Are You Treating Your Online Business like a Hobby?
64All successful entrepreneurs know that in order to make their finances grow and thrive, they must treat their business like a business, and not a hobby. This may seem obvious, but many people involved in running their own business act like it's something they can dabble in and still expect it to turn a profit.
That's not to say that you can't have fun with your business or enjoy yourself. What it does mean is that you have to treat it the way a real business needs to be treated. How should you do that?
What is Your Commitment?
The first and possibly most important aspect to differentiating your network marketing business from a hobby is your commitment. Are you fully committed to making this venture work?
Are you willing to put in the time and energy that it will require to start up and keep it going? Businesses often take up more time and energy than we assume they will - especially at the beginning. Are you willing to allow for that in order to really succeed?
Another important aspect to conducting your business properly is committing yourself to working regular hours and making sure you have your own office area that's meant solely for running your business.
Because you work from home there will be challenges with time management. You don't necessarily have to work from 9 AM - 5 PM with an hour lunch, and you don't have to go out and rent an office space. But you do need to work sensibly and this means working set hours, or for a set number of hours each day as well as having an area set aside where you can work productively. Have you considered having a separate business phone line and a separate email dedicated to the business?
Have You Invested in Your Business?
And what about your professionalism? Businesses can be sole proprietorships, but a smarter move would be to set your network marketing business up as an LLC (Limited Liability Company), giving you some legal protection.
Another important consideration is the need for a bookkeeper or CPA - someone to keep good track of your financial records. This will become especially important at tax time and shouldn't be ignored.
When you're running your own business, you also need to be aware of intangibles that are key to your success. These include and awareness of the importance of promoting your product and having a good plan for combining this with the monetary opportunity you're promoting.
What about Continuing Education?
Also important is the need to educate and empower your employees. You're not only in this business for your own financial success, but others will be depending on you to lead them in their online endeavors, too.
Don't forget to continually educate yourself as well. Check out all of the resources that are available to you (such as free web 2.0 sites for advertising, free to low cost ways to generate online sales leads) so that you can keep overhead costs low and profits high.
Treat your online business more like a business and less like a hobby. You'll notice that with proper attention and care, your business will grow by leaps and bounds and you'll be less likely to quit and move on from one business opportunity to another without ever realizing success!
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Great Hub Dianne,
When a person has a true core desire for building their business, you will simply need to get out of their way. The problem comes in that there are very few who want it that bad to do what it takes. But you hit on a few points they should consider.
You are a great writer,
Bob Andolina
Dianne,
I agree, the greatest reason for failure in network marketing may very well be lack of commitment. Good job. ~ eddie
Roberto, Bob and Eddie,
Thanks for all your comments! They are appreciated!
Dianne
Very cool
A business is really ran like a full-time job. The only difference is that your being paid based on results or lack there of, while a part time job you pay the price for a hourly guaranteed wage and benefits.
I thought when I came into this it would be easier than working at my job, turns out it's a more difficult...but only at the beginning of the journey.
It's that illusion of hardwork at the beginning that I think turns people off midway before they come to realize that running a business, especially online, is one of the simplest, coolest things they could do
Hi Josef,
It is much harder but far more rewarding. No one tells you what you must do. The motivation must come from within!
Dianne
MLM Success Wave 3 years ago
Dianne,
Lack of commitment is, i think, the greatest source of failure in MLM. May be is our fault, because we don't emphasize the level of commitment needed to be a business owner. I have been guilty of this, we are so desperate to get someone to join our opportunity that we sing them up, even when we know they don't have what it takes to make it in business. We should have something on our company literature, like the US Marines, "The few, the Proud, the MLMers". Great article Dianne.
To Your Success
Roberto Guerrero