Make it Great

Or lack there of, but you get the point….

I have decided to become a Virtual Assistant- VA! I actually like it a lot so far. I am doing a few free assignments to build up my portfolio and testimonial page. It is not hard work at all!

So how does this help you, you ask? Because I have tips, we all know I love me some tip giving!

If you are feeling like things are just not taking off in your business, try adding to your product line or doing something else complimentary. Since working from home, I have taught myself a few skills. I am not a computer expert, but I am computer a bit computer savvy. So, I talked to a friend who is a VA about the business, just casual convo, and I was like "You make how much! Just to do that!" I knew I was over qualified for the position. The hard part though is finding the clients. They are out there, believe me they are, you just have to find them or get them to find you.

Now, I am not saying go all out and find 258503 businesses to start, but take all the things you know about working from home and build your own business with it.

Examples:

You built your whole website from scratch, right? Well, I know you know about SEO (search engine optimization). Well, offer SEO services for new WAHMs.

You have been marketing your products for years, you go from store to store trying to get your products into stores. You have learned something, right? Start a business where you get other people’s products into stores.

You made all your marketing aids yourself, with your very own printer. You made brochures, business cards, catalogs, you name it you made it. Did they work? Make sales aids for other WAHMs.

Did you have to mail 53433 samples every week to interested prospects? How about information packets? Do you know that many people need mass mailing done but don’t have the time? Start you own business doing mass mailing.

I mean the list is virtually endless. Endless, I tell you!

Oh yeah, and if you like cold calling, or don’t mind doing it for others, that market is wide open with people who need that service. Some people just don’t have time to call leads. Would you be willing to do this? You could make big bucks.

I never thought about all the benefits to this way of doing business, take what you learn and teach it to someone else. Make your expertise benefit you. Start your own business doing what you want to do, your schedule, your rules, your prices.

I know I sound high or extremely joyous, well ,I am! Not high, but I am on a high. I am not high, I don’t smoke, people.

I really should write a book about these things, and make money off my ideas. But, I don’t have time, so you can do it for me. I am so full of ideas, I could burst.

And these things are not going to replace your current business, just add to it, I mean you can do these things on slow days or just weekends. You can even put your business aside for a few months, if money is tight and do some of these things to build up your money and then invest harder into your business.

Okay that’s all for now, I have some work to do!

Thanks for reading!

Jarmelia Ladson

http://www.mbgourmetcandles.com

Enter to win a FREE candle!

http://www.assistancethatsvirtual.webs.com

My VA site! Check it out!

A question that seems to be asked a lot to WAHMs  (work at home moms) is, “How do you do it”. Meaning, how do you work, clean, feed your family and still get to bed at a decent hour. Well, it isn’t easy running a business no matter if your at home or outside of the home. But, I think working from home is a tad bit more challenging, mentally. You can’t exactly leave your work at work, it kind of follows you all day!

The answers to this question have all been about making a schedule. I don’t currently have a schedule, I will confess, but I do see that I need one. It is so easy to get sidetracked and forget about the emails, the phone calls or desk cleaning you need to do.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to help out with the day to day stress and aid in making a schedule:

Do I like working in the morning, afternoon or night?

This will give you the foundation for your work schedule. It will allow you to plan all other activities around this time.

How many hours do I really need to work a day?

Figure out how long it really will take you to email, call, make products, fill orders or whatever else. I think the average range is 4-6 hours to do all of that. But to make calls and answer emails, that should really only take about 2 hours or so. Also, see if you can arrange certain duties for certain days, like ship orders on Mondays and Wednesdays and so on.

Can this time be broken up into sections?

If you have small children 4 straight hours at the computer may be near impossible. So, try and see if you can email in the morning, make phone calls during nap time, and make samples or fill orders in the evening.  Give each about 1-2 hours, if possible.

I find that breaking up a work day, helps me to feel like I am in control of my schedule. I think it is especially important to have a cut off time. I know it is hard, when you are a night owl, but, it would help a lot to have a definite Start Time and Finish Time much like an open and close time like regular businesses. I am  sure your customers will understand that you can’t always be available. What business do you know of that is always available? I don’t know of many…..

Make sure you are not running yourself ragged by always having to make deadlines by the skin of your teeth or constantly have to work late nights. It is not healthy or beneficial long term to be stressed out this way.

Make time to eat meals!

I know this may sound like a, DUH! to some of you, but it is really easy to grab a bag of chips, throw the children a sandwich and keep working but, that isn’t healthy. Insert lunch breaks into your schedule to eat with your children and leave the computer. Go sit at he kitchen table and take your time. I think 45 mins to an hour is sufficient time to prepare a lunch and just relax a bit.

I have a bad habit of waking up and then jumping on the computer to check emails! This has really taken a toll on the things I eat for breakfast. If you do this as well, try waking up earlier to give yourself time to make a wholesome breakfast and prepare your mind for the day. Let’s say you want to start work at 9:00 AM, well then at least give yourself an hour start by waking up a 8:00 AM. This is what we would do if we worked outside the home and I know it helped me get prepared for the day.

Even though we work from home, we have to treat our businesses like real jobs. Use your imagination and pretend you are getting ready for work, get dressed and fix your hair, please brush your teeth and welcome the day. Taking time throughout the day to organize thoughts and relax, helps to clear the mind and makes the day go a bit slower.

Hope these tips help you! I will keep you updated on my working habits , stay tuned!

Thanks for reading,

Jarmelia Ladson

Okay so since I have been in business, I have seen it all when it comes to catching a sale. I have seen some positive ways to catch a sale and some negative ways. I think the gray area in it all is, how far should you go to get a sale.

Here are some things I have learned.

If someone emails or calls you interested in your products but doesn’t answer your emails or phone calls in return, move on. Maybe after a month or so, send them a postcard when you “drizzle” on some other prospects who kind of dropped off the face of the earth. I would send out postcards to all the prospects who asked for information or got in contact with me but nothing came of it, every 3 months or 2-3 times a year. This is something new, I am trying since I don’t like to bother people, but sometimes people do get busy and need reminding about your business or product.

You will always get people who will want to order and get you all excited and giddy thinking about the sale, but they never order or answer your emails or phone calls. This is to be expected. Why do people do this? Lack of funds, lack of interest, or maybe they just changed their mind about ordering from you. Whatever the case, don’t worry about it, you will get lots of these “hopefuls”.

If someone mentions, they want to join a business that is similar to yours, like if you are on a forum/message board and someone says they are looking to sell (insert your product here), send them some information. I show emphasis on some because sometimes we get so excited we talk too much or oversell. If you have a website, send them the link along with a few facts about your company/product and a way to contact you. Let people do their own research to find out if your business or product is right for them. That way if they do join you and find out it isn’t what they thought, they only have themselves to blame due to lack of research.

Sending someone a full page of information about what you offer looks desperate in my opinion, especially since most of the time it is copy and pasted straight from a website. So why not just send the link to the page and few sentences about what is on the page? It is so much easier and takes about 2 mins. to do. That way if they fizzle off, its okay. Only give your all for serious prospects, those that email you back, call you back and actually communicate!

Don’t give away to many things for free or low cost. People are always looking for a sale and want to save a few bucks. Yes, offering a few bucks off of a product may get you the sale, but you also lose money. We are in business to make a profit so obviously everyone can’t get 50% off all orders or you would be broke. I only offer discounts when it will benefit me, such as, bring more traffic to my site, bring more sales or as a Thank You gift.

I see this so much with people in the candle business, someone will say “I want to try such and such scent, I love candles and can’t wait to buy some from you!” and then the distributor will go and send them a whole votive and never hear from them again. Some distributors even hand out votives at stores. Now, you can get sales from this, but it doesn’t always work.

Think of it this way, if you send them a votive, what incentive do they then have to buy one? Yes, they may burn the votive and enjoy it, but that doesn’t mean they will buy another one from you. People try things all the time, that’s why people like Sam’s Club, free samples. But the difference is, they give you a small sample, a little bait. If you like the small sample, which is barely enough to satisfy your craving, then you will get the whole bag often times. This is the same idea, we should have when we give out samples. I give out “scent samples”, this is a crushed votive in a 1×1 or 1×2 inch zip lock baggie.  This is just enough for them to smell the scent and decide if they want to order it. It costs me close to nothing to do and I get my product in their hands.

Remember this, if you always have to beg people to buy your products or always feel burnt out due to no one buying from you, then try a different approach. Re-evaluate your products, make sure they are products people need or want. Make sure the pricing is competitive and not over priced. Check out the quality, compare your product to other similar products. Constantly check to make sure you are up to date with what is going on around you. Example, if you sell business cards, make sure you have fresh designs, great graphics to give people a reason to choose you over someone else or even consider you. If everything is up to par, then try a new advertising strategy. There is more then one way to skin a cat or chicken!

Told you working from home takes actual work!

Jarmelia Ladson

I was on my BFF forum, yesterday- WAHM and someone was “venting” about how working from home was not all it’s cracked up to be. I agree with her 300% she is totally correct in my book.

Now, the person “venting” had a work at home job. Meaning she worked for a company and she gets paid every week or two.  Now, her reason for venting was that her schedule wasn’t as flexible as she thought it would be, she wasn’t getting paid as much as she thought she would be, and she wasn’t able to enjoy more time with her family as she had hoped. I think this scenario is similar to that of lots of other WAHMs as well.

I ain’t all its cracked up to be people!

No matter if it is a Home based business or work from home job, you will not be your own boss. With a home-based business, the customers are going to be the boss, you won’t tell them that, but they are. With a work at home job, you will be “hired” to work for a company.

I also have a work from home job, with this company. I actually like it most of the time but there are some pitfalls.

Here’s is what you can expect 9 times out of 10:

• You will have to pick your hours from the hours they have available, so your picking your schedule from the hours available which may be just night hours or morning hours.
• You may have a few or more hours to choose from depending on the amount of “help” the company needs
• When it is slow, meaning you are getting (0) calls,if you are a contractor, you will get paid $0 dollars, if you are an employee you will get paid your hourly rate which may be minimum wage.

For me, I decided to work from home due to not having to work outside the home or at all. I don’t have to work to pay any bills, it is more of a supplemental income and something to keep me busy thoughout the day. I also don’t have any children or pets to give my attention to. My husband works in the afternoon and into the night. So, looking at my lifestyle you can see that working weird hours or no hours would be fine for me. Also, I don’t need to make much money so this option fits my lifestyle.

Now, if I had children, I would of course need to work when they are napping, at school or doing something to keep themselves quiet. So my availability would be limited. So, if the company only has 2 hours available between 9 AM and 5 PM, that’s what I have to work with.

Also, if I needed to make a set amount of money every 2 weeks to cover my bills, I would have 2 options, work all through the day and night or stalk the schedule for hours to show up and catch them really quickly.

So, as you can see working from home with a work at home job is not for every lifestyle. You have to make sure you check out the company, talk to the people who work there via forums and message boards and just do your research.

Companies differ in policies, pay and schedule availablity so you have to ask questions, that’s the only way you will get answers!

Jarmelia Ladson

When you google in home based business, you get a least 1000 answers.  Here are some questions you can ask youself to narrow down your search:

• Do I want to sell a product or service? Do I want to sell anything at all?
• Do I want to do home parties, online sales, EBay sales, Vendor Fairs, etc.?
• What kind of products are you interested in selling? Jewelry, candles, make-up, home decorations, lingerie, the list can go on forever
• Do you know people who would purchase these products from you?
• Is there a large demand for the product you want to sell?

So for the sake of example lets say you narrow it down to candles :).

You find some companies sell candle accessories as well as candles, others sell soaps and lotions as well. Those things may be plus for you.

Look at their prices on their website and ask yourself “Would I pay this price for a candle?” If you wouldn’t then don’t expect someone else to. But, also keep in mind what the candle is made of and see if you may want to test one out. You may find that you enjoy their candles even though the price is a bit high.

If you are interested in the candles they offer, you should buy one to test out.

Test the quality of the candle. Here some things to look for in a great candle.

• Virtually soot-free, there should be very little soot on the jar while burning the candle
• Should burn evenly all the way to the bottom of the jar (getting you mony’s worth)
• If it is 16 oz or more, is it double wicked?
• Does the smell last all the way down to the bottom of the wax?
• Is the packaging appealing to the eye? Does it make the candle stand out?

Compare it to a bargain store candle. Compare scent-throw, the way the wax burns, soot, residue left on side of the jar,everything.

If you do decide to sell a product that can be found anywhere and everywhere, which candles are, people are going to ask you what makes your products different. Why should they spend the extra $5 on your product?

In order to answer that, you have to compare the 2 products and know with a doubt that you would definitely pay the extra $5 or more for your product over a bargain store product and why.

Now, I know many people have boutiques and make handmade clothes and toys etc. but for a product to get the attention of bargain shoppers it needs to have more going for it than, “Its handmade or homemade”. Keep this in mind when looking for a company. Homemade doesn’t mean quality made.

Also, how long did it take for the product to get to you? What was the turn around time? It shouldn’t be longer than 7 days in America and 2 weeks is pushing it. I have heard many women say they were amazed at how fast certain candles got to them when they ususally had to wait 2 weeks or more.

If you are still interested in the company after all this, then look at their compensation plan and wholesale discounts. Make sure you are able actually make a profit off of their product.

Ask around on forums about the companies reputation, see how long they have been around. Usualy 5 years, is a nice amount of time. Make sure there are at least 1,000 distributors, to see if they are stable. I wouldn’t get in on a ground floor opportunity, due to so many companies crashing and taking people’s money.

If all systems are a go, then go for it! Ask for more information and see if that company works for you!

Jarmelia Ladson

Mia Bella Gourmet Candles

I have read many posts and emails asking, begging and pleading for a free or low cost home based business.

My rule of thumb is, low cost=low payout. Making it near impossible for you to make a decent income.

You also have the businesses that charge hundreds even thousands for a start up package or membership fee, that are hard to be successful with money wise.

If you sell products, like I sell candles- Mia Bellas to be exact (shameless plug) and you get them at a wholesale price please make sure the wholesale price is at least 40% off the retail price.

Example: Mia Bella Jar candle price for a distributor:  $9.50

                 Suggest retail for the candles (what we sell them for): $18.95 or whatever we choose to sel them for, usually $20.00.

So, if you sell Mia Bella candles for $20 and you paid $9.50, you make $10.50 off that one candle.

All of the Candle of the Month wholesale prices are between 40-80% which is a great discount.

I also joined another company, which only allowed you make $1.22 scent off of each bar of soap! It was a free company to join, but when I joined I saw why it was free! I would have to sell 100 bars of soap to make $100, where as with Mia Bella, I can sell 10 jar candles.

Make sure you are making more money then you are giving the company, notice I didn’t say growing your business, I said paying the company. If you starter kit was $200 or you have spent that much in product, then you should have made $200 at least in 6 months and that is even pushing it. Make sure what your paying in membership fees and such are not drowning you. Don’t let me get started on quotas! They give me a headache at the thought.

Now, Mia Bella isn’t the only company with a nice retail opportunity, I have seen others. You have look hard for them though and don’t be swayed by prices. Many people go from company to company, from free opportunity to free oppotunity. Waste of time. You would be better of finding a nice reputable company and sticking with them.

For a retail program to be successful they need 1 of 2 things:

1. A retail price for their products that allow you to make a decent amount off of each item sold. You don’t have to sell bunches to make $20. Someone is getting duped, big time.

2. I competive product that allows you to be able to mark prices up or down, if you needed, to compete with competitors.

I usually don’t see the point in retailing for a company that sells a product for $5 and then you buy it wholesale for $3.50+, you have no room to mark up or down.

Also, I got information about a new “green” company and I had to pay a membership fee to be able to get 20% off. 20% off what’s that? Not much. Sounds like Sam’s club only, I am advertising, and putting in all the hard work for this company.

Also, if I can’t understand their compensation plan just by looking at it for 5 mins. It’s not going to work for me. I need something simple. 10% off my downline- got it, 5% off my downline’s downline- got it. Plain simple English.

Make sure you calculate if you can make back the money you pay on fees and such in a month or so.

Like with MB, I pay 39.95 a month and my package retails at $60 so I can make it back real fast.

Jarmelia Ladson

I can’t tell you how many people start a home-based business and then get so upset over the costs that start rolling in! Myself included….. I see it everyday “Start your own business for 19.95!” “No cost to start up!”, “Broke, no hands, no feet, no brain? We can help you work from home!” That last one was a joke but you get the point.

When I joined Mia Bella, I was so excited to get started I had my credit card in hand and I was ready to go! I was pumped up… way up. But then I started seeing the costs per month increase more and more…

If you are starting a home business or thinking about it here are some costs that you will need to keep in mind:

• The monthly costs that you company asks you to pay
• Business Cards
• Sales aides (catalogs, fliers, sales kits, etc.)
• Website- even if you are given one from your company, you will likely end up getting a personal one as well.
• Ways to capture leads- Lead pages, Splash pages, Team pages, different advertising costs
• Product- If you have to keep inventory on hand

These are just some of the costs you will have to take into account. So if you just have 19.95, think of that as just the down payment. This saying is so true “It takes money to make money.” Oh yes, it does.

Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t take lots of money. But it does take more money than most people expect, to start a business.

I had to learn to research everything, no matter what it was, I learned not jump on any bandwagons. Just because my whole team is doing a new lead campaign doesn’t mean I can afford it nor will I jump right into it. I have done this and ended up with about $50 down the drain. It was my fault because I didn’t research well enough.

I advise you to write down everything you plan to buy and calculate all the costs. Get a nice round estiamte of how much it is going to cost you a month to get yor business off the ground. If you can’t afford that cost, consider working a work at home job to help supplement your income. This will help you make the money you need and grow your bussiness at the same time.

Try Work PlaceLike Home and WAHM to see what is available in your area.