Home-Based Business-Success and the Common Man July 30th, 2009
“You are the only one who can use your ability. It is an awesome responsibility.” – Zig Ziglar
The figures are staggering; a startling 150 million individuals are making over 400 billion dollars in home-based business income. This figure eclipses the food industry. It even puts the pharmaceutical industry to shame.
By some estimates, home-based entrepreneurs are earning an average of $63,000 or more annually. The freedom of being self-employed allows many home-based business owners to consider a return to the corporate world something they’d avoid at all costs.
Consider some of these findings…
* Owning and operating a home-based business offers entrepreneurs an achievable point of entry. More than 40 percent of all home-based businesses require less than $5,000 for startup.
* Home-based entrepreneurialism is growing in importance and diversity. It offers opportunities for entrepreneurs and at-home professionals in every demographic and ethnic group.
* According to IDC, a top national research firm, there are between 34.3 million and 36.6 million home office households in the United States alone.
* According to The Success Factory International, America is in the midst of an extraordinary workplace transformation; the home-based business phenomenon shows no sign of slowing down
* Information technology (IT) has made it possible for e-commerce and has enabled small, medium-sized, and home-based businesses to compete more effectively in the global market. Ecommerce makes it possible for more people to start their own businesses.
Many home-based business startups are an outgrowth of either personal interest or a profession that severely limited the individual freedom of the worker. In either case, there seems to be growing satisfaction among those who have chosen a home-based business alternative.
Interestingly home-based businesses are extensively populated with women or aging workers. The reasonings behind this trend would require an article of its own, but the point is the Internet is filled with highly successful non-traditional business owners.
What comes as a surprise to many home-based business owners is the fact that their business started at home in an effort to save money with full intentions of moving the business to a brick and mortar store front. However, it is estimated that only 5% of existing home-based businesses will ultimately move out of the home.
Part of the lure of home-based businesses is the empowerment provided to the owner who understands the return of control in their life as a priceless benefit of home-based businesses ownership.
“My list of ingredients for success is divided into four basic groups: Inward, Outward, Upward and Onward.” – David Thomas
Celebrity Branding July 28th, 2009
A customer’s buying behavior is hugely influenced by famous people. Marketing experts, using associative learning principles, analyzes the lifestyle of the celebrities to properly assign them to the brand which depicts them perfectly. Their fashion sense, appeal, awareness, fame and public image are reviewed thoroughly to assign them the right charity work or product. Repetition, blocking, CS pre-exposure, extinction, overshadowing, belongingness, and association set size are the principles on the basis of which analysis is done like the famous Miss World Aishwarya Rai of India who has very beautiful eyes was chosen to campaign for eye donation project. Some of the celebrities are known for their distinct voice. This concept led to the voice-over method in advertising. Their voices merely attract customers when used in a commercial.
Today, nearly twenty percent of the advertising industry utilizes celebrity endorsement. A celebrity is bound to endorse many products and brands over a course of time. Each time a different image of the celebrity is being projected to the public. The company should keep in mind the previous identity and play accordingly. Projecting a different person every time will sustain the interest of the customers, but at the same time the two identities shouldn’t conflict with each other. The captain of England soccer team David Beckham has endorsed many products. While advertising for Gillette, his taste for hairstyles was considered and he was given a bald look. When campaigning for Police his passion for fashion was portrayed all over and heavily jeweled David Beckham was depicted.
If a celebrity isn’t comfortable with being pictured differently each time he or she can create a graphic image or logo of their own which can be used each time they advertise for a particular product. The logo can reflect the personality of the respective celebrity, like the font can be stylish if the celebrity is fashion conscious like Jennifer Lopez who created a logo of JLO, which is used to advertise perfume and even clothing line of her own. Another advantage in this approach is that the brand can still be appealing to the crowds even after the celebrity has lost his or her looks as they won’t require visual recognition and aids in the long-term negotiations. The celebrity logo itself carries the style and attitude.
Millions of dollars are being invested by marketers to get the promotional support of super stars every year. Davie Brown Entertainment has an agency completely devoted to the purpose of choosing a celebrity for a product. They not only judge a celebrity’s caliber to affect brand affinity and consumer’s taste but also design the advertisements for the celebrities to feature in it.
How To Succeed In A Home Business Opportunity July 28th, 2009
How do you succeed in a home business opportunity? Some will look for Holly Grails for this, and others will work to find it. Either way it is something we all want to know about. As you read this article, you will discover what it takes to succeed in a home business opportunity.
The home business opportunity that you join likely will have all the material needed for success, but this doesn’t guarantee success. Consider for a moment, all the people that join home based business opportunities. Some succeed, and some don’t. That is just how it goes with home business.
So, what can you do to succeed in a home business opportunity? The first step is to understand that home based business takes time to master. The factor which is important is to know all you can about your work from home, home business.
This is vital, and it can only happen with experience. You must have a working knowledge about your home based business. But, many people don’t do this. They simply want the cash, and guess what; these people often fail the quickest.
Life brings many lessons, and one that comes to mind, is when speaking to a person who was part of a home business opportunity I was part of a couple of years ago. This person simply wanted to pay other companies to do a lot of the work.
Now, I got nothing against that. We all need employees – outsourced or in-house to do the less important tasks. But, this can only be done, when you have mastered your home business opportunity, and the specific areas that go with that.
But, all this is not the meat of the article, because there is so much more. The real success in a home business opportunity happens when you change the focus to the most important person and that is – you!
Let’s talk about you for a moment. And it is important to do, because there is only one person that can make or break a home business, and that it you. So, what can you do to make the success?
Some people sleep at night, some read at night, some pray at night, and others work to make there dreams reality. For you to succeed, you will need to choose your focus. And this is important because many people focus on the wrong things.
If you can take your productivity up or learn more about how to do things better, you will succeed more than others. Many people will join a home based business opportunity and simply follow the information given in the home business opportunity. This is great, but you miss an important aspect.
It is not always the fastest man or woman that wins or the better man or woman, but the one who works diligently on something of great importance. Learn all you can, and apply, and you will succeed. And remember first have a definition of success.