving precedence to more interesting, easier, and less urgent tasks. Look at your to do list and combine activities. When going up stairs, take something, there is always something waiting. Do your laundry and exercise. As mentioned in step above, set your alarm and create your wash and exercise period of the day. The key is planning not random multitasking.

12. Do not forget time is money. Time is a precious commodity so remember that the reason we work is to use time to make money and feel a sense of accomplishment. Stop waiting until the very last minute to start working. Why not make the most efficient use of time and improve your chances of making more money in less time. Why self sabotage you?

Procrastination means you are being inefficient and therefore stopping yourself from reaching your goals. Build success through the use time and money will follow.Learn to use your mind, your friends and your colleagues to help you stop procrastinating. We need to force ourselves to use the tools and technologies of the day to help support us in reaching our goals.DescriptionLearn how to overcome procrastination with 12 easy steps.

Your problem is you need to reach more customers? You have nagging concerns that you could be doing a lot more with your business. You may even have an existing web site but like most people it’s static and not very active. Your situation is that you have limited exposure to the internet and the World Wide Web.

You also do not have enough knowledge to make good use of the internet and in-house expertise is not something you want or needed. However you know for a fact that you need to gain more business and help your business succeed through the use of technology.

Imagine how much more money you could make with your very own additional sales person helping increase your internet marketing capabilities 24 by 7. Imagine this sales person costs very little to operate once the sales person is set, trained and educated on your business. Imagine even better that this sales person can communicate with your customers on the issues that are top most on their mind at that moment. Further imagine this very inexpensive sales person can help coach your customers and make a decision to buy your product and service.

Now envision that all of these internet, office, voice and customer focused capabilities are being done without you being in attendance. Sounds too good, to be true? Well read on and I think you will see these benefits are worthwhile to investigate further.

A dozen reasons to explore electronic sales help in the use of your internet marketing online campaigns are because electronic sales help can:

- deliver your internet marketing message using both sight and sound

- make you seem alive and working 24 x 7

- help you maintain and increase your customer base

- takes advantage of IOVC extremely customer focused technologies

- serve your customers when you are not physically present

- actually converse with your customer

- help you address a specialized market

- help you to go international very inexpensively

- address the many diverse cultures of the world in their language

- be adapted to each market as you change the focus of your sales campaigns

- grabs people’s attention and cause them to spend more time on your website

- deliver a way to differentiate yourself from your competition

As stated, since the World Wide Web is just that, world wide, you need tools and technology that provide these benefits. These benefits are powerful because in conjunction with IOVC technology, electronic sales help speaks and reflects a real world character that can be human like in nature.

IOVC technical office services and solutions with an electronic sales help character allow you to build human like characters that speak, dress, think and respond to your customers as electronic sales people. An electronic sales person as part of your internet marketing strategy is powerful because it allows you to rapidly provide customer focused solutions. Your office processes become enhance because you now have office personal on the web and of course using their voice to communicate with customers. So electronic sales help meets the IOVC (internet, office and voice and customer) focus paradigms.

Your internet marketing strategy is great because you can just place them on a standard sales website page. But more importantly and definitely more relevant, is the electronic sales person speaks to a specific need based on customer action of the moment.

Research has shown that virtual electronic salespeople, such as those provided by various characters based development companies can increase your conversion and sales. As some early implementers’ have stated “These tools give your business the opportunity to talk directly to site visitors about a complex subject and make them feel welcome and comfortable.”

Now that you understand the major benefits and you know that a static non interactive websites loses customers, animated talking characters become a major benefit to helping you acquire and retain business as part of your online internet marketing strategy.

Knowing that your website and internet marketing tools are critical success factors in today’s global economy; you need to get on with using and understanding this key online internet marketing tool that is part of the IOVC technology framework. With the proper introduction to the electronic, animated talking business technology, you can quickly learn how to use this electronic sales tool to improve your profits, gain more customers and improve your bottom line. You owe it to yourself to get additional electronic sales help that works for free 24 x 7.

Description

Electronic Sales help can save you money, improve your business and draw customers to your business.

It’s a simple yet common question, “How can I make my business more successful?”

Success can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people but when it comes down to it, the success of your business should only be measured by one thing - profit.

At the end of the day, it’s not how many people came in to your store or phoned in. It’s not even how many widgets you sold. At the end of the day, what truly matters is how much of a profit you made.

It would make sense then that your efforts focus on profit as the end result. With that in mind, there are only three strategies to increase profits for your business.

1) Increase the dollar size of each order
2) Increase the number of times people buy from you
3) Increase the number of people who buy from you

Most likely, your business is already primed to attack each of these three angles and implementing that attack should be fairly easy.

Let’s say that you are the owner of Happy Wicks Candle Store. Let your customers know that for every $50 they spend they will receive a free 4-inch candle. When they are eligible for the free candle, offer them the option of upgrading the 4-inch candle to a 6-inch candle for only four dollars.

Implement a customer loyalty program. Whenever a customer spends $200 with your store they receive a 20% discount on their next order. Show loyalty to your customers, too. Create customer-only events and sales, even workshops on how to make candles at home.

Candles are also popular gifts. Be sure to place your contact info on each and every candle. This makes it easy for the gift recipient to purchase from you. Be sure to also use this tactic when co-promoting with similar businesses such as a flower and bath and body shop.

Looking at the example Happy Wicks Candle Store, the tasks of increasing profits was not a difficult one. Truly, it’s a matter of putting systems in place that generate increasing profits.

Take a look at your business and examine the systems you have in place. Chances are there’s undiscovered profits lying about. Put systems in place to gather those profits and you’ll find your business reaching new heights of success.