Your #1 Resource For Helping Real Estate Professionals Make Great Social Media Connections

Posts Tagged ‘home based business’

Deciding On A Business When You Love To Do …Everything

Posted on: December 12th, 2011 by Beth Heilman

After you've made the decision to strike out on your own and be an entrepreneur, deciding on a business to go into should be easy, right?

I mean you know what you're good at. You know what you like doing.

Hmmm…there's the issue. You like doing EVERYTHING!!

Now, I may not be talking to all of you here. Some people just know what they're meant to do.

Then there's those of us who are decisionally challenged who can flip-flop daily (or hourly) on which business avenue to pursue.

Want to hear some good news?

You don't have to decide.

What I mean by that is you can create a business that incorporates your talents and your passions and you don't have to pick just one way to earn your living.

Matter of fact, given what we've been through these last few years in the economy, it's smart NOT to have just one way.

I'll use myself as an example. After I was downsized from my job four years ago, I knew I could sell houses. Problem was the market wasn't all that pretty plus I was suffering from a serious case of don't-care-if-I-never-sell-another-house-again burn out.

Not good when it's only thing you've done for a living for the last 17 years. I knew I'd always keep my real estate license, but  also knew that I had other passions I wanted to pursue; passions that had been put on hold in the pursuit of a Real Estate career.

So I started looking, and looking, and looking. If looking could've been turned into a career, I'd be sittin' pretty right now.

Everyone said to really focus on the real estate, and even though I love working with my buyers still to this day; it didn't hold the same excitement that it used to. There had to be something more.

The search continued…I dabbled in a couple network marketing companies. I fell in love with internet marketing and put up some
websites. I started a little mobile marketing company. I wanted to do it all. Everyone said focus on one thing…and I just couldn't.

Then I came across the coolest book. It's called "Refuse To Choose" by Barbara Sher. When I started reading it it was like finally someone was speaking my language.

While I'm not going to do a full-on book review today, I'm giving it my whole-hearted recommendation for anyone who loves to do a bunch of things and would love to make a living at them, but doesn't have a clue where to start…or where to start first.

There are those people (like me) who have a lot of knowledge in a LOT of different areas and they love ALL of it.

When I tried to come up with my "one big thing", I took a look at all the experiences I've had. Let's see…

I was a military wife and mother for 20 years. At one point in time I added up all the time I held down the fort by myself. It totaled almost 12 of those 20 years. I could talk to Military spouses and retirees…

I've sold Real Estate for the last 20 years in the highly crazy Las Vegas market.I could talk about real estate…

Most of the time I sold new homes and worked so hard (my fault) that I developed Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue. I could help people with the same thing and let them know what to do to feel better…

I'm a mom of four awesome kids. Two of them have special needs and my youngest, Emanuel, I adopted in Colombia, S.A. as a single mom in 2004. Maybe I could help parents of special needs kids or adoptive single parents…

Maybe this, maybe that…eeeeeek!

It was driving me nuts. That's when I found Barbara Sher's book. What I found was there are certain people who do lots of things well. You'll learn that you can actually earn a living doing lots of different things. And you'll learn that it's OK.

I'm going to be talking about this more in future posts and I'm gonna be giving you different examples of how to turn those things you love into income.

Stay tuned and be sure you sign up for my free report to the right. If you've even thought about starting your own business; read it, today's post will make perfect sense.

Let me know what you think about having a passion for and making a living with a bunch of different things. Look forward to hearing from you…

 

Share

The Other Veteran’s Day Hero…The Military Spouse

Posted on: November 10th, 2011 by Beth Heilman

Tomorrow, 11-11-11 is Veteran's Day here in the US. Its a day to remember and honor those who serve our country, the men and women who defend our freedom everyday; Our Armed Forces.

It doesn't matter which branch of the service these brave souls choose to serve in. They are all heroes.

But there is also another Veteran's Day hero who stays in the background, supports without question, sacrifices and keeps things running smoothly at home without complaining or even giving what they do a second thought.

I'm talking about the Military Spouse. These wives (and husbands) of  Active Duty Military personnel are heroes in their own right. They put up with long deployments; time periods that can last from a few weeks to a few months and even longer.

They are left home alone to take care of anything from kids to car problems; from balancing a lean budget to fixing a leaky faucet. They do double duty; things that both a Mom and Dad, husband and wife would tackle together they do alone. How do I know?

Because I was one.

Not many people know this, but I was an Air Force wife for nearly 20 years. So when I tell you that I know what it's like to be the one left behind, to be the one who was both the Mom AND head of the house, I speak from experience.

I also know what it's like to want to be the supportive spouse and have a career of my own. One of the most difficult things about being "married to the military" is the uncertainty of knowing if you're going to be in one spot long enough to put down roots and establish yourself  in a job, much less a career. It can be frustrating.

Military pay wasn't much then and it still isn't much. When a spouse works and has to pay child care, it almost doesn't pay to work. Until now.

When I was raising my kids, the internet as we know it today didn't exist. Back then it was Commodore 64's and DOS programs and blinking cursors.

Today, thankfully, the possibilities are unlimited. Any military wife with a laptop (or smart phone) and an internet connection can start and run her own successful business from home. 

Some hot trends right now range anywhere from being a Virtual Assistant, to starting an e-commerce website to information marketing. Social Media Management and website content management for small (and some large) businesses can both be done from home and worked around kids schedules and TDY's. That's "temporary duty" (short assignments for a couple of weeks to a couple of  months at a time) for any non-military folks. 🙂

There's almost nothing in business that can't accomplished over the internet. For military spouses, it levels the playing field in the job market like never before.

So to all the Military wives and husbands who think they may have to settle for whatever low paying job they can get, think again. You really can create your own business (and do what you love) using today's technology. Do some research. Find a business that really gets you excited…and will pay you what you're worth.

Dream again…you've earned it.

Are you or do you know of someone who's a Military spouse, Vet or service member? Please pass this along to them and as always, please leave me a comment below and let's talk. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Happy Veterans Day…I salute you.

Until then…

To Your Success,
Sonrisas(smiles),

Beth

Share

The Number One Speed Bump to An Entrepreneur’s Success

Posted on: October 24th, 2011 by Beth Heilman

While it's no secret that going into business for yourself can be a challenge ( heck, it can be downright scary), but the number one speed bump on the road to success is one itty bitty word…sales.

For some folks, just the thought of having to sell something to someone makes them break out in a cold sweat like they have the latest strain of the flu.

Why is this? As someone who made the bulk of her living as a Real Estate Agent for 20 years, and making commission-only at that, the idea of helping a customer solve a problem with a product I represent makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over. Selling them what they need is actually serving them.

To withhold what I know will help them solve a pressing problem or make them feel better actually feels selfish…now.

There was a time however when I could completely relate to how my sales team and coaching clients feel.

Sales was scary. There were sales trainers teaching techniques that were in a word…manipulative. It felt unnatural to memorize 20 different closes (remember the Ben Franklin close?).

Today, sales is all about building relationships and to that I say, "Yipee!!"

For entrepreneurs that should be a breath of fresh air.

Most entrepreneurs are "people people" and creating and nurturing relationships is what we do best. Things change though when that "sales" words gets tacked to it.

It's time to stop all the weirdness and get comfortable with the idea of serving your customers by getting them involved with your product or service.

Want to feel comfortable with the sales process and smooth out the speedbump? Put the focus on serving your customer with what you have to offer and take the focus off feeling like you're doing something "to them". You'll succeed when it becomes about them and what they want. The result will show themselves in happy, repeat customers; a sense of pride and satifaction is your business and oh, a healthy bank account.

How do you feel about the selling process in your business? Are you satisfied with it or are there things you want to change? Leave a comment below and let's talk. Until then…Make it  wondermous day 🙂

To your Sales Success,
Sonrisas(smiles),

Beth
 

Share

Social Media Levels The Playing Field For Small Business

Posted on: September 30th, 2010 by Beth Heilman

It used to be, and not that long ago, that to be successful in a home based business you got the word out by making a list, calling your list, getting rejected by most of those people on your list, and then once you’d burned through that list, the next step would be buying leads that more times than not would cost much and produce little. Today there’s a much better way.Social Media Marketing

Now with Web 2.0 where people all over the world can interact with each other in the blink of an eye, and the social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, even the beginning home business owner can create the same amount of exposure for their business as the big guys.

There are so many different ways to promote your business online and the really cool thing is that you can choose the methods that you like the best. Let’s talk about just a few of them.

Social Networking Sites– Unless someone has just flown in from a remote deserted island, nearly everyone has heard of sites like Facebook and MySpace. They aren’t just for teenagers sharing music anymore. The big thing to remember though is that there is an etiquette when talking to folks on these social sites.

Imagine being at a huge party, are you going to go up to everyone you meet for the first time and say “Hi, my name is Al. I represent the most awesome, super-duper advanced mega product and you just have to buy it.  As a matter of fact, it’s so good that if you don’t buy it, your life will go down the toilet.”

Obviously I’m exagerating, but I’ve been on Facebook and MySpace for nearly a year and let me tell ya, those people are out there. Don’t be one of them. I had one guy make a comment on my Facebook status (status is kind of an update on what you’re doing at the moment like, Beth is… getting ready to make another blog post) because I’d mentioned I was needing some coffee and he was pitching me on his no caffeine energy drink.  Not exactly a great first impression, besides, I love my caffeine.

Websites and blogs– It used to be that to put a website online, you had to be a techy in the computer department. Thank heaven that’s not the case anymore. Now it’s possible to build an entire online business presence without knowing any computer mumbo-jumbo geeky stuff. This blog is a great example of how easy it is to reach people online. You can literally be reaching new customers and business builders within minutes.

Online Advertising– I know what you’re thinking. Advertising, lots of money, no budget, can’t do it. Yes, you can. Did you know you can advertise for free on websites like Traffic Swarm (a traffic exchange site), CraigsList, Walmart (yes, Walmart) and many others? There are also low budget places like ezines (electronic magazines), paid website ads and when you’ve gotten a little experience, pay-per-click ads on Google and MSN. (I’ll be doing training on that in the near future)

Bottom line is, you can do it. The very cool thing is that marketing online virtually eliminates rejection because you’re talking to the people who want to talk to you, and who want what you have to offer.

What a great way to build your business. How do you use social media in your business? Do you use social media in your marketing? Please leave a comment and let me know what’s working for you 🙂

Share

How To Stay Focused Working From Home

Posted on: September 2nd, 2010 by Beth Heilman

Most of us Home-Based Business Owners and Network Marketers who have worked a “real job” have dreamed of the day when we could finally give our notice, tell the boss good-bye and never look back. Ahh, freedom. It’s a beautiful thing.

Freedom is a funny thing, though. On the one hand, when you have your own business you can do what you want when you want to. On the other hand, because you can do what you want when you want to, it’s really easy to not do anything.

Keep Your Focus

Keep Your Focus

It’s also really easy to get caught up in “busy work” and put the things that will make you money on the bottom of the “to do” list.

The other day I got a really cool video from Eban Pagan promoting his course “Wake Up Productive”. In that video he talks about all the time that gets wasted in non-productive things like checking email, surfing the net (in the name of research) and returning phone calls that could be put off until later, or even delegated to someone else.

Here are some suggestions.

Figure out when your most productive times are. Let’s face it. Some of us are morning people and some are night owls. While I might get my best work done in the mornings and early afternoon, you might do better to sleep late and work later in the day. The cool thing about most of our businesses is that they’re international, so sending an email from the west coast at two in the morning would get to a business associate in Australia at a normal time. Work with your own internal clock instead of against it.

Set aside blocks of uninterrupted time to focus on just one project. Schedule one to two hour blocks of time and don’t work on anything else but that one thing. There’s no such thing as multi-tasking folks, as much as we’ve heard all the hype about it. Try this little experiment. Think about a green dog now at the same time think about a purple elephant. You have to focus on one or the other (and you can alternate between the two of them pretty fast), but you can only concentrate on one thing at once.

So many of us home based business types will simultaneously be talking on the phone to a prospect, while checking our email, while writing ourselves a reminder about something at our kid’s school and what did we really accomplish? Our prospect (the most important person in this scenario) isn’t getting the full attention he or she deserves and they can feel it. We give up effectiveness in the name of efficiency and nothing important gets accomplished.

The bottom line is this. The freedom of a home based business is in being disciplined with your time.

When you’re writing an article or blog post for your marketing campaign, do only that. Give it your complete attention and don’t stop until it finished.

When you block out time for your follow-up calls, do only that. Then your prospects have your undivided attention and they’ll be able to feel that you’re really listening to them. That you really care about what’s important to them.

When you can master your time and focus all your energy on one project at a time, you’ll be amazed at how much more productive you’ll be and how much extra time you’ll have for all the fun things in life.

 

Share

5

Frustration-Busting,
Time Saving
Social Media Tips
For The
Already Crazy-Buzy
Real Estate Pro

See You Here!!

Follow Me on Pinterest

Stay In Touch

Enter your email address below to receive the latest blog updates:

Delivered by FeedBurner