Getting Your Home-Based Business off the Ground - 7 Simple Steps to Freedom

Getting Your Home-Based Business off the Ground - 7 Simple Steps to Freedom
So, you've been thinking about getting out of the corporate
rat race for years, and starting your own home-based
business. But your old friend FEAR keeps reminding you
about how good you have it - paid vacation, benefits, a
good steady paycheck... Still it's hard to leave your kids
every morning and let someone else shape their lives for
10-12 hours a day. It's hard to give up the dream of being
in control of all of your time.

Are you ready to pay the price for the freedom of owning
your own business? Are you ready to create a business that
feeds your spirit - not just your bank account? If so, how
do you get ready mentally and emotionally to take that leap
of faith? Leaving the past behind and focusing on these 7
steps will help you kick into high gear and launch your new
business.

1. As a new business owner, one of the first things I did
was hire a business coach who could support me mentally and
give me a kick in the pants when it was needed. Since I
was new to the construction industry, my coach gave me
ideas about how to market my business. I couldn't tell you
how to frame a window or put in a faucet, but today I know
how to market our business and get the telephone to ring.

2. The second thing I did was attend a class called
Calaveras Entrepreneurs. This class took me through all
the steps to write a business plan. I don't know about
you, but before I became a business owner writing a
business plan rated right up there with going to the
dentist. But a funny thing happened as I was going through
the process. I could see what we needed to do to make the
business work, and how we could get out of the debt we were
incurring as a new business start-up. That alone was worth
the time and effort it took to go through the process - not
to mention my peace of mind.

3. After I got my mental state on the right track, and I
had a plan developed, I began working on my internal belief
and motivation. Since I worked for AT&T for 24 years, I
was deep into the corporate mindset and sorely missed that
regular paycheck. It was critical that I develop the
belief that I could survive outside my old mode of
operation.

Building belief is a matter of getting your mind to accept
that you can (1) survive, and (2) thrive in a new
home-based business that you've created. In other words,
it's an inside job.

I'm a spiritual person, so that's the first place I turned
to work on building belief. I believe that we're all put
here to lead a wonderful life, but sometimes we get in our
own way. If you've been exposed to the movie The Secret
you understand the principles I utilized. For you,
building belief may come from studying how other successful
people have reached their goals, or surrounding yourself
with people who have already done what you're trying to do,
and emulating their steps to success.

4. Action, action, action... We worked the hours and did
what our coach told us to do to the best of our ability -
no excuses. We sat many a night stuffing envelopes with
our marketing information to reach potential customers -
and it worked. The more effort we put into reaching out
and finding customers and joint venture partners, the more
rewards we reaped. The bottom line here is the Universe
has to know you're serious. If you get all this
information, then sit back and expect a yellow page ad to
bring you all the business you want, you're fooling
yourself, but not the Universe, which has the power to
bring you all the business you want. So get busy and take
action!

5. Since my husband and I were new to the community, we
made sure we attended the local business and Chamber of
Commerce functions. We networked with other business
owners and with our suppliers. Visibility is another
critical component of a new business start-up, whether it
is a face-to-face or online presence. People need to know
you exist and what you have to offer.

6. No matter how discouraged I got during this process, I
kept doing what I had to do to keep our business "healthy".
In those days to me healthy meant that we maintained our
good credit rating and our good standing in the business
community. I had many "dark nights of the soul" when I had
to borrow money to pay our bills. I struggled with the
feeling that we were going one step forward, and two steps
back, but I did what I had to do anyway. I just kept
taking the action steps that moved us forward.

7. Be grateful for all of your successes, and you will be
paving the way for even more to appear. If I had moaned
and groaned and complained about our business not looking
like I thought it should, there would have been no room
left in my mind for the wonderful ideas that came my way.
I had to stay open to the possibility that even though I
couldn't see the progress at the time, it was percolating
beneath the surface of my awareness. With an open mind
ideas came that helped us stay on track to creating the
million dollar business we have today.

If you've chosen the right business, it will be more than a
road to making money. It will express who you are and what
you value. In reality you are not your career or your
business. You're a unique and valuable person with much to
offer the world. Ideally your business will be a way for
you to express this value and uniqueness in the world. In
my case, I was pursuing a business that expressed my
husband's unique gifts, not necessarily my own. At that
point in our lives, it was necessary for both of us to
focus on this business to pay the bills. My dream business
came later...

Most of all, remember when you're experiencing the growing
pains of building your business, in the end people won't
remember what you do for them as much as they'll remember
how you were with them.

----------------------------------------------------
Sandy Reed, Personal Coach, ex-corporate manager, and small
business owner is the Soulpreneur's Coach. Call her when
you're ready to create and follow through with your
corporate exit strategy. Visit her website at
http://www.soulpreneursuccessstrategies.com for tools and
resources.

Work from Home Business Success: Keep Your Balance

Work from Home Business Success: Keep Your Balance
When they say youth is wasted on the young, here's what
that means: too often we don't figure out what's important
in life until it's too late.

This is the stuff of Greek tragedy, song lyrics and more
than a few Woody Allen movies. We pursue the fruits of
life but we forget to savor the sweetness, we forget to
swallow and be nourished, we're too busy frantically racing
to fill our coffers until one day we realize our taste buds
have wasted and the fruit has gone sour.

Such cheesy metaphors abound, but the simple truth is
eternal: it's not all about the bucks. Work from home
business success and happiness is more about the process.
It's about who you become during the journey, and what you
experience along the way.

Here's a slightly dark acid-test question: if you died
tomorrow, who would attend your funeral? What would they
feel, and what would be written on your tombstone? "Here
lies another work from home business success story, too bad
he didn't get to take that cruise he'd always dreamed
about."

He who dies with the most toys does not win, nor does she
who leaves the best looking corpse. No, the winner is the
person who banks the most cherished memories and dampens
the most hankies at their wake.

Instead of counting dollars, try counting minutes. Unlike
money, they cannot be earned back once lost. But like
dollars, there is a return on minutes invested wisely -
time spent helping others, time spent enjoying the company
of those you love, time spent inhaling the sweet aroma of
the roses, or if it suits you, the fumes of your boat on
the lake, whatever it is that turns your crank. And yes,
time spent working productively.

When you bank enough of these returns, you have hedged your
life's bet, nothing can defeat you. Use your work to forge
your character and build the foundation for future life
experiences, rather than position it as your life's purpose.

Your goal is to achieve work from home business success and
wealth, but what does that really mean? If you are sick,
wealth is feeling good again. If you are lonely, wealth is
someone with whom you can spend quality time. If you are
unfulfilled - as many rich folks are - wealth is sharing
and spreading the fruits of your efforts.

Sometimes this type of net worth - the emotional,
experiential kind - is as much about taking out the trash
as it is adding to the emotional bank account. Kindness,
forgiveness and proactive love are the vehicles for this
journey, not your next sale or your after-tax net.

Consider the last day of your life -- what would you do
with it? If you said, "I'd work," go back to the beginning
and read this again. Once you know, and once the answer
has nothing at all to do with work, then consider the next
day of your life and apply the same answer.

Work hard, certainly. Work smart, absolutely. But put
your work into its proper, balanced perspective - work is a
means to an end, and if one thing in life is certain, it is
that the end is coming.

Make a list of emotional and relational issues unresolved
in your life. Call an old friend. Commit a random act of
kindness. Forgive someone. Pay an unexpected visit.
Close your eyes and listen to the lyrics. Take a walk in
the morning rain. Savor the taste of each moment. Step
into fear, and then take away its power over you going
forward. Be present. And be thankful, because today
probably isn't the day you'll have to close your account,
there's still time to add to the balance.

It isn't about jumping up and down on a couch and
professing your love, nor is it running wildly through the
aisles at the grocery store passing out dollar bills. No,
this journey unfolds within you. Embrace it; create the
proper balance between what you value about your work and
what you value about your life.

Attaining work from home business success is important, but
it is only part of the journey. Care for the other parts
with equal diligence, because if you do, and when your day
finally arrives, you'll go out a winner.

----------------------------------------------------
Chris Curwen has recently teamed with the direct marketing
giant, Jay Kubassek, who together are seeking ambitious and
willing entrepreneurs of any age or past experience, to
join them on their mission to create real prosperity and
true financial freedom - AT LEAST 100 millionaires over the
next 3-5 years. What if YOU could be one of them?
Go to: http://www.FreedomThroughAction.com for more details
on this unique online business opportunity.

A new approach to coaching

A new approach to coaching
Potential

What is your view of human potential, especially at work?
If we think about McGregor's X and Y theory you might
consider yourself to be a Theory X person. That is, that
people dislike work and will avoid it wherever possible,
and are motivated only by money or fear. Alternatively, you
might subscribe to Theory Y which suggests that people work
for a range of psychological as well as economic reasons,
and are motivated by achievement, responsibility and so on.

It is important to recognise that neither of these views
can be proven as right or wrong, they are simply beliefs
about human nature based on experience. Our starting point
as coaches therefore needs to be which of these views is
more useful? Probably Theory Y. It seems to me that a coach
is likely to be more helpful if his or her starting point
is to believe that the coachee starts with the potential to
achieve his or her aims. It is then the job of the coach is
to play a part in realising that potential.

Interference

Traditional training and development has proven to be
reasonably successful at taking potential and adding to it.
Usually this is a question of imbuing the performer with
new knowledge or skills. But coaching is more often
required when the performance issue is not a lack of
knowledge or skill but rather an unwillingness or inability
to effectively deploy them. In these circumstances we need
to turn our sights to removing the things that get in the
way of our performers accessing their potential.

There might be a range of what we might call external
sources of interference, e.g.

Lack of opportunity Ideas not accepted Blame culture
Restrictive policies and procedures

Equally, there might be a number of internal sources of
interference, e.g.

Fear of failure Low confidence Low self belief Previous
negative experience Negative expectations Negative self talk

Where organisational coaches have the ability to remove
external barriers they must do so without hesitation.
However, most coaches have far more scope to work on
internal barriers which, in any event, are likely to be far
more important to address.

P.L.E

With the things that interfere with my potential reduced, I
am likely to access far more of my potential and
consequently produce high performance, but how can coaches
ensure this is sustained?

Motivation theory suggests that high performance is a
strong internal driver for most people so shouldn't it be
enough to ask them to simply continue performing well?
Unfortunately not. They will get bored and produce new
sources of internal interference such as fatigue and lack
of concentration.

Motivation theory also suggests that there are a further
two strong internal drivers, namely learning and enjoyment.
It is clear that if I'm performing well at a task, learning
more about it or myself as I undertake it and enjoying the
whole experience then I am more likely to sustain my high
levels of performance.

Coaches need to help the people they coach find the
Performance, Learning and Enjoyment (PLE) factors in their
work, e.g.

Performance

Achieving success Doing the job well Pride Sense of self
worth

Learning

Satisfying curiosity Improving Gaining insights Developing
new skills

Enjoyment

Sense of challenge Team work Fun Social belonging

A.R.T

How then do coaches remove interference and add in learning
and enjoyment? They promote Awareness, Responsibility and
Trust (ART)

In raising awareness we are seeking to create high quality
focus and attention on the matter at hand. As I become more
aware of a situation and my feelings for it, I produce more
ideas about changes and improvements that I might make.
This helps me identify sources of interference as well as
being an enjoyable and insightful process.

Coaches also help the people they coach to recognise that
they are not victims of circumstance but in fact have a
large degree of choice in how they handle situations. In
other words, they are responsible. However before people
move forward they must:

Believe they can Value the outcome Be willing to try

All of which requires interference to be absent and the
internal motivators of performance, learning and enjoyment
to be present.

Coaches also build trust. They encourage their coachees to

Trust themselves and strengthen self-belief Trust the coach
in order to be more honest and thus further raise awareness
Trust the coaching process

Coaching

Coaching is the process of raising awareness, generating
responsibility and building trust. The skills are asking
incisive questions and listening to the response.

Questions need to be asked around a structured framework,
such as the Coaching ARROW described in my book, Coaching
at Work.

----------------------------------------------------
Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com

How I made a fortune using a simple-to-implement client spreadsheet

How I made a fortune using a simple-to-implement client spreadsheet
Trust is very hard to come by in the global business world.
If you have established a bond of trust with past clients,
make the most of the effort you have put into building that
trust. Let your clients hear from you often. If they don't
hear from you, they'll be hearing from your competition.
And your competitors will be more than happy to harvest
your low hanging fruit.

Visualize Low Hanging Fruit on a tree for a moment. The Low
Hanging Fruit is riper, and because of that, easier to
pick. Here is an example: In Michigan, we like to go apple
picking in the Fall season. Dozens of families flock to
their cider mill to get warm cinnamon donuts (now I'm
hungry), cold apple cider, and ripe apples. With our
baskets in hand, we naturally go after the low hanging ripe
apples, because they are ready to be picked. And think of
your warm prospects, those that have already expressed an
interest in working with you, as a ripe apple. Ready for
the picking.

Yet, many of us focus a lot of our time and energy on the
harder-to-reach apples or prospects. We spend a lot of time
working on far-fetched clients, friends, or family members
that are not ideal. What we really could be spending our
time on is developing high-trust, low-tension
relationships, and closing the deal with people who've
already said they'd like to work with us but haven't been
turned into clients yet.

Starting today, you're going to change that by putting more
focus on Low Hanging Fruit, while you continue to make your
business more client attractive. From now on you will have
a Low Hanging Fruit chart above your desk at all times, in
a place where you can refer to it several times a day. You
can create it in MS Excel or write a list by hand. Either
way it should have several columns. 1. Name 2. Business
Name 3. Phone Number 4. Time Zone (for your global clients)
5. Email Address 6. Language Spoken (you'll need this
column for your ethnic clients) 7. Referral Source 8.
Client's Particular Concern 9. When to Contact Them Next

If you have a Palm Pilot or a day-planner, then put this
list in there as well. Go through your mental Rolodex,
day-planner, Palm Pilot, cocktail napkins and sticky notes
to see who has expressed interest in working with you over
the last 6 months to a year, but hasn't been converted into
a client or patient yet. You'll want to list all of these
prospects on this sheet. This can also include those who
you met with for an initial consultation but who never
signed up, for whatever reason.

This will be one of your more important documents you'll
use for getting clients, and you should plan on using it
until you can afford CRM (Customer Relationship
Management)software. This method of keeping track of people
who are closest to becoming clients (and then taking action
to follow up with them regularly, using different methods)
is somewhat deceptive because it's so simple.

The bottom line is that when my clients use this SIMPLE low
cost list, they report that they convert more prospects
into paying clients. When they stop using this list,
prospective clients slip through their fingers. Hint Hint.

----------------------------------------------------
Kim Schott, created the Keys to Client Communication System
to help struggling self-employed professionals master
Client Attraction Marketing while increasing their revenue,
and taking more time off. Signup for our FREE eZine ($107
value) by visiting

http://www.SchottCulturalConsulting.com

5 Keys to the Right Mindset for Success as a Business Owner

5 Keys to the Right Mindset for Success as a Business Owner
If you're aiming to build a successful business, there is
one thing that will determine whether you achieve it.

It's not about how good your product or service is.

It's not even about how good your marketing is.

The real key to getting the success that you want is
developing the right business mindset.

The problem is that many of us who set up businesses do so
after successful careers as employees, managers or
directors working for someone else.

But the reality is that you need to think and act
differently as an entrepreneur or independent professional
than you do to build a high-flying career in other
organizations.

And that's a big reason why many people don't achieve the
success with their own businesses that they had in their
earlier career.

So taking the right steps from the start can make success
much easier and more comfortable.

It doesn't mean that you have to change your personality
and it's not about whether you are a 'born salesman'.

You just need to take a slightly different approach to how
you think, work and communicate with others.

Here are 5 important steps:

1. Set a Clear Outcome

If you go on a journey, the first thing you need to know is
where you are headed. Yet most businesses don't have a
clear idea of where they're going, so it's not surprising
that so many fail.

Without clarity you lack direction; it becomes hard to make
decisions, and your results end up being average at best.

On the other hand, clear objectives provide some certainty
as a basis for good future decisions.

So setting a clear vision can be worth a fortune to your
business.

2. Take Action

While it's important to aim high in setting your vision,
it's best to start with small steps. Too many people fail
to get anywhere with their plans for growing their business
because they fail to take the crucial first step.

Many people fall victim to those profit thieves
procrastination, where you put off things you need to do,
and perfectionism, where you wait until it's 100% right
before taking action.

The problem is it will never be 100% right and nobody else
will do it if you don't take action.

3. Encourage and Respond to Feedback

Thomas Edison regarded every one of his thousands of
'failed' attempts to make the light bulb viable as being
successful - because each one helped him move closer to his
goal in some way.

It's the same in business. Without taking that first step,
you will never get the feedback you need in order to be
successful.

4. Stay Focused on Your Goal

As you start moving towards your goal, things will happen
that might tempt you to drift off course and keep you from
achieving your objective.

Psychological studies suggest that your mind works on
bringing into reality whatever you are focused on. That's
why it's important to get clear about exactly what you are
aiming for. But you need to stay focused on what you want,
rather than worrying about what you don't want.

5. Take Responsibility for Your Results

Whenever you set out to do something, you will always end
up with either the result you wanted or an excuse for why
you haven't got it.

People who come up with reasons or excuses for something
not happening usually see themselves as not having any
control over the outcome. Successful people on the other
hand accept responsibility for whatever situation they are
in and seek to change it.

Whether you choose to be one of the people who gets results
or one who has many excuses for not getting them, you will
always get what you want.

Of course, the product also has to be right and the
marketing needs to be effective. But, when you are seeking
success as an entrepreneur, the right mindset gives you a
great start.

----------------------------------------------------
Robert Greenshields is a marketing success coach who helps
entrepreneurs and independent professionals to develop the
right mindset and marketing strategies for higher profits.
Sign up for his 7 free secrets of making your marketing
more effective at http://www.PersuasiveMarketingPower.com

1 Sure-Fire Way to Get Networking Results

1 Sure-Fire Way to Get Networking Results
I remember being introduced to the concept of "business
networking" when I started my first business. I thought, I
will NEVER be able to do this. I remember getting ready to
go to my first networking event and whining to my husband
(then boyfriend), "I was miserable at this kind of thing
when I was dating! How could this ever help my business?"

And then I realized about networking what I've come to know
about so many aspects of building business ...

It was ME that needed to change.

So here is 1 Sure-Fire INNER and OUTER Tip for you to begin
to use right away so that you get the most from the time,
money and energy you invest in networking:

Shift your energy away form "getting" to "giving."

What I didn't like about dating events was that I felt on
display and like I had to prove something so that I could
try to get someone to like me. It was this same energy that
I was NOT looking forward to encountering in business
networking. Standing in a restaurant somewhere with a stiff
smile on my face pretending that I cared what some
insurance guy (not that insurance isn't important) was
saying to me?!

Yuck!

Or worse going to an event and exchanging business cards as
quickly as possible without making any real connections and
then trying to follow-up with these people and "get them"
to buy my service?! No way!

And then for one event I thought to myself, what would
happen when I spoke about my business if I really spoke
from my heart (rather than worrying about saying the "right
thing") and I just CHOSE to see the light in each person I
met and to really dig deep to see what I could GIVE to each
person - - something of real value, something that would
make a difference to them, to their business, to their
life. Wahla!

Everything changed.

First, I no longer felt dread and exhaustion.

Second, I started meeting some REALLY great people. (Some
folks that I am still in touch with to this day.)

Third, business started to pick up... and often NOT from
the direct person that I gave to (that's another little
secret I just gave you).

One of my favorite memories is from a guest who visited my
very first BNI (Business Networking International) group.
It turned out that she was a representative for the Trading
Association on Wall Street in New York City. She sent out
the information about my business (my first business was as
a Nutrition and Wellness Coach) to EVERY trader in the
association. (Just FYI: most traders have terrible diets.)
I filled half of my practice from that connection. And that
was in my first 6 months of business.

And that's just my FAVORITE story like that. There are tons
more.

But I truly believe the energy is the foundation to ALL of
it. If I had been closed off, angry, resentful, annoyed
about being at that meeting (i.e. What's the point? These
things don't work anyway?) I have a hard time believing
that connection would have happened.

So get clear about what your intention is before any type
of networking opportunity. (And what you can authentically
GIVE, not just get.)

Call To Action:
1 Look at your calendar for the next 6 months.
2 Plug in at least two networking possibilities for each
month.
3 Be prepared to GIVE something of value to each person you
connect with.
4 What do you need to do feel JOY about these
events/meetings? Let yourself begin to get creative and
think out of the box ... what could you do to jazz and
juice-up networking for yourself?

----------------------------------------------------
Heather Dominick, EnergyRICH® Entrepreneur Success
Coach, coaches entrepreneurs to identify inner and outer
sources for attracting clients and increasing business
profit. http://www.energyrichcoach.com
Need a resource on how to move through the fear you have
about networking? Then get a copy of the How to Move
Through Fear For More Money Audio and Action-Book. I hold
your hand the whole way. http://www.MoveFear4Money.com .

How much and why so expensive? - the cost of market research

How much and why so expensive? - the cost of market research
Nowadays, information is regarded as invaluable. Any
company needs internal information (generated by individual
departments) and external information (generated by the
widely understood company's environment), in order to work
out an effective marketing strategy. Basic areas, about
which companies would like to be informed, usually include:
market, customers, products and remaining marketing
activities judged by company's customers and competitors.

Do it yourself or outsource?

While most companies gather and process internal
information independently, they usually have considerable
difficulties with gathering and processing external
information. Research based on external sources may be
conducted independently by marketing department. It may be
also outsourced, i.e. to a specialized research agency.
Basic challenges of independently conducted environment
research are e.g. whether the employed staff has suitable
competence, technical and financial capabilities to conduct
the research (i.e. to establish or hire a group of
pollsters, to rent a place for focus interviews). In case
of outsourcing, the main problem is the cost.

How much and why so expensive?

This question ideally summarizes the attitude of managers
towards the offers of research agencies. It is believed
that market research is outrageously expensive, and no
matter how much one would spend on it, the money will be
used entirely. Most complaints are made about costs,
completion time (constantly extended deadlines), manner of
preparing reports (incomprehensible language, charts
without comments), never ending preliminary arrangements.

Obviously, it doesn't always have to be so. There are
agencies which carry out their responsibilities diligently,
keep to deadlines and are still relatively inexpensive.

Cost of research for the employer

What is the cost of market research from the perspective of
an employer, namely, a customer of a research agency?
Several cost components may be singled out: time - wasted
on contacts with the agency, saved thanks to good
communication with the agency; knowledge - needed to asses
the research report, indispensable to decode the numbers
without comments; the so-called psychological costs or
loosing one's temper in contacts with agency
representatives and superiors, saved thanks to easy and
fast exchange of information with the agency; as well as
the price fixed by the agency.

The most important component is the price. Although
managers claim that they take into consideration many
different components while choosing research agencies, the
most essential and important one for them is the price and
the issue of how quickly the research will be conducted.
Many managers dream about finding a research agency that
will solve their problem within 24 hours and for free.

The principle of price fixing

According to research agencies, it is not easy to fix a
price for individual research. It is relatively simpler to
do this for highly standardized research like e.g. omnibus
research. Difficulties appear with tailor-made research.

David Ogilvy stated once that price fixing is a guessing
game. To some extent, it can be expressed in this way. An
example of the practical application of guessing in price
fixing may be price fixing for a bid in a tender. It is a
kind of game between the participants of the tender and the
customer. Apart from fixing the minimum price, at which the
cost of the research will pay for itself, every member has
to guess the financial capacity of the employer (what funds
does the employer possess and how much he can spend on
research), and the financial capabilities of competitors
(what price they will offer and how much they can reduce
the price).

The theory gives three principles of price fixing:

* Cost
* Demand
* Competition

Those three principles are used simultaneously in market
research.

Every agency wants to conduct research at higher prices
than the cost of research. Whereas the cost may depend
among others on the type of research (qualitative research
is cheaper than the quantitative type), methods of
gathering and processing information (those done on the
phone are cheaper than direct interviews), sample size and
availability (smaller samples are cheaper, not easily
accessible respondents more expensive), number of people
engaged in conducting the research and their level of
competence. In some cases, companies agree on a specific
dumping technique and pay extra money for the research. It
is possible if the customer is prospective and e.g.
announces a tender for one commission, but more commissions
may be expected in the future.

Research agencies take into consideration a customer's
financial capacity when they are establishing a price. But
one should not expect exactly the same research to be
conducted for a big industrial tycoon and for a small shoe
producer. The latter will not get a considerable discount
just because of the smaller scope of activity. The research
will be completely different, methodologically adjusted to
the needs and opportunities of the employers.

The research agencies market is driven by keen competition.
Therefore, it is important to watch how prices are fixed by
competitors. Only few decide to publish their price lists.
Among 39 research agencies, which names are present in the
"Media and Advertising Almanac" („Almanach
mediów i reklamy") and those with their own websites,
only three decided to provide their price lists based on
research and only one offers the possibility to order such
a price list.

The matter of price lists

Why don't most agencies give prices for their services?
Because it would indicate standardization of research
techniques and would be in contradiction with what most
agencies emphasize, that is research is tailor-made to the
needs and opportunities of a customer. A lack of price
lists contributes to the price being regarded as a tactical
element, which gives quite a lot of leeway and enables
flexibility of the market.

Besides, even the official price lists are sometimes a
myth. Actual prices are negotiated individually and are
lower than those presented in the price lists.
Nevertheless, one should not expect discounts like those
which are announced in advertisements (40%), but it is
possible to lower the initial price by 5-8%.

What to do to make it cheaper?

A company planning to conduct a market research, and at the
same time, lower the cost considerably, has several
possibilities. First of all, if the company intends to
conduct quantitative research, it may reduce the sample or
give up quantitative research in favour of qualitative
research. Secondly, the company may employ a small research
agency, research science institute or higher education
institution. Thirdly, the company may try to conduct the
research through its own marketing department.

How to compare offers?

Market research offers made by specific agencies may be
compared to one another just as one may compare a Fiat to a
Mercedes. They have only one common feature - both are
cars. Apart from that, only differences are left. Just as
not everyone has to drive a Mercedes, not every company has
to use the services of the ten greatest research agencies
in Poland. Everything depends on the needs and financial
capacity.

What should be considered in choosing the most suitable
offer?

* Is a report included in the price of the basic research
or is it to be paid for additionally?;
* Is a report going to include guidelines for the company
or present the results only?;
* Is a report going to contain raw data in form enabling
independent processing?;
* Is a graphic representation of results (drawings and
graphs) included in the basic price?;
* Are additional calculations, alterations (e.g. during
three months since handing in the report) included in the
basic price?;
* Is supplementary remuneration for the respondents
included in the research cost?

Comparisons of prices

Agencies avoid comparing their offers and especially
prices. Therefore, there is practically no research
presenting average prices of individual services. Most of
them concern market research expenses, agencies' income,
the number of conducted interviews, but not prices.

Market research does not have to be very expensive. It is
high time to acknowledge that not only representative
research (the most expensive one) has sense. The company
has access to a number of methods with different prices.
Every method has both advantages and disadvantages and it
is the company itself that should, with possible help of a
research agency, judge benefits and cost of the chosen
method. One should bear in mind the basic rule, namely,
that research is conducted in order to lower the risk of a
wrong decision and not to confirm the rightness of the
activities that have already been taken up.

----------------------------------------------------
This article was translated by mLingua Worldwide
Translations, Ltd. mLingua provides professional language
translations in all major Western and Asian languages,
software localization and web site translation services.
Please visit http://mlingua.pl

Make Your Business Indescribably Successful in 2008!

Make Your Business Indescribably Successful in 2008!
Here we are smack dab at the beginning of a brand new year.
I love new beginnings because they hold so many glorious
possibilities for great things to happen in my life.

Last year I found myself wading through the river of days
with my head barely above water, struggling to figure out
where my business was taking me. This year will be
different. This year I already have a good aerial view of
the plans I want to bring to fruition. But then again, who
knows what surprises I will find along the way in 2008...

As a small business owner and a coach to other business
owners, part of my intention is to let go of my plans and
goals just enough to see the surprises that come along and
preempt my carefully laid intentions. These are surprises
that can cause my plans to turn out better than I ever
could have imagined. In other words, one of my goals for
2008 is to get out of my own way and listen more closely to
my intuitive nudges.

I am also a dreamer and planner, and I love to write To Do
lists. I enjoy checking off items as I go through each
day. I have to admit, however, I get distracted and some
of my To Do's don't get done. Interestingly enough, it
doesn't seem to matter. Time has a way of changing our
perceived priorities, mostly for the better.

If you are like me, with lots of goals and intentions on
your agenda for this New Year, you may find it all too easy
to start out excited and end up on an entirely different
path than you anticipated. Instead of getting discouraged
and beating yourself up for not sticking to your well
intended goals, I invite you to look from a higher
perspective.

This just might be the year for you to release your
preconceived idea of what you should be doing, and instead
let your life become one of looking for surprises. These
surprises may come from expected and unexpected sources.
All you have to do is trust those gut feelings you have
every day, and follow where they lead. You know - the ones
that tell you to do exactly the opposite of what you had
planned...

For those of you who can't resist planning, I'll give you
five questions to ponder as you begin this baby new year.

1. What is the thing you are most excited about
accomplishing this year?

2. Who must you be, what kind of person must you become, in
order to be or do what you most want to accomplish?

3. What must you release that will allow you to be or do #1?

4. What must you allow into your life to be or do #1?

5. What help or support do you need?

Taking the time to answer these five thought provoking
questions will tickle your mind and challenge you to get
clear on what you really want 2008 to look like. But the
answers don't have to be all inclusive - rather let the
answers be a fuzzy beginning, a way for you to point
yourself in a general direction that is always open to
bigger and better surprises.

When you're writing your Master To Do list for 2008, don't
forget to add - look for the fabulous surprises that come
from being open to listening to and taking action on your
intuitive nudges, even though they may prompt you to move
in a surprising direction. This intuition is always
available to you whether you are traveling, in a client
meeting, or treating yourself to some quiet sanity time.
All you have to do is take a few moments to stop, listen,
and take inspired action based on the guidance you receive.

Setting your business and personal goals and planning out
the New Year always sounds good in the beginning. But this
year, why not fasten your seatbelt and choose to experience
the indescribably powerful things that can happen to your
life and your business when you're open to acting on
unexpected surprises.

----------------------------------------------------
Sandy Reed, Personal Coach, ex-corporate manager, and small
business owner is the Soulpreneur's Coach. Call her when
you're ready to create and follow through with your
corporate exit strategy. Visit her website at
http://www.soulpreneursuccessstrategies.com for tools and
resources.

Work from Home Business Success: The Universal Law of Network Marketing and of Life

Work from Home Business Success: The Universal Law of Network Marketing and of Life
Funny thing about cliches: they're not really cliches at
all when they're true. Most rhetoric that survives the test
of time actually earns "cliche" status by virtue of its
inherent wisdom.

There is no greater example of this than the old saying,
"you reap what you sow," or even, "you get what you give."
And for those who desire work from home business success,
what some might consider a well-worn cliche is actually an
infallible key to success and happiness.

The reason this particular gem of truth transcends cliche
is that it is based on nothing short of universal law. All
of life is based on this law: there is a time of seeding,
and a time of harvest. Without seeding there can be no
life, no fruit, and no harvest.

This is just as true in business as it is in nature:
without investment there is no return - even a lottery
winner must by a ticket first.

This law is so basic that we easily take it for granted,
and when we do it is to our detriment. Because if you
harness the power of this universal law, both in your
personal life and in your business, good things invariably
happen. And if you don't - well, here's another time-tested
cliche: "don't mess with Mother Nature." Because when you
break this particular law, the consequences are just as
inevitable, and you don't want to go there.

One has only to look at the world around them to see this
law in full glory. Successful, happy people are rarely the
product of negative thinking; they didn't get there by
abusing others and cutting corners. Happy, seed-sowing
adults have happy, generally-successful children;
unfortunately, the reverse is just as true.

Well-seeded businesses thrive, poorly-planned and
under-funded enterprises don't. Where this breaks down is
when we sow the wrong seeds without realizing the potential
consequences.

Parents who model the wrong behavior - dishonesty,
excessive drinking, laziness, a general attitude of
disrespect and cynicism - should not be surprised when
their children turn out the same way.

Entrepreneurs who don't put in the time, even those who
work hard but not smart, should not be surprised when their
results fall short of their goals. All of this is simply
the manifestation of a universal law: you really do reap
what you sow.

The first wake-call here is to evaluate the seeds you have
been sowing so far, not just in business, but as a person,
a parent, and a citizen of the planet. Are you in alignment
with the natural law of consequences, or are the seeds you
are sowing not in alignment with what you hope will be your
harvest?

And what, precisely, are those seeds? Well, they are our
words, our actions, our values, our integrity, our talents
and our gifts. They include kindness, forgiveness,
gentleness, initiative, courage, attentiveness. When we sow
the wrong seeds, or simply fail to sow enough of the best
seeds we have in us, we are setting the wheels of the
universal machine into motion, and what we will reap, the
outcome of our planting, is irretrievably inevitable.

From this realization - we really do have the power to
shape the future by the seeds we plant - comes empowerment.
As a work from home business entrepreneur looking to build
a successful downline, your call to action involves more
than good products and training; the seeds of work from
home business success involve so much more than those
basics.

Work from home business success requires the best you have
to offer, the mentoring and emotional support that begets
greatness in others, the sense of teamwork and motivation
that propels others toward high achievement.

Take a look at the seeds you are planting, both in your
personal life and in your business, and make whatever
shifts are necessary to ensure that what you are planting
will result in the harvest you desire.

Your talent, your gifts, delivered with caring, patience,
kindness, hope and diligence, are the seeds of a bumper
crop of success and happiness for everyone in your life.

Begin planting those seeds today, water them with love, and
soon you will behold the spectacular fruits of your efforts.

----------------------------------------------------
Chris Curwen has recently teamed with the direct marketing
giant, Jay Kubassek, who together are seeking ambitious and
willing entrepreneurs of any age or past experience, to
join them on their mission to create real prosperity and
true financial freedom - AT LEAST 100 millionaires over the
next 3-5 years. What if YOU could be one of them?
Go to: http://www.FreedomThroughAction.com for more details
on this unique online business opportunity.

Want to Succeed at Work? Hire a Business Coach!

Want to Succeed at Work? Hire a Business Coach!
Have you wondered why you meet a 'coach' nearly everywhere
you go these days? What is it about this profession that
attracts so many people, both as practitioners and as
clients?

Studies in neuroscience shed light on this
phenomenon—it's all in the way we think. Simply put
for this article, we have two working functions in our
brain; 'hardwire' which connects existing patterns, and
'working memory' which analyzes new data.

In everyday life, it is easy for us to stay with what we
know, what is hardwired into our brain. The light is red,
so I stop. I don't have to think about it, and am not
motivated to act in any other manner. Life is easy, and
yet, we are stagnant.

The 'working memory' is moves much more slowly and consumes
great energy, kind of like cutting through ice versus
skating on top of it.

When a new connection is made through 'working memory'
however, it is extremely energizing. Think of how great it
feels to complete a challenging Sudoku, or finally come up
with a new plan of action after pondering it for weeks.

David Rock explores these two functions of the brain with
respect to the role of coaching in his new book, Quiet
Leadership. Rock looks at four 'faces of insight' to get
us from where we currently rest on our laurels into action.
Let's go through an exercise. We'll use an unhealthy
relationship with a colleague as an example.

Awareness. We are aware of this unproductive relationship,
yet stay with what is familiar (hardwired) and do nothing
to solve it. We go over the same scenarios again and again
in our mind with no resolve. Enter our coach who
challenges our working memory to move beyond status quo and
into the brave new world of options and novel solutions.

Reflection. In reflecting on various approaches, we stretch
our 'working memory' and the energy begins to flow. As a
coach, I often hear clients say 'I tried that once and it
didn't work.' This 'hardwire' thinking is limiting.
Perhaps they tried to talk to the colleague at work. While
reflecting upon other options, my client may choose to
approach their colleague on the golf course or at dinner.

Illumination. Ah-ha! The options unveiled in the reflection
phase has illuminated a possible new approach. 'That's it;
I am definitely going to approach him at dinner!" This is
where the energy rushes in. According to Rock: "Even
small illuminations pack an energetic punch. The rush is
being driven by a new set of connections in our brain.
Having an insight is one of life's most pleasant moments."

Motivation. Now that we have created a new approach, we
can barely wait to give it a try. We make the call, set
the plan in action. "When people are in the motivation
phase, their eyes are racing ahead, ready to take action."

Coaching works due to its very nature of constantly
stretching clients to think beyond what is hardwired into
their brain, and thus, produce different results. If you
find this concept intriguing, I challenge you to test
yourself over the coming weeks to see where your thinking
rests. Do you settle for hardwire status quo or are you
continually seeking out new approaches to solving old
dilemmas?

----------------------------------------------------
Ann Golden Eglé, Master Certified Coach and President
of Golden Visions Success Coaching can be reached at
541-385-8887 or http://www.GVSuccess.com