This is the sixth in a series of seven articles that tell you how to sift through all the home business opportunities you hear about every day, and find the PERFECT home based business for you.What makes an opportunity P.E.R.F.E.C.T.? In the first five articles in this series, we learned that the “P” in PERFECT stands for “Profitable”, the first “E” in PERFECT means “Easy”, the “R” stands for “Real”, the “F” means “Fits With Your Desired Lifestyle”, and the second “E” stands for “E-friendly”.Key Number Six-
The “C” in PERFECT stands for “Competitive”. Can your home based business be competitive? Can you win your share of the business, or even be a market leader?In your PERFECT home based business, you will offer products that are better, different, provide more value, or are offered in a different way, allowing you to compete effectively and get your share of the profits. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that “cheaper” means being competitive. Sometimes trying to be the cheapest product is a losing proposition for you, and also for everybody else trying to compete with you.”Competitive” means:• You have a unique selling proposition (a unique or better product or service, or one that is offered in a unique or different way). This gives you a way to answer your prospect’s question “Why should I buy your product, and why should I buy it from you instead of your competitor?”.While it’s great to have a better product, sometimes just having a better product is not enough to be competitive. According to another marketing expert Mark Joyner, you need to find a way to make an “irresistible offer” to your prospects, one that makes them feel like a fool if they don’t take you up on your offer. Then, you’ll really be “competitive”.If you create your own products based on your knowledge, experience, and personality, this will contribute to your unique selling proposition. Nobody else can offer your unique perspective on the subject matter you create your products around.• Your product and market enable you to be a big fish in a small pond.If possible, you want to be able to control the market in a smaller niche, not just get your small share of a larger market where you are one of many “same old same old” suppliers. Still, there’s nothing wrong with getting a small share of a very large market, if you can do it with your own irresistible offer. It’s just harder to be competitive in a large market.• Having a high publicity potential (news worthy, new, novel, popular fad or trend).This is certainly not the most important factor, but it really helps if your PERFECT home based business or product does have a high potential for publicity. You can get thousands of dollars in free publicity if you can get press coverage and internet coverage by writing “news worthy” news releases and articles.• Rapid, wide distribution can be accomplished.The first to market with a new product often wins the highest profits and gets the highest market share. Whether your product is “new” or not, you need to get the word out about it quickly to the broadest audience to be competitive and remain competitive. Sometimes the best protection you can have for your product, even better than patents or copyrights, is to make sure the whole market knows about it first and fast.We’re almost there. The PERFECT Home Based Business must be COMPETITIVE. And, it must be PROFITABLE, EASY, and REAL. It must FIT WITH YOUR DESIRED LIFESTYLE, and must be E-FRIENDLY.
How To Discover Your PERFECT Home Based Business – The Sixth Of Seven Keys – It Is Competitive
A Simple Product Creation and Product Launching Formula
If you tried to think of people involved in product creation, who would come to mind? You may think of Edison, Franklin, or maybe Henry Ford. Would you ever think of yourself as someone who can create a quality product? Product creation is actually relatively easy and product launching is not that tough either! If you follow a few easy to understand steps, you could be starting the product creation and product launching process sooner than you think.
The first step in creating your information product is to know and understand your market. This can be very time-consuming, especially if you are unsure of what to do or where to look to know your market. Studying your niche market and understanding the buzz words and buying patterns can ease the process dramatically. Personally, I would recommend networking with someone who has had success in the niche market you are considering and learn from their results. If they are into product creation and not very business savvy expect some hesitation. If they only sell products and have nothing to do with product launching or product creation you may your first affiliate (sales person)! Something else you can use to find hot trends is with the Google Trends tool.
The second step is the product creation process. Take your niche market and brainstorm ideas and topics relating to it. There are a lot of product launching contests going on recently relating to a newly created internet marketing tool. There are so many aspects to the mentioned niche that literally, and unfortunately, anything can be considered an Internet Marketing tool. The reason that anyone can basically create an Internet Marketing tool is because of something called Private Label Rights products.
What I use private label rights products for, and highly recommend them in this specific manner, is to cure writer’s block especially when it is lingering. Many people base their entire product creation and product launching on a private label rights product. This is where you can start to shine and build a strong brand for yourself. If you set goals for yourself, short-term goals to be exact, you can see your product creation come into being much faster and there is a good chance with less revision needed. If you keep hitting time restraint road blocks; however there is nothing wrong with a slow and steady approach, you can consider outsourcing portions of your project. Outsourcing can be an extremely huge benefit or just as great of a disaster.
You can find someone to outsource work to at a freelance site such as Guru.com or eLance.com. When reviewing proposals it is almost mandatory you perform a background check on them as you are in essence hiring them. Doing a background check on freelancers is as easy as asking for samples of their work and reviewing feedback on the freelance site from previous customers. Depending on the size and requirements of your project this can add up to a decent sized investment, so caution is very important. One tip I always recommend to people looking to hire an individual is to ask them what they can provide you that no one else can. This simple question gives them a chance to “toot their own horn” and acknowledge where they feel most competent as far as their skill set.
The final portion of the product creation and product launching formula is the launch. This can literally make or break the effort, time, and maybe (if you invested) money you put in to your project. There are numerous aspects to product launching and although their relevance is debated in terms to their effect, experts agree all must be followed. The person in your field who you asked for product advice from can help you substantially if you have kept in touch. If not, the first thing you need to do is to create a visually appealing website with flawless design work.
I also mentioned outsourcing before, this is one aspect of product launching I have little strength in and I always outsource this portion. The website does not have to be large however the content (ad copy in Internet Marketing) must be stellar and as perfect as possible. This is where advertising knowledge or experience is beneficial. When the site is set up you now put a lead capture form on your website.
I put two lead capture pages on all products I create on the internet and is one of the best methods of getting a solid start when you are in the product launching stage. When you gain information from a prospect or someone looking to get paid for referring sales you are able to provide them updates or specials. Many people abuse their prospect or affiliate lists by in turn emailing them with a new product daily and I find the recommendations to be totally unrelated to their original need, problem, or interest.
Another stage in the product launching stage is creating a free report or demo version of your product to entice the product to sign up to your email list. Using proper follow up with this can help generate numerous sales for you. One thing you need to ensure is that your free product completely relates to your main product that you are looking to sell.
You are now ready to advertise your product launching to customers as well as the opportunity to sell for affiliates. This is the single aspect that many product creations and launches fail on. It is actually not entirely difficult. One thing you can do is write articles (and a good amount of them) on topics relating to your product. I am a huge advocate of giving a solution in forums. When you join a forum you are normally offered the opportunity to create a signature. In your signature, you should enter the link to your opt-in or lead capture page. When you respond to posts, you are advertising your opportunity.
It is not impossible to create a product and it does not have to take a long time. You need to setup a plan and stick to it. If you get stuck, look at similar and successful products to your own and try and see how they did it. When you sit down and brainstorm you will be surprised with what you can imagine.
Staying Focused on Your Home Based Business
Many have been said about how good it is to have a home based business. The advantages and benefits of having a home based business can really be overwhelming and tempting. However, like the old saying goes, “nothing is black and white” and “it’s all shades of grey”, home based businesses also pose some disadvantages and sad to say, many of those who ventured into home based business fall into the pitfall of distractions, separating home tasks and business tasks, isolation, endless work, and lack of self discipline. Nevertheless, these must not be a reason for you to change your mind especially now that you have already taken the first step to this very rewarding business. It is just important that you know how to get yourself ready for whatever you’ll be facing on this business. So to help you in this venture, here are 5 useful tips on staying focused on your home based business. Happy reading!1. Break Large Tasks into PiecesHome based businesses often involve large tasks and projects to handle. This seems overwhelming so it is always easier and helpful to break these large tasks down into smaller components. You will find it easier to focus more because you will not feel so overwhelmed. For instance, your home based business is more on writing for clients and you were given a bulk order of 100 articles due in a week’s time. Instead of always thinking how to complete the 100 articles in a week’s time, why don’t you think of completing 20 each day?2. Be Organized – Keep a “to do” listOnce you have divided the large tasks into smaller ones, it’s time to do some planning and organization and note the plan down on your “to do” list. Using the same example given above, you can decide to do research first thing in the morning, building up ideas for your articles, then finally writing and forming these ideas into a complete article.3. Schedule your TimeSchedule is very important when you have a home based business. Before you end your day, make sure to note down your schedule for the next day, giving emphasis on what you really have to accomplish.4. Set your GoalsYour goals are perhaps the best way to keep you focused on your home based business. Visualize what you actually want your business to become in a week, in a month, six months, a year, two years, and so on. How much profit would you want to have in a month’s time? How many clients are you targeting to win next month?5. Say Yes When You Can and No When You Can’tYou’ve got to be assertive and learn how to carve out your time for your projects. Assess yourself, how many more can you do? If you think the project being offered can still be done on a timely manner without compromising quality, say YES; however, if it’s beyond what you can handle, never hesitate to say NO and explain to your client why you can’t handle this task. Who knows, you might be able to negotiate on time.Having your own home based business is not at all bed of roses. There are some things that you have to go through to successfully overcome the challenges of having one. Of course, like any endeavor, you have to understand that the odds may be stacked against you but if you are really determined to succeed and if you play your cards right, you will definitely love your new home based business!