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Businesses seem to be hitting a tough patch right now. While researching for this post, I stumbled upon this made-up term by a doctor, but I think if such a medical procedure DID exist, a lot of us would need it at one point or another :

Dr. Ralph Capone, the chief medical director of Excela Health came to talk about the new Strategic Plan and Vision for the health provider. First he had to add his own word of the week though, opticalrectumectomy. It is a new procedure in which a long pair of scissors is inserted up the rectum in order to snip the optic nerve behind the eye. It is designed to remove an individual’s shitty outlook on life.

Did you get the joke?

Here’s another snippet that’s in tune with what our good doctor is trying to say :

A shoe company once asked its sales team to name a country where there was ample opportunity for growth so they could expand their operations. They decide on a small african nation. The boss assigned 2 staff from their sales team to visit the country and generally gauge the demand for shoes in that country.

The first staff came back and reported that there would be absolutely no way for them to make money in that country because nobody wanted to wear shoes!

The second staff reported with excitement that their company could corner the shoe market there because EVERYONE needed shoes!

It’s the same half-empty, half-full glass thing. But what’s the point?

One of the best ways you can help yourself and your business (or even if you’re not a business owner) is to hang tough, and stay positive. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - Your mind is where 90% of your battles are won or lost. Despite everything around you telling you to have a shitty outlook on life, you need to stay optimistic. So here are some tips to help you avoid the negativity of today’s tough economy :

1. Stop comparing yourself to others.
   Everybody has their own life to lead and everybody has their own race to run in life. You can’t compare yourself with the Smiths who have a condo in Bali, the Robinsons who manage a multi-million dollar company or the Lees who get to take holidays 3 times a year because their network marketing business seems to be printing money for them to your small home based food business and think you’re not as successful as they are. Sure, you’ve got to set yourself targets and wanting to be successful like Donald Trump isn’t wrong, but you’ve got to be realistic. There’s a saying that goes “Success isn’t measured by money, power or your position in life - it’s measured by the obstacles that you’ve overcome“. That saying applies to you personally as well as your business.
2. Think outside the box – because you can.
   Because small businesses have less breathing room in a bad economy or a very competitive niche, owners and managers need to get creative in order to survive. Thinking outside the box doesn’t have to mean coming up with radically different approaches, but it does mean NOT restricting yourself to conventional methods.

   Fortunately, small businesses are more nimble than large corporations and can initiate innovative (or unconventional) solutions without getting bogged down by layers of bereaucratic red tape. Small business owners can adapt quickly to economic changes by adjusting their plans - from budgetting to marketing. A smaller company can quickly tap into new markets, look for different sources of revenue, put non-critical projects on hold, or cut costs in resourceful ways.

   So if you’re feeling discouraged, remind yourself that your independence and your ability to think and act outside the box are two of the most valuable tools you possess as a small business owner.

3. Review your value proposition.
   If the economy is getting you (and probably all of the players in your niche) down, doing a bit of reflection can give you a morale boost. Think about it - you’ve run a successful business so far. You’ve built a customer base that trusts you and appreciate your product and service. You MUST have done something right, right? Reviewing the reasons why your customer base has stayed loyal to you is a great way to remind yourself that you have a great product or service. Go one step further and think about how you can add value to what you already have. Making this a goal can help re-ignite that spark of excitement in you and re-affirm your confidence in your business model.

   When the economy get tough, it’s time to understand your brand, hone your unique value proposition and remind your customers what it is that you do best. It’s not about going on an ego trip, but promoting yourself can be the best investment you can make in difficult times, reminding yourself and your customers of the true value of your company and boost your confidence and your sales.

4. Be realistic, but optimistic.
   While savvy business owners must be realistic about the economy, maintaining a positive attitude is critical. Try not to be influenced by others’ negativity, embrace your ability to be creative, and remind yourself of the true value your business adds.

   Being a business owner means you’re going to come up against problems. That’s a sure thing - not a maybe. Some problems will be major and threaten to sink your ship, others will be minor bugs that just irritate you, but whatever the situation, you only compound the problem if you take a pessimistic view of things. Looking at the negative side of things just makes you more dissapointed, depressed and brings you closer to despair.

Remember that age-old saying “Tough times don’t last, but tough people do”.

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Who doesn’t printed love t-shirts? They’re cheap, comfortable and best of all, they make a statement. Whether you’re an entrepreneur looking for a business, an artistic stay-at-home mom or a teenager on your summer break, t-shirts are a great way to have fun expressing yourself and yes, to make money.

If you have no experience making printed t-shirts, some of the following methods will require a fair bit of experimenting to get things right. Costs can quickly add up with every mistake even if you’re using cheap wholesale t-shirts, so I suggest your first task is to rummage through your closet and garage and get out all those old tees to use as test samples. Even old flat pieces of rags can be used to test small areas of prints. If you make mistakes, then well, they’re rags anyway!

When you first start out making printed t-shrits, you’ll want to keep your production low, concentrating on learning the techniques covered here. You don’t want to overprint and have all your funds tied up in keeping stock. Also, what I like about creating tshirts in small quantities is that you’re free to use practically all sorts of paints and dyes. Now, purists will shudder to hear me say that, but the fact is even canned spray paints can be used to create wonderful effects.

We’ll be looking at 10 different methods of making printed t-shirts :

1. Silk screen printing
2. Hand painting
3. Tie and Dye
4. Stenciling and reverse stenciling
5. Bleaching
6. Airbrushing and spraying
7. Stamping
8. Iron ons
9. Embroidery
10. Online services

1. Silk screen printing
This is by far the most common method of printing t-shirts. Like every other skill, it’s fairly easy to pick up but can take years to master. It’s possible to set up a small tshirt printing workshop in your garage using this method. Depending on the complexity of your projects (detail and number of colors), a one man operation can print anywhere from 20 up to 200 t-shirts a day. The good thing about silk screening your own t-shirts is you can control almost every aspect of the quality of your designs.

This post isn’t intended to be an indepth tutorial on screen printing t-shirts, but I thought it might be a good idea to focus a bit on this method since it is the most common technique of printing t-shirts. So if you’re thinking of starting a silk screen t-shirt business, it’s good to learn the basics of the following skills :

• building your own screen frames or blocks, including how to stretch the silk mesh across the frames with the appropriate tension. Building strong durable screen frames are crucial because you don’t want your screens to fall apart right in the middle of a production run. Not only will that mean messy repairs, but it will also screw up your delivery timing and affect ALL your other shirts because building a new screen will require re-calibration and registration of all your screens to make sure all the separate colors line up correctly. You can skip this part altogether and just buy ready-made silk screen frames. The advantage of getting ready-made screen frames is that the silk is usually applied onto the frame with equal tension all-round by a machine. This is one of the most difficult things to achieve when applying silk onto frames by yourself.

  Some links on how to make your own screen frames :

  How To Make A Silk Screen Frame
  Silk screen kits and supplies

  How To Make Your Own Silk Screen

  Screen preparation

• transferring your design to your silk screen frames. The final quality of your prints will largely depend on this stage so if you really want to go into screen printed tshirts, you’ve got to pay attention to this process. This process requires a fair bit of experimenting with photo emulsion and a light box to get it right, but if once you learn the basic techniques, it’s basically a matter of refining your skill with hands-on practice.

  How to make a hand-drawn positive for exposure onto silk screen
  How to use computer generated art for silk screen exposure

  Screen exposure : Transferring your image to silk screen

• color mixing. Colors can make or break your designs. You need to learn the how different inks and dyes work and how to mix them to create the specific hues that you need. There are lots of different inks and dyes in the market, but to start off, it’s easiest to use a mixture of print paster and ink. Just look at this page to see a wide selection of print pastes and inks. This is a skill that takes lots of time to perfect and requires a good eye for color.
• printing. This is the fun part. You screen print tshirts by forcing ink or dye through your silk screen mesh onto tshirts with a squeegee. It’s best to start with one or two-color designs that can actually be printed manually on a work tabletop, but eventually, you will need to speed up the printing process and that will require investment in printing presses that allow mutiple colored screens to be attached to a “carousel” of clamps.

  Here are a selection of videos to help you learn about screen printing t-shirts :

  Learn how to screen print your own t-shirts

  How to silk screen

• curing your prints. Different types of ink and dyes (eg. dyes that create puffy or rubberized dyes) require different curing processes. This may involve anything from simply air drying to using flash dryers that dramatically speed up the drying process.

  More videos to help you get acquainted with how to dry your ink :

  Screen printing with a hand-held flash dryer

  Screen printing flash dryer

While it’s possible to do everything yourself - from building your screen blocks to creating your own stencils and actual printing - many of these tasks can be outsourced to specialists. Outsourcing may cost a bit more but can dramatically cut down on time and wastage. Many t-shirt printers eventually hire staff to handle the printing processes because they need to devote their time to the creative and administrative aspects of their tshirt business.

2. Hand painting
Hand painting t-shirts are the easiest way to create t-shirts to sell. Your canvas is the t-shirt itself and your tools are your creativity, imagination, hands and paint materials. If you’ve got an artistic streak in you, then hand-painting t-shirts will allow you lots of room to express yourself and share your thoughts throught art that other people can wear! There’s nothing to stop you from using any and every available medium for your hand-painted t-shirts for example :

• T-shirt dyes
• Acryllic paints
• Spray cans
• Enamel paints
• T-shirt crayons
• Permanent colored markers

What you DO want to make sure is that the paint you use remains color fast and will not wash off in the laundry. The worst thing that can happen is your colors start to run and staining all of your customers others clothes. The only way around this is to test-wash your hand-painted t-shirts. You might also want to test-wash your hand-painted t-shirts over a period of time to gauge how long each type of paint will last. This can vary depending on your technique and brand of paint used.

The obvious advantage to hand-painting t-shirts is that each t-shirt will be uniquely different. There WILL be “imperfections” - as is the case with any hand-painted craft - but these imperfections by themselves are proof to buyers that they are getting uniquely created “one-of-a-kind” t-shirts. Another advantage to producing hand-painted items is that you are allowed a wee bit more leeway in how you charge for each t-shirt.

Here are couple of examples of hand-painted t-shirts :

• http://www.mootee.co.uk/
• http://hand-painted-t-shirts.eu/
• http://www.nautiks.com/

Watch a couple of videos on hand painting t-shirts :

Hand painting a t-shirt

Brush painting on a t-shirt

3. Tie and Dye
Tie and Dye are popular with folks who love wearing bright color-patterned t-shirts. There are countless ways to fold a t-shirt which is then tied or bound with string or rubber bands. When dye is applied to the t-shirt, the tied areas restrict the dye from penetrating the fabric’s fibres and the results is a mesmerizing array of colors in wonderful patterns.

The great thing about tie and dye t-shirts is that NO two shirts will ever look alike, so if you’re thinking of “UNIQUE” as a selling point, then this is really it. Your customers will love knowing that their t-shirt is truly a one-and-only creation.

Learning how to tie and dye and be really fun. Practice with lots of old t-shirts because you’ll want to know how different types of fabric react and produce different patterned hues when applied with different concentrations of dye. While tie and dye is usually thought of as a kiddie craft, I assure you that with a bit of creativity, lots of dunking and experimenting and elbow grease, you CAN make money selling bright, beautiful tie and dye t-shirts.

Great looking tie and dye t-shirts
More tie and dye t-shirt examples
The tie and dye process

Ready to start tien’ n dyen’? Then here are a couple more resources and videos :

Learn how to make tie and dye masterpieces
Learn how to tie and dye t-shirts

How to tie-dye t-shirts

Tie dye circle patterns

4. Stenciling and reverse stencil
Stencilling is sort of the poor man’s version of silk screening. Instead of transferring stencils onto silk screens, images or patterns are simplified and cut out on paper. The stencil is then taped onto the t-shirt and paint applied onto the stencil. The stencil will only allow the paint onto the exposed areas - thereby creating your image on the t-shirt. Reverse stencilling is simply the reverse technique where your stencil blocks the main image from being painted.

The biggest advantage to this method is obviously the savings in money. Hand printed stencils produce a slightly rough edged look that many people desire. There are however quite a number of disadvantages to this method. It’s time consuming and the stencils usually cannot be used for more than a dozen prints without some sort of deterioration in quality of the stencil as well as image. However, if you’re thinking of printing one-off custom t-shirts for customers, then this is a very cost effective method.

Creating stencils to paint on t-shirts
Stencil for spray painting - quick and fun
Decorate and personalize t-shirts for kids

The best way to get an idea on how stencilling is done is to watch it :

Stencil your own t-shirt

Reverse Stencil

5. Bleaching

I really love this method of making t-shirts. Bleaching t-shirts is actually the reverse of screen printing. In screen printing, you apply dye onto t-shirts via the opening in silk screen or hand made stencils. To bleach t-shirts, you REMOVE the dye pigment from the t-shirt by applying either a bleach solution or discharge paste to the opening in a stencil. Think about it as controlled staining. If you don’t want to use a stencil, you can paint the bleach paste directly onto your tee, but that’s a wee bit risky. What I love about this method is that it can be used to produce great effects depending on what you use to mask the bleach/paste and how you apply it.

More information and videos about t-shirt bleaching :

Types of discharge paste
T-shirt designs created with stencils and bleach
A great introduction and non-messy way to create bleach t-shirt designs
T-shirt designs with stencils and bleach
Controlled bleaching with discharge paste

Bleach paste t-shirt

Bleach your own punk rock tees

6. Airbrushing and spraying

This t-shirt creation method is an extension of the hand-painting method (#2). Airbrushing and spraying on t-shirts requires a fair degree of skill and experience because mistakes usually mean money down the drain. However, the benefits of airbrushed t-shirts are obvious. Each creation has that hand crafted “masterpiece” look so buyers can proudly proclaim that their tee is a unique one-of-a-kind. Remember again that if you’ve built a reputation and name around your artwork, air-brushed t-shirt masterpieces can sell for a lot of money. Learning the basic of air-brushing is easy. It’s getting the subtle nuances and color blending that can take years to get right. If you’ve been airbrushing for some time, you might want to consider t-shirts as an alternative (and lucrative) way to make money. However, if you’ve never held an airbrush before, fret not. Airbrushing is taught in many art schools as a short course. There are also lots of how-to videos and books that teach you the art of airbrushing. To get you started, here are a couple of links and videos to help spark the airbrush t-shirt artist in you :

Learn how to air brush
Air brushing basics

Air brushing letters on a t-shirt

Airbrushing with stencils

7. Stamping
We’ve all done this in craft class although we never used t-shirts as our canvas. This is the most basic of t-shirt printing techniques. Using any object with a flat surface that can be applied with ink or dye as a stamp - cut veggie, leaves, twigs, string, rubber stamps, your hands and feet etc. - dip them in fabric dye and just stamp out a pattern or design on the t-shirt. Stamping is easy and even your kids can join in to help create “limited edition” designs that you can sell. Obviously the biggest drawback to this technique is that it can easily go wrong and you end up with a messy print job, but if you practice on old rags, you should get the hang of it. You can customize your stamped t-shirts by stamping the buyer’s name on it.

Great videos to learn creative ways to stamp t-shirts :
Making a fireworks t-shirt
Making a slam-dunk design on t-shirt
Thumbprinting on a t-shirt
Friendly face t-shirt

More information and ideas for stamping in the following links :
Fabric stamping tips and techniques
Decorating t-shirts with rubber stamps

8. Iron-ons
One of the easiest ways to create designs for t-shirts if to print them on iron-on transfers and heat transfer them to the t-shirt. The great thing about iron-on designs are that they are relatively easy to produce. If you’re skilled at graphic design, then you already have a big advantage. You don’t need any sewing skills and you don’t have to learn the exacting skills of screen printing. The biggest disadvantage of iron-ons is that they can have a very short life-span if the t-shirts they are on are subject to vigorous wear and wash as opposed to screen printed shirts where the dye penetrates the fabric’s fibers permanently. The other small downside to iron-ons is that you will require special equipment to produce your designs although most of this will be a one-time cost. The consumables (iron-on transfer sheets) can be purchased as and when you need them.

You will need the following :

• Software (to design your t-shirt or other iron-on transfer)
• Printer
• Iron (or heat transfer press)
• Transfer paper (tips, types, sources)

Another advantage of iron-on transfers is that you can concentrate on producing just the designs on iron-on transfer sheets and sell them to your customers. You don’t have to worry about keeping t-shirts in stock and you can send your iron-on transfers by envelope (make sure to use a cardboard backing so the iron-on sheet won’t get crumpled or damaged at the edges). Remember to include detailed instructions on how to transfer the designs on to t-shirts - or you’ll be getting loads of complaints.

Here are some links and videos to learn more about t-shirt iron-on transfers :

Learning to print iron-on transfers for t-shirts
A great series of videos on iron-ons for t-shirts
FREE designs you can use on iron-on transfers

Types of iron-on transfers

How to create iron-on transfer

9. Embroidery

Embroidery isn’t the most cost effective way of creating designs for t-shirts (not your regular comfy cotton t-shirts anyway). You can hand embroider designs on t-shirts by hand but that would be a very time consuming task. These days, embroidery machines are more commonly used to stitch on logos and small designs for corporate identity. Other than t-shirts, embroidery can be used to personalize caps, bags, shoes etc. It’s also possible to embroider iron-on patches that you can either sell as is or transfer to t-shirts. The biggest drawback to embroidery is that you will require an embroidery machine or at the very least a heavy duty sewing machine and this will cost you money. You will then need to familiarize yourself with operating the machine.

The basic art of hand embroidery
How to create embroidered patches
How to tackle t-shirt embroidery

Embroidery sewing machine

Promo for six needle embroidery machine

10. Online services

Thanks to the wonder of modern technology and the Internet, there’s a way to make t-shirts to sell without learning any of the methods above or even touching a t-shirt. Cafepress.com, Zazzle.com and Printfection.com are websites that allow users to upload their own designs to be printed on a wide array of t-shirts. These companies handle the printing, shipping and payment process so people like you and me and concentrate on what we do best - creating really great designs.

You can create a design, upload it and request it to be printed on the t-shirt of your choice for you own consumption, but many people make good money with online stores hosted by these companies. However, lest you think that it’s all just a “plug and play” way to make money, it’s not. They take care of the backend processes and even give you free basic stores to plug your t-shirts and products, but marketing and promoting your store is entirely your responsibility. So even though you can set up a store with literally thousands of designs ready to go within a month, your most critical responsibility is to drive traffic there. Traffic is the key to success with online t-shirt sites.

Like any other business, running your own Cafepress, Zazzle or Printfection t-shirt store is a challenge. You’ve got to be prepared to put in hard work and patience to make money, but many a successful Cafepress store owner will tell you that it’s worth every minute of your life and every ounce of sweat you invest.

Conclusion
So there you have it, a long list of ways you can make t-shirts to sell. Where and how to sell them you ask? That’s a good question that will take another long post to answer. In the meantime, Googling “how to sell t-shirts” should give you about a half-million answers.

I’ve always been passionate about t-shirts so this is right up my alley. I’ve tried all of the methods except for one (embroidery), so I know that you’re going to have loads of fun learning and enjoying the satisfaction of seeing your designs come to life on a t-shirt.

I also have a couple of online t-shirt stores. If you liked this post, I’d like to invite you to visit my latest store and pick up a tee (or two or dozen..)

Happy t-shirt making!

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The real world of working at home is literally a mixed up jungle of unexpected distractions, mismanaged time management, lack of routine and sporadic loss of distinction between your personal and professional identities.

You start off working at home with lots of well thought out plans and good intentions. Pretty soon though, you find that your boss’ constant interruptions are replaced with your kids constant need for attention. The time you once wasted cleaning up other people’s messes in the office are now spent cleaning up after a messy brood. You ask questions like “Should I organize my appointment book or wash the dishes?” and “Do I have time to whip up lunch before that appointment?”

It’s natural that personal and family commitments get mixed up with your professional responsibililties. After all, one of the reasons you opted to work from home was the flexible schedule right? You never thought that working from home could be a possible cause for losing your mind!

But after years of working at home and talking about these experiences with other work at home parents, here are 10 simple ways to help you keep your sanity working from home :

1. Keep Your Space Separate
   You need to make sure that there is a separate, distinct area in your home that you call your “office”. Even if home is a small, cramped apartment, designating your desk and the immediate area around it as “office” can help to put you into “work” mode. We have two offices in my home. My first “office” is my workstation in the family room. It’s prone to lots of family disruptions, but I’ve learnt to work when it’s time to work and play when it’s time to play. My other office is the kitchen, where my wife and I run our home based food delivery business.
2. Plan Your Time
   When your business and personal time overlap, you need to learn to plan your day. Keeping to a routine helps you stay focussed and on track. NOT keeping to a routine opens you up to endless distractions because you don’t have any goals set for the day. Remember that your personal time - even if it is time for not doing anything - is as important as any other appointment. Personally, I’ve come to the point where almost everything from Monday to Friday is planned - from lunch with my kids to lazing with them to time for “spontaneous” horsing around and kiddie foolery. Okay, so even though planning is important, flexibility is still should still factor in your daily plans. A completely rigid schedule sucks the life and joy out of working from home and it can really start to feel like (or worse than) a full-time job.
3. Pass The Buck. Outsource If You Can
   When you start out working from home things get done quickly because YOU call the shots and YOU do everything yourself. But as your business grows, you can’t be expected to do everything. Your time is precious and if you’re going to spend it stuck in a 2 hour traffic jam sending a document across town, you’re not working smart. You’re the boss and it’s time you learnt to outsouce your assignments whenever you can. Sure, keep and eye on your budget, but don’t be a scrooge. Outsourcing can help you stay focussed on “real work”. You can’t be expected to come up with the next great marketing plan if you’re too pooped to think.
4. Get Tech Savvy
   Meeting people can be very rewarding when appropriate but not all meetings have to be in-person. With all the advances in technology, you can save lots of time doing business via telephone, fax and email. You can even have face-to-face teleconferencing using web cams without leaving your desk. Just think about all the time and money you save not having to sit in traffic jams and burning up gas while in your car. There are lots of other ways that technology can save you huge amounts of time and money. All it takes is a little bit of fact-finding to locate the equipment and software that best suits your needs based on your budget.
5. Plan Your Errand Route
   Try to group your errands or meetings on a specific day, within a specific location or along a route. For example, instead of making 3 separate trips, drop off your laundry at a store located along the way to your client’s office and shop for groceries on the way back. You’ve heard it lots of times before because it’s true - plan your route and you’ll save time and money.
6. Say No To Distractions
   It’s not always possible to keep your workspace off limits to your friends and family, but it IS possible to say NO to distractions. I’ve learnt to say NO to my kids when they want me to have a go at Guitar Hero on their Playstation even though I’d really love to, and they’ve learnt that a NO from Dad doesn’t mean NEVER - it just means “not now”. This can be a challenge if you have small children, but with practice, it can be done. My kids have learnt that responsibilities come first, but every now and then, it’s okay to throw the rules out the window now and then. After all, what’s the saying you’d like to work at home so you can spend more time with your family you DON’T?
7. Focus On Your Goals
   When you work at home alone it’s easy to feel lonely and discouraged. Running a home business is never going to be easy-peasy all the time. You ARE going to face lots of challenges. When these challenges pop up, it’s important to stay focussed on what you need to do and just do it. Don’t lose sight of your goals. The good thing about working from home though, is that you get to adjust your goals according to your needs without having to answer to a boss or committee.
8. Go With Your Mood
   What’s the point of working from home, running your own home based business and being your own boss if you work as if you’re at a regular day job? We all have personal work “moods”. Some of us are early birds and some of us are night owls. Some just have to sneak a 30 minute snooze after lunch and they’re pumped up with energy. Me? I like to work late into the night when the kids are asleep and there are no distractions. You yourself know when you work best, so take advantage of your own natural cycles and go with the flow.
9. Suit Yourself.
   Hey, this is YOUR office, YOUR workspace, YOUR business. Paint and decorate your workspace however you like it - unless your workspace is where you also meet clients, in which case, you should find some sort of compromise. If soft classical music is what you dig, then have it playing in the background. You’re going to spend lots and lots of time at your workspace, so make your work environment as comfy and cushy as you like. And there’s nothing wrong with brining your laptop to the park, beach or in your backyard to enjoy a change of scenery while you work.
10. Make Time For People
    Life can be really lonely when you work from home. In fact, one of the first things work-at-homer miss is the comraderie of fellow workers, so it’s always a good thing to schedule meetings with clients, prospects and suppliers. They don’t have to be work related. If you need to, then take a break and have lunch with a friend. It’s important not to lose touch with what’s happening in the world and with people in general.

So there you have it folks, my 10 tips to help increase your productivity when you work at home. It’s not an exhaustive list by any means because we’re all unique and we have our own quirky needs and wants. The good thing about beinig your own boss is you can do what you want, when you want and where you want!

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A successful home or small business is the result of many, many inter-related factors. Since most home or small businesses are run as a one-man operation, the buck obviously stops with you. If you think positively, that’s not such a bad thing because being one-man operation means you’re lean and mean and you can work things out quickly. Here’s 10 tips you to help you build a successfull home or small business :

1. Treat your home business as a REAL business.
   Once all the excitement about launching your home business is over, it’s easy to fall into a rut. It’s easy to be distracted when you work at home. You need to realize that you business - like any other business - has the potential to become extremely profitable, so you must invest your time and talent. Not treating your home business like a REAL business is a sure-fire way to failure.
2. Get the right training.
   A home based business is no different from other businesses. You need specific specialized training in order to be successful because everyone has strengths and weaknesses. You should try to get at least the basic training in whatever you feel you are lacking. If could be a simple matter of taking a short course in bookkeeping, learning to fill out tax forms or learning to use specific computer software. Whatever it is, remember that every skill you learn and put to use to build your home business is never a waste of time.
3. Build relationships
   Relationships are the intangible assets to every business. Whatever niche you happen to be in, relationships forged will ultimately benefit your business and your personal network. If you’re a blogger, building a rapport with fellow bloggers opens up new traffic sources, new audiences and new revenue streams for you. If you’re a storekeeper, building close relationships with your suppliers eventually translates to better credit terms, faster service, more accurate and prompt information. And if you’re a small business owner with staff, forging a closer relationship with your staff will improve their work performance. All in all, relationships are the cornerstones to building a successful business.
4. Don’t re-invent the wheel.
   Very often, you will find yourself creating forms, systems and computer code that you never realized already existed. When you do this, you are wasting valuable time re-inventing the wheel. So before you create a form or system or write that code, do yourself a big favor and search the web for similar free tools. You’d be surprised that there is a free version of whatever it is you need on the web. Start with what’s available, then as you go along you can source for better versions or build your own based on the free version that you already obtained. Doing this will save you loads of time that can better be utilized planning and building your business. You shouldn’t think that you are being a copy cat using a ready-made form, system or code nor should you let your pride get in the way thinking that creating YOUR OWN is better. Duplicating a system is NOT being lazy - it’s about working smart.
5. Be your own best customer
   The best way to sell your product is if you use it regularly. Get to know ALL that’s good and not so good about your product so that you understand when a prospect relates his thoughts or experience with you. When you show that you believe in your own product enough to use it regularly, you instil a feeling of confidence in your prospects and that makes selling so much easier. When you believe in your product, nothing can stand in your way!
6. Get others to talk about your product
   The truth is that facts tell and stories sell. People are more likely to buy a product if they know of someone who’s been using it or had a positive experience with it. They want to hear what other customers think of the product - not facts, figures and charts generated by the marketing department. The simple truth is that if your customers are satisfied with your product, they will naturally recommend it to people they know. If customers are please with your product, they’ll want to use it again so there’s also nothing wrong with offering your customers discounts on future purchases or other privileges in return for a testimonial.
7. Spend time prospecting:
   When business starts to pick up, it’s easy to find yourself getting stuck with the daily nitty gritty of administration and routine, to the extent that you forget one of the most important aspects of marketing your business - prospecting. You need to dedicate a large chunk of your time building future business and that can only happen if you just stop thinking about it and start doing it.
8. Follow up
   Not surprisingly, one of the most common reasons people lose a sale is because they failed to follow up on their prospects. And more often than not, they don’t follow up because of a fear of rejection. Remember tip #3 - Build Relationships? Building a relationship also means that you listen to any doubts and criticisms they may have about your product or even your sales pitch. You need to remember that even though a prospect may not be a customer immediately, consistent follow-ups will help to build a trusting relationship. Circumstances change, things happen and you never know when a prospect who kept giving you reasons and excuses could suddenly be your biggest customer simply because you consistently followed up.
9. Ask for the order.
   Remember the saying “Ask and you shall receive”? Well, many sales people spend a great deal of time getting their prospects interested and ready to sign on the dotted line and then miss out by not asking for the sale. Their prospects then end up asking to have some time to think and that’s when they start to cool off - negating all the hard work put in by the sales person. Don’t be afraid to ask for the order.
10. Reinvesting into their business.
    To grow your business, you it’s crucial to pump funds into it. You need to re-invest a part of your profits into youself, building skills, improving your marketing and promotions and better equipment. These are the things that will help your business become more efficient to make more money.

Like I said in the beginning, a business’ success depends on a huge number of factors, but these are 10 that will help you a long way.

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