Listen to any business coach or mentor or successful business person and they will all tell you that one of the main keys to having a successful business is building good relationships. What better way is there to cultivate beneficial relationships than with social media and specifically, Twitter.

Twitter: The social networking service that allows us to stay in touch with family, friends and co-workers.  More importantly, Twitter allows us to meet and connect with others.

Twitter is absolutely the best way to meet new people, to share ideas and to keep up with what’s happening right now!

Who Knew?

An idea that started just a few years ago has now grown to over 100 Million users with more than 50 Million tweets daily.

Thanks to this online revolution, hundreds of millions are now actively searching for, finding, connecting/signaling, and staying in touch with likeminded souls.

Three things which have made Twitter so popular are:

1. People love to connect with others.
2. People love being apart of the real world and to know the latest trends.
3. The amount of available information has allowed us to follow, connect and meet with others so that connecting with strangers is becoming the norm.

With this in mind, incorporating Twitter into ones business plan should be a no brainer.

Cultivate Your Followers

In order for people to want to follow you, you must present yourself in a professional manner.  Create a pleasing page and atmosphere for your followers, an informative bio about who you are and above all, provide your followers with timely information.  Little Gold Nuggets and the more the better.  You Can give people a lot of information and a lot of value without giving away all your trade secrets.  In a forum where most people are pushing and promoting their businesses, do not be afraid to share your knowledge.

How To Be Awesome On Twitter

The difference maker in using Twitter to grow your business is to establish one to one contact with as many people as you can. In an environment where automated tweets, automated following, automated messages, etc. are the norm, what would make more of an impact and create more goodwill than for you to personally respond to a few people on a regular basis.  Here are a few ways to establish a dialog:

1. Find someone of interest and comment on their name or the uniqueness of their page.

                         

2. Find someone interesting and ask them a question.
3. Ask for help or advice.
4. Make sure you respond to those who answer you.

By going the extra mile in giving your personal time, not just some automated message, and by giving lots of valuable information and less selling, you will separate yourself from the pack and build many lasting relationships.

If you are considering starting a home business there are many questions and considerations
to be answered before making a decision.  There is a real tendency to
choose the business opportunity with the flashiest website or the one that
says you can be making money tomorrow.  With so many “opportunities” popping up every day on the internet, it can be a real crap shoot.

Remember, there is no such thing as quick, easy money and there are no legitimate businesses that do not require work.   With that said, here are 3 questions to consider.

1. How much does it cost?

   Keep in mind that you are looking for a business.  Although it is home based, it is still a business!  If you were buying a recognized franchise your cost could be $25,000 to $50oK.   The initial cost is one thing that makes home businesses so attractive, you can start a business for a lot less than $25K.
   Consider your initial cost as an investment in yourself.

2. How hard is it?

   This is a good question because I am 99% sure that most people who start a home business haven’t a clue as to the commitment required to be successful.  If you have had marketing or sales experience that will help but you will have a learning curve so you must be patient with yourself.

   Compare your learning curve to someone going to med school or law school.  Be sure you give yourself the time necessary to learn a new skill.

3. What products will you sell?

   Very important to consider because after all, you want to make money!

   I believe one of the most important things you can do is to get the proper foundation when learning internet marketing.  Do not be satisfied to rely on others when it comes to your business.  You need to learn internet marketing.  When you do that, you can sell anything.

   When choosing a company consider this….Are you going to be working and spending your time to earn $100.00 commissions or would you rather earn $1000.00 plus commissions?  Think about it.

If you want big paychecks, you need a company that has several different levels of compensation.

How and where you position yourself will make all the difference in your income potential so give careful consideration to the compensation plan.

Hopefully this shed some light on what’s involved in having a successful home business.  Stay committed to your dreams and choose your company carefully.

A mile long “to do” list,  commitments, endless tasks to complete and feeling there is not enough time can drive a person crazy.  Knowing that there is much to be done and feeling pressed for time only leads to frustration and sometimes procrastination.

Here is a tip to help overcome the frustration and stress and put you on the track to completing your tasks quickly.

In Zig Ziggler’s training he tells this story.  Pretend your best friend calls you and says she has 2 free tickets to Hawaii (He used Mexico but I prefer Hawaii), all expenses paid and you leave tomorrow. “Can you be ready to go?”.  Immediately, you think of all the things you have to do and you may say to yourself, “there’s no way I can be ready” but you really, really want to go.

Knowing that you really want to go to Hawaii and that you leave tomorrow, gives you that motivation and focus necessary to get your work done.    You prioritize you list so that you do the most important things first and then you turn on the after burners to get the necessary work done and you do it quickly and efficiently.

Another way of explaining this tip is Parkinson’s Law, which says, work will expand so as to fill the available time for completion. So in other words, unless you have a deadline the things on your “to do” list will just linger.  By identifying the most important tasks and giving yourself a deadline for completion you will find that you are able to get lots of work done quickly.

So let’s go to Hawaii “tomorrow” every day!