Running your own home based internet business is a piece of cake.
Right?

You’ve probably heard how easy it is to rake in tens of thousands
of dollars practically over night, and how you can have all kinds
of “free time” and extra cash for traveling and shopping at your
favorite store…

Just throw up a web site, add a few affiliate links, post to some
forums and presto – you’re in the money!

But the reality is this. If you want to succeed in your own home
based internet business, whether it’s affiliate marketing or
selling your own products, you will have to work at making it
successful. You have to make it your job to succeed. You must
treat it as your job, not as your hobby.

It’s great to think that with just a few easy strokes you’ll be
running on auto-pilot, bringing in loads of cash and then on to
the next venture. But without some simple planning and consistent
effort you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Here are a few tips to help you get started.

STAY ORGANIZED

Set up folders in your email client.

You should set up a folder for each contact and keep important
correspondence while deleting what you don’t need. If you belong
to membership sites that require passwords, keep the “welcome”
letters where you can find them.

Set up folders on your desktop.

If you download a lot of software, ebooks or PDF books from
specific individuals simply name a folder on your desktop after
the author or site owner. Then when you download something you
can place it in their folder.

Make your own HTML home page.

For quick and easy access to all your important sites make up an
HTML page with hyperlinks to your most frequently used sites
along with a brief explanation of each site. Keep it on your
desktop for easy access.

STAY FOCUSED

Set aside a specific time for work.

It could be from 7pm-9pm every day or whatever time’s good for
you. During this time do not get distracted from doing only what
needs to be accomplished for your business. Try to use the same
time slot every day so you get into a routine and get used to the
working mindset. Save the surfing for another time.

Set aside a work space.

Make sure that all your friends and family know that when you’re
in your work area you’re off limits! No one’s to bother you.

Finish one task before starting another.

As the old saying goes, “Put one foot in front of the other.”
Don’t start working on something new until the first task is
completely finished.

BE CONSISTENT

Work the ideas that “work.”

When you find something that works well for you work it hard and
get as much out of it as possible. If you’re submitting articles
to a certain site and they’re paying dividends, keep feeding the
cycle.

Learn from failure.

Don’t get discouraged. Each failure’s just a learning process.
Use any failure to your advantage by taking the lesson and
applying it to your next venture.

Test, test, and more test.

Always test headlines and ad copy. A small change can reap huge
rewards.

With these few simple steps you will stay organized, stay
focused, be consistent in your efforts and build a solid
foundation on which you can build your internet empire!

After all, you are the one who will ultimately determine the
success or failure of your business!

Popularity: 23% [?]

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If you are a small business owner with an idea, an invention or a
new product, you need to decide whether or not to create a
proactive intellectual property strategy.

What is Intellectual Property? It is any creation of the mind
and includes literary and artistic work, inventions as well as
symbols, names and images. It also includes any designs you use
in conducting your business.

There are two categories of Intellectual Property. The first,
Industrial Property, includes industrial designs (and geographic
source designations), inventions (patents) and trademarks.

The types of Trademarks are: Trademark, Service Mark, Collective
Mark, Collective Membership Mark, and Certification Mark.

The second category is Copyright which includes literary and
artistic works. Copyright protects the authors of novels,
poetry, films and plays and composers of musical works. However,
copyright also protects artists of paintings or drawings,
photographers, even sculptors or architects who have designed
specific buildings. Protection of Copyright is also extended to
performing artists regarding their performances and producers of
television and radio programs.

When Should You Think About Protecting Your IP Rights?

Intellectual Property has become big business—and protecting
yours can add considerable value to your company somewhere down
the road.

You should think about applying for the appropriate protections
if…

*you’re even considering going global at some point

*if you will be manufacturing your products in another
country

*if your business name, tagline, logo or other work is a key
component of your business, your brand or your operational
strategy

*if your product is something that is easily pirated and could
be manufactured in countries that are known for pirating

Many business owners think they should wait until their business
is established and they know that it’s going to succeed before
deciding to go ahead with IP protection. However, according to
the top IP attorneys, that’s a mistake that can be more costly in
the long run. It’s easier and cheaper to protect your rights in
the beginning than it is to be involved in a lengthy and
expensive court case, trying to reclaim what is yours, or defend
against an infringement claim.

Another reason many business owners wait is because international
IP laws are often unclear, and the laws themselves change often.
And there are differences in trademark systems in the U.S. and
other countries.
In the U.S., the system is based on use, not registration, but
many other countries have registration-based systems.

However, thanks to the Madrid Protocol, the process of protecting
trademarks has been streamlined and can save you up to 65% of the
filing costs.

Before the Madrid Protocol, you were required to file separate
applications for each country. Now, you can file for many with
one application.

Another problem faced by entrepreneurs is that there is a time
limit—12 months in fact, to file for international IP rights
after applying for a trademark or patent in the U.S.

If you want to protect your Intellectual Property, and increase
the long-term value of your business, consult a reputable IP
attorney now. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

Popularity: 25% [?]

It’s hard to be in business today, certainly in the professional
services sector, without having heard the term ‘networking’.
Regarded by many as the Marmite of business, it is said that you
either are a networker or you aren’t. And if you think you
aren’t, you shouldn’t even try to do it.

Rubbish!

First of all, networking is essential to any business – whether
offline or online. The business you get from personal
recommendation will be some of the best business you ever do – they have pretty much made up their minds to use you before they
even call you, and they are a lot less concerned with price. And
it’s not just for solicitors and accountants – when your pipes
burst, how did you decide on a plumber to come out and fix it?
Was it someone you had heard good things about before? Maybe you
didn’t know anyone, so you called a friend and asked if they knew
a good plumber? Joe Bloggs Plumbers just won the business of
fixing your pipes through networking.

A good way to look at it is not as ‘networking’ but as
‘word-of-mouth marketing’. Because it is part of your marketing
mix – how’s your advertising? Local papers? Spot on radio?
Good, good. PR? Interview on local news this week? Fantastic.
How about promotions? Give aways? Offers? All sorted? Great
stuff. Got a website? Optimised for the search engines? Lots
of enquiries from it too? Brilliant.

And how about your word of mouth?

Not enough people concentrate on generating referrals and getting
people to mention their business to others. Millions of pounds
of business is done every year through referral and
recommendation. If you’re not getting any of it, you need to
think long and hard about why not.

So you’ve got yourself to a networking event, you tell the people
there about what you have to offer, and then ask if they want to
buy it, right? Wrong! If you do this you have become the person
at a networking event that everyone wants to avoid – the one
handing out business cards like they’re dealing a poker game; the
one who asks you nothing and tells you more than you could ever
want to know about what they do.

So how do you do it? The best way to network is to build trust,
build relationships, to think about what you can do for the other
people in the room before you think about what you might get. Be
a ‘people person’, be genuinely interested in the people you meet
at events. Great networkers want to help as well as get help – because they like helping others, not just because it might get
them some business in the future.

Networking is about building a relationship that eventually leads
to business being done, either between you and your new contact,
between you and someone they recommend, or between them and
someone you recommend. Don’t discount that last one – they have
to get something out of your relationship as well, otherwise it
isn’t a relationship. If you help them get more business, they
will do the same for you – in fact they’ll feel obliged to.

Where can I network?

The short answer is absolutely anywhere! Remember Joe Bloggs
Plumbers, the guys who fixed your pipes? You don’t find many
plumbers at networking events, but they still get referrals.
Networking happens when you talk to your colleagues at work, when
you go to the pub with your friends, it happens when you overhear
a conversation in the bus queue. Networking is about the
impression you leave people with, and you make impressions all
day, every day.

Of course you will make more effective contacts for referrals at
specialised networking events, but remember there are several
different kinds of events you can go to. Some of the most
established are breakfast meetings, which usually start around
7.00am and finish around 9.00am. Meetings are usually weekly and
the format is very focused and regimented. For those who like
this format, there is a lot of business to be done, but it is an
acquired taste. Try it out, but bear in mind whether or not you
can keep up with the regular early mornings and very formal
structure. Also, most breakfast meetings are restricted to one
person from each business sector, so you are not as likely to
meet people you can form alliances and joint ventures with, which
is a very important, and often overlooked part of networking.

There are also several different kinds of event organised by
groups such as local government organisations, such as race days,
golf days and others. These can be a lot of fun, but are very
often filled with people who are there for the golf rather than
to do business, and you may have to kiss a lot of frogs to find
your prince. Networking events are really a matter of preference
and perspective, and you should go to as many events as you can
at first, and then stick with the ones that work for you.

In summary, there is a simple and effective way to network that
anyone can do:

1. Get to know people as people, not prospects.
2. Everything happens after a meeting, not during. Always,
always follow up.
3. Give referrals as well as expect to receive them.
4. Keep in touch on a regular basis.

Best of luck with your networking!

Popularity: 20% [?]