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MLM Woman Online Issue 41
This free monthly newsletter is made possible by our advertisers and customers. We thank them for their support!
From the Desk of the Editor
Welcome to the 41th issue of the MLM Woman Newsletter. This month we feature articles on:
And finally, as you all know I feature a monthly "Question of the Month" on this website. The results of last month's question: "Have you budgeted a set amount of money monthly to run your MLM business?" was very interesting. 83 people said they did NOT have a budget set aside for their business and only 26 said they DID have a budget.
This reminded me that most people really do not understand the critical part that budgeting for marketing and advertising plays in the success or failure of their business. Marketing is the vehicle that delivers customers to your business and money is the fuel that makes your marketing engine run.
So to make your business grow you MUST have a proper mix of free and paid ways to market and advertise your business. And to do that you need to budget a set amount of money for marketing and advertising each and every month.
It's like I always say " A terrible thing happens when you don't advertise - NOTHING!:
Enjoy!
Linda Locke, Editor MLM Woman
Who Are You and Why Should I Care? By Bob Leduc Copyright 2000. All rights reserved.
I recently dialed a wrong telephone number and heard the following recorded message:
"Hi. You've reached Mike and Kathy. Who are you and why do we care?"
It was immediately followed by the "beep" signaling my opportunity to leave a message. I obviously dialed the wrong number so I hung up. But then I started thinking about that abrupt message. That's exactly what every potential customer thinks when he or she is exposed to any advertising message... "Who is this and why do I care?"
DO YOU KNOW THE ANSWER?
How would you answer a prospective customer who asked, "Who are you and why should I care?" If you were the prospect, would that answer increase or decrease the desire to do business with you?
Prospects may not ask you this question -- at least not in words that blunt. But they are asking it, silently and unconsciously, every time they see your ad, visit your website or listen to your sales presentation. You can increase the effectiveness of all your advertising by automatically answering it for them. It's actually a 2 part question so we'll look at each part separately.
PART 1: "WHO ARE YOU...?"
People only buy products and services from companies and individuals they trust. Part of that trust is the assurance that you're capable of delivering the benefit each customer expects in return for the money he or she pays you.
The unspoken answer to "Who are you...?" may be as simple as including a statement like, "authorized distributor for ???" (the name of a well-known company) in your ads or promotional material. New distributors for network marketing companies often use the well-known corporate name of their company to establish credibility for their business opportunity offer. Opportunity seekers tend to overlook the credentials of a novice distributor when the opportunity is supported by the resources of a well-known large company.
TIP: Instead of listing professional credentials or personal achievements, convert them into benefits for your customers. For example, prospects and customers don't care that you were a top producer in your organization last quarter. They do care that you helped so many new distributors just like them get off to a fast start last quarter that their production made you a top producer in your organization.
PART 2: "...AND WHY DO I CARE?"
People buy things because they expect to gain something more valuable (to them) than the money they spend to get it. What they expect to gain is a BIG BENEFIT. That's why they care -- IF they are the right prospects for your product or service.
You control whether or not they're the right prospects. How? By targeting your advertising to reach prospects most likely to have a strong need or desire for the benefits provided by your product or service. It's easy to capture the attention and interest of prospective customers when they already need or want the benefits you provide.
TIP: Be sure to promote the biggest single benefit you offer to prospects in your targeted market. If you target several different markets, determine the most important benefit for each and promote it in that market. The big benefit may be different for each market.
You may never be asked, "Who are you and why do I care?" But prospects and customers silently and unconsciously ask it every time they see your ad, visit your website or listen to your sales presentation. You'll see a dramatic increase in the results of any ad or promotion when you automatically give them the answer.
About the Author
Bob Leduc retired from a 30 year career of recruiting sales personnel and developing sales leads. He is now a Sales Consultant. Bob recently wrote a manual for small business owners titled "How to Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards" and several other publications to help small businesses grow and prosper. For more information... Email: BobLeduc@aol.com Subject: "Postcards". Phone: (702) 658-1707 (After 10 AM Pacific time) Or write: Bob Leduc, PO Box 33628, Las Vegas, NV 89133
"You're Taking Care of Business... But Who Is Taking Care of YOU?" By Julie Frost Copyright 2000
Running a home based business can be tough. For one thing, your work is always "there". As you walk by your home office or computer station, you start to think about all that you need to get done. But many times, there are other, more important (or at least equally important) things that need to be done.
Like helping the kids with their homework, taking them to piano lessons, soccer practice, etc., spending some "mommy time" with them, as well as the more mundane tasks like bill paying, shopping, laundry, dishes, vacuuming... I think you get the idea.
So, when do we take care of ourselves?
For some reason, we women tend to take care of ourselves last. (Men may do this too, but I've noticed it's far more common in women.) But what we may not realize while we're doing it, is that we must take care of ourselves -- it's not selfish. In fact, our taking care of everyone and everything else in ours lives depends upon it. If you're constantly draining yourself physically, emotionally, and spiritually, to the point where you've made yourself sick in one or more of those areas of your life, who will take care of all those things you're putting before YOU? So, in order to "take care of business" (and everything else that you do), you must take care of YOU, too.
I can hear some of you saying now... "But with all the things I need to do, how will I ever find the time?!" Here is my answer: You Make It.
You see, if you don't make this a priority, everything else will suffer. Your business. Your children. Your relationships. You. What could be more important?
It may not be obvious at first... it will happen slowly. But it will happen. So make yourself a priority.
Many women may see taking care of themselves as selfish. We're such givers -- nurturers -- it can feel too indulgent to take care of YOU. But we need that nurturing, too. And who better to give it to us, then us? And if we don't do it, the people and things we hold most dear will suffer. Why? Because we will be suffering. And the scary part is, you may not notice it right away...
But our children will. Our spouses will. And our clients will. They'll express it in misbehavior. Bickering. Going elsewhere to do business. Not good. Not good at all.
So, what can you do to take care of YOU? This concept may be so foreign to some of you, that you won't know where to begin. The key to any of these ideas is to do them consistently. If you only do them once, or once in a while, the results won't last.
Try Yoga, Meditation, or Exercise.
These things can help you clear your mind (and body). I know that after meditating, some of my very best ideas will come to me. Whether the idea is for a new article, what to have for dinner, or how to resolve an issue with my children or spouse. This quiet time helps you filter out all of the information and situations that you don't need, and helps you find peace within yourself... And a whole new way of seeing things.
Take a Day (Or Two!) of Rest.
Having a home based business doesn't mean that you have to work 7 days a week. If you don't take a day or two away from your work, you won't have a day to refresh -- to start anew. Your ideas and projects can start to stagnate. What I do is take two days off per week, but not in a row. I take Wednesdays off to volunteer at my daughter's school, teaching computers and art to 3rd and 4th graders, and the rest of the day is spent with family: I may take the girls out for ice cream, my husband and I may spend some time alone together, or I may go out to eat with my mother and sister-in-law.
I also take Sunday's off as our family day. This is a day for all of us to relax and unwind from the week. The children need this, too! No work, chores, errands, or homework allowed. We sleep in, snuggle, talk, play, garden, read, and just have a nice, quiet time together as a family.
Pamper Yourself.
If you can, leave the kids with a trusted family member or friends and take some time out just for YOU. Do something YOU enjoy; like a candle-lit bubble bath. Or a trip to your favorite bookstore or library. Or get your hair and nails done. Or a facial. Or a massage! Take a walk on the beach, or in the mountains. Horseback ride. Whatever it is that YOU enjoy, that makes you feel great and invigorated!
These ideas are just a starting point. But please believe that you need to take care of YOU, too. You can't buy a new car and not give it fuel and regular maintenance and expect it to keep running forever. Your body, mind, and spirit are the same way -- and yet, they are priceless. If you don't take care of them, you can't just go out and buy a replacement, like you can a car. So start taking care of YOU - I think that your family, business, and most of all you, will thank you for it!
Julie Frost is the owner of YourHomeBiz.com - where you can learn how to find, start, grow, and succeed in your own home based business. Stop by today and sign up for her free weekly YourHomeBizWeekly newsletter : http://www.YourHomeBiz.com She is also an Internet Business Success Coach. Looking for a home based Web business? She can help: http://its.myevisionbiz.com
Bookkeeping Simplied! By Ginger Derrickson (c) 2000
Business owners eventually have to decide how they are going to handle their bookkeeping. This has been an ongoing quest for me. My first experience with keeping business books was before being introduced to computers. As an Avon Representative they provided forms that helped, especially since there was some inventory involved.
When I owned a cake decorating business I had to track amounts received for the product, cost of the ingredients, and try to figure the approximate cost of intangible items such as electricity used to run the oven!
As the owner of a residential cleaning service and a wallpaper hanging/painting service, bookkeeping required tracking income, mileage, advertising costs and a few supplies. All the above required a ledger with several columns, a pen or pencil, a good ten key calculator and lots of time. With the introduction of the personal computer came overwhelming choices of accounting packages and the learning curve to go with them.
When I bought my first computer in 1994 it came with a special edition of Quicken. I have used this program to keep track of my personal and business checking accounts, but it does not allow for adequate tracking of expenses. I considered Quicken Home and Business when it became available, but I never got around to purchasing the program.
When I bought my second computer it came with an off brand accounting program, and although I have no problem learning software programs I never did learn that program! As owner of Assisting You Virtually, for the past two years I have pondered the choices of software programs available for accounting/bookkeeping purposes, and as I looked into them one question kept coming to mind. Why do they have to be so complicated? My needs are simple, so why shouldn't the bookkeeping be simple?
As I researched each package and read about the features, it occurred to me these programs are really geared to the business owner who has employees, payroll, and inventory tracking. The accounting programs today do simplify these tasks, but if you are a service business, as the majority of small and home-based businesses are, you may only require tracking income, simple expenses, and minor purchases.
These accounting/bookkeeping programs are overkill for home-based service businesses, especially when their costs and learning curves are taken into account.
The first year I kept to the tried and true method of paper tracking and then entered it into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to automatically calculate. The second year I tried a specially created ledger purchased at Wal-Mart that used the double entry method of accounting (again trying to incorporate complicated methods when simple could be done).
This year it finally occurred to me to combine the simple paper method I used with a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and create a template that can easily be used year after year!
It will streamline my bookeeping efforts, as I can enter the information once and print out a summary page at the end of the year to use in filling out my Schedule C form. I looked over the Schedule C form and decided what categories of expenses I would need. Several of my expenses are not listed on the Schedule C, so they are itemized under 'other expenses.'
Then in Microsoft Excel, I created 13 worksheets, one for each month of the year and one for a yearly summary (each worksheet tab is labeled appropriately).
On each worksheet I have columns for each category of expenses and one for income received for each client. The first column is labeled 'Date' and each cell in the column is numbered from 1-31 to correspond to each day of any given month. I enter the dollar amount for each expense or payment from clients on the date received in the appropriate column. All expense items are entered as 'negative' entries (or like this: -$31.00), all client payments are entered as 'positive' entries (or like this: $300.00).
Each worksheet has two 'Total' sections. The first section is the last column on the worksheet and has a formula in each cell to calculate the totals in each row. This 'Total' keeps a running account of each day's expenses whether negative or positive. The second section is two rows below the 31st day and has a formula to calculate each column. This allows for a running total of each category and gives an overall total of your financial picture on a monthly basis.
Now, the pièce de résistance, remember that 13th worksheet? It is created similar to the monthly worksheets. Instead of the first column being 'Date', it is labeled 'Month' and each month is listed in the column. Then each column of expenses/income are 'linked' to the 'Total' row at the bottom of the corresponding month. When you make entries in the monthly sheets it will automatically update the summary worksheet for the corresponding month! Two rows under the month of December, there is another row marked 'Totals' which has a formula that calculates the totals for each column of expenses and income. This gives you at a glance the total expenses/income for each month summarized for the year!
Just imagine, enter the data once and with a click of your mouse, viewing your monthly and year-to-date financial picture using a program you probably already have on your computer! And when tax time rolls around, all you do is print off your Yearly Summary page and enter the corresponding data on your forms (or in your tax preparation software when asked for it)! What could be simpler?
If you have someone else do your taxes, you still benefit from this simplified bookkeeping system. You have an organized way of giving your tax preparer your information and they will appreciate the simple and easy to read format.
If you consider yourself as 'spreadsheet challenged' and don't think you can create this wonderfully simple spreadsheet yourself, then send me an email requesting a FREE copy of my basic template to have for your very own! I will include instructions for saving to your hard drive and tips for customizing to fit your needs. Of course, don't forget to save your receipts after you make your entries. I use file folders labeled for each month that sit within one hanging folder labeled for the year. Even filing does not have to be complicated!
With a little time and effort you too can have your bookkeeping simplified!
Ginger Derrickson - Assisting You Virtually Administrative Solutions for Small and Home-based Businesses. ICQ: 4045540 Email: ginger@heroffice.com Phone: 765-482-6418 eFax: 208-361-2278 http://assistingyouvirtually.homestead.com Subscribe to the Administrative Solutions the newsletter designed specifically for home-based and small business owners!
Article courtesy of http://www.e-zinez.com.
Summertime Challenges for Home-Based Working Moms Solutions for Juggling Work and Kids During the Summer By Lesley Spencer
Summertime presents a challenge each year for home-based working moms around the country. Continuing to run one’s business while keeping the kids entertained is a task too daunting for almost any super mom. Kids need attention. They want to have fun. They want to play, go to the park, have friends over, go swimming and so on. Meanwhile, clients are calling, the email box is filling up, and those day-to-day tasks are stacking up by the minute. It’s enough to make anyone’s head spin.
So what’s a home-based working mom to do? Don’t despair. We have some great tips and advice from real home-based working moms to make your summer less stressful and more enjoyable.
Karen Snyder of Pipersville, PA, suggests:
Eileen Richardson of Del Mar, CA (www.balancedbeing.com) advises:
Fran Fuerst of Brooklyn, NY suggests:
Dana Sacco of Ashburn, VA (www.outofthewoodwork.com) uses these secret weapons:
Sandra Hood of Newport News, VA (www.shaklee.net/sandra_hood) offers:
Tricia Russell of Pfafftown, NC, (www.mymk.com/trussell1) suggests:
Mary Tobin of Wilmington, NC (www.storklady.com) says:
Lesley Spencer, founder of the national association of Home-Based Working Moms (www.HBWM.com) of Austin, TX offers additional tips:
The key is balance and planning. Balance your work and your family by planning dedicated time to each. The reason many moms choose to work at home is for the freedom and flexibility it allows. Use that flexibility to your advantage. Look at it as a way to enjoy each stage and each day with your children. The summer will be over before we know it and those memories will be worth making.
Lesley Spencer is founder and director of the national association of Home-Based Working Moms -- the association dedicated to helping working moms stay closer to their children. Visit them online at: www.HBWM.com and sign up for their free e-newsletter mailto:hbwmoms-e-news-subscribe@egroups.com.
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