Kristie T’s Home Business Blog Fun, mom-geared work-at-home tips and advice on making money on the net.

I have some huge plans for my home business next year. And so in addition to making my business plans, I have been cleaning out files, and looking at how I can make my whole work environment a space that truly inspires me.

This weekend I have spent a LOT of time totally cleaning, organizing, etc my home office. And while it was mostly the way I wanted it, there were just a few girlie decorating touches I wanted to top it off. Today I splurged and got a couple flower arrangements, a candle, and one of those pretty chair cover things. I am SO thrilled with how my project of decorating my office came out. It’s my favorite room in the house now. I am going to LOVE spending time here!

This room used to be our family dining room by the way. It was silly, we only used this room 2 days a year for Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners with family over. So now I have an office space of my own and get a room that is JUST for me!

Take a peak?
http://www.kristiet.com/office.htm

Where’s your home office? What little things could you do to make it a special place for you? What’s the favorite part of your home office?

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I see so many entrepreneurs getting caught up in tactics. If only I could get more traffic, if only I get my blog going, if only I get that pay per click campaign going. In truth, those are just marketing techniques. And marketing does not ALWAYS equal money. When it comes right down to it, there are only 3 ways to increase your business revenues.

1) Grow your customer base. To do this, you need to get exposure to new people and get them to know, like, and trust you. Think about where your customers “hang out”. What websites do they visit? What magazines do they read? What forums do they visit? Go where your customers are.

2) Make the size of the purchase bigger. It’s the “would you like fries with that” approach. Instead of being a 1 product pony, thing about what else you can sell to those same customers. Take your $19 ebook and add an audio version and a workbook and you’ve made the purchase size bigger. Then have consulting, group coaching, and seminars you can upsell them to. Do you have monthly services you can sell to them to build a residual income? All of these things work to increase the lifetime value of a customer.

3) Get your customers to buy more often. Remind your customers when they mind be running low on supplies. Use email marketing to keep in touch with them so they don’t forget about you when the time comes to repurchase. Make a “book of the month” club and send them a note every month about the new book along with a link to buy. One smart idea is to send them a 12 CD case holder when they purchase the 1st CD so they have a place to put the other cd’s as they create a collection.

So, there you have it. Those are the big secrets to making money in your business. Take some time to ask yourself how you could apply each of those strategies to your current offerings.

What ways have you implemented these strategies and gotten results in your business?

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Now is the perfect time to plan for big publicity in the new year. Here are some steps you can take to get organized
and put your PR plan into action.

1) Target: Make a list of the top 10-20 publications for your industry that you want to target. In addition to mainstream magazines, don’t forget to find trade magazines and professional association publications to submit to as well.

2) Contact Info: Get the editor contact info. You can ususally find this on the contact, staff, or about pages.

3) Media List: Create an excel spreadsheet to keep your media list organized and track who you have contacted to, what you submitted, and when to follow up.

4) Article guidelines. Look at their article guidelines. It will give you clues as to the type of content they are looking for and how they would like you to submit it.

5) Editorial Calendar: Print out their editorial calendar to see how what you do would tie in with a timely and well fitting article for their publication.

6) Review past magazines: Read past issues of their magazine to get a feel for their style, content, audience. If you go to the library, you can see past issues for hundreds of today’s most popular business publications.

7) Review past articles online: Usually on their magazine website their is a list of past articles. Print out this list. See what topics are covered and what kind of titles they use.

Pitch letter: Start sending pitch letters and see if you can get published.

9) Organize: Make a file to keep all your publicity information in.

That’s it! Here’s hoping to see YOU in the headlines in 2007!

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Plans and Projects and Goals — Oh My!

So you have taken some time to think about what you really want, but how do you break down the masses of plans, goals, research etc to stay organized and track for your “go big” year?

Here’s my personal process and plan.

1) Get a big picture vision about the work you really want to do and how you can best serve
2) Create the following plans: business plan, marketing plan, product funnel, product development plan, and specific project plans.
3) Write goals with dates and deadlines
4) Make a dream map to get you visually excited about you big success for next year
5) Write affirmations to help you strengthen your belief systems and engage your personal power
6) Break down your big plan into a managable schedule. Set quarterly goals and 3 main intentions per quarter.
7) Create files to track and store research and work in progress
Create a big dream binder book that has vision statement, affirmations, values, goals, dream map

Here’s the files I created to stay organized:
- blog
- podcast
- free report
- teleseminars
- SEO
- publicity
- coaching
- speaking
- events
- dream team
- competitors
- specific files for various marketing tactics
- a file for each chapter of the products I am developing
- a file for each project you are understaking

What’s your process for strategic planning and getting organized for the year? Do you have any neat rituals or processes you go thru to prepare for the coming business year? Share your tips here.

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Did you know that one the biggest things holding you back could be your limiting beliefs?

What is a limiting belief you ask? Call them gremlins, negative thoughts, mindsets, excuses, things your parents told you were true, self talk, psychological blocks, obstacles — it’s all about the programming you have in your mind. These negative thoughts are self-destructive, cause stress, and keep you from having what you want. It causes us to dwell on the problem and we go into lock up mode. It stops our creative problem solving. It also keeps us stops the Law of Attraction from bringing you what we need to solve the problem.

Take a few minutes to ask yourself what beliefs you have that are holding you back in your life and business?
What are you telling yourself?
I’m not good at….
This is going to be hard to do…
I don’t deserve it…
I don’t know how…
No one cares…
I don’t have what it takes..
I’ll never be able to do it…
I’d be afraid to…
I can’t do it the right way…
It would take too much (time, money, energy etc)…

Now Ask Yourself This about Those Beliefs:
- Is this belief true?
- How does that thought make you react?
- Why do you hold onto this belief? What benefit do you gain?
- What is the cost of holding onto this belief?
- What could I achieve if I let go of this belief?

For every belief, there is a way to change your belief or design a strategy around it.
A powerful question to ask is “In what ways can I (fill in the blank)”

Hale Dwoskin in his book Sedona Method has a process he teaches for releasing limiting beliefs so you can experience emotional freedom and let go of anxiety and fear.

He invites you to get to a quiet space, really experience that belief in it’s fullness, then ask yourself these questions.
- Can you let this belief go?
- Will you let this belief go?
- When will you let this belief go?

Afterwards, you set this belief free in your mind. When I do this, I imagine tossing the belief up into the air, then it breaks up and turns into beautiful white butterflies. Find a “releasing” visualization that works for you.

Take some time to access what you believe and how you can reprogram your mind for success.

Here are related posts with teachings from The Secret:

• Quotes from The Movie The Secret
• The 1 Secret That Will Change Your Life
• Get more in life by being grateful - how gratitude (and my gratitude rock) are changing my life
• The Power of Gratitude
• Overcoming Limiting Beliefs
• Staying postive when your business hits bumps in the road
• 5 Keys for Creating your Dream Life from The Secret

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Do you have a grand plan for what you want to achieve in your business this year or are you doing “hit or miss” projects and opportunities that sound good as they come along? I “thought” I knew what I wanted in my home business for the past 10 years. And while I was making huge progress on the things I was focused on, I was scattering my efforts in too many directions.

Are you guilty of living in entrepreneurial margueritaville and just doing things because it’s fun and it sounds like a good idea for your business? It’s an adrenalin rush yes, but it dissolves your personal power.

Once you focus all your efforts and really get a clear picture of what you want, suddenly every action you take is lined up in unison all for the achievement of one common vision. That puts the Law of Attraction to work for you and let’s you effortlessly create greater success.

Here are some things you can do differently to align and leverage all my business efforts in 2007

- Make sure that the publicity you are getting actually media for is focused on topics directly aligned with the products/services you offer.
- Write for your niche. Don’t write above their heads. Don’t write for your peers. Do an ask campaign or visit forums to see what your audience really cares about and write that.
- Have a strategic plan to work customers through your product funnel. How will you get customers to sign up for the free report. How will the free report lead them to a 1 hr consultation or your bottom level product? Then how do you convert them to either your $300 product or next level of service.
- Don’ jump on new business opportunities unless they are in aligment with your big goals. If it’s not in alignment, say no.
- Align what you are learning with your goals for the year.- Then make sure the actions you choose are helping you to make progress towards those big overall goals.
- Leverage your blog posts, podcast interviews, and article writing with the content/products that you want to produce for the year
- Optimize first for web pages for the things that directly drive revenue in your business. Those are your money words.
- Attend events that your customers would attend.
- Align your speaking topics directly with the “add on” products and services you offer. You want back of the room sales and extra consulting to further add value for your customers.

Imagine if you are this focused, what a powerful vibe you’ll send out to attract exactly the customers, colleagues, opportunities, and resources you need for a really successful year! That’s the power of a focused business.

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Now that the year is coming to a close, have you done your goal setting for next year? I used to think all the time spent on goals and business plans was overrated. But now I see it as fun dreaming and making a wish list that you present to the universe that makes it really easy to get exactly what you want in your business.

Here are some questions to ask yourself in planning 2007.
More than just a business plan, it’s also a marketing plan and personal development plan.

BUSINESS PLANNING
- What is the “theme” for your business in 2007?
- What’s your product funnel look like?
- What’s the next products that you will develop next year?
- Where can you cut expenses in 2006?
- What business activities will you drop to make room for new growth?
- What tasks that you now handle yourself can you outsource next year?
- Do you need to raise rates?
- After reviewing your income streams for 2006, which 3 were the most profitable for you?
- How can you take those top 3 revenue streams to the next level next year?
- How can you leverage content you have and turn it into additional products?
(blog posts, articles, audio products)

- What new vendors do you need to add to your dream team?
- What systems can you create to simplify your business (billing, accounting, customer service, selling, marketing)

MARKETING PLANNING
- Where can you strengthen/improve your marketing for next year?
- What marketing vehicles brought you the most customers last year?
- What can you do to boost your marketing in those winning marketing channels in 2007?
- What are your top 3 marketing strategies you will focus on next year?
(seo, networking, referrals, direct mail, podcast, pay per click. JV, affiliate marketing)

- What media outlets will you target to get publicity for your business?
- Who are the people you want to add to your dream team
- What keep in touch strategies will you use for relationship marketing with your customers and audience?
(sending birthday cards, email marketing, autoresponders)

- What professional organizations would be best to join to align with your business goals and reach your audience?
- What events and seminars do you want to attend for networking
- What new marketing collateral do you need to develop?
(blog, ezine, brochure, speaker one sheet, postcard, article, speeches, free reports, teleseminars, free workshops, landing pages, sales letters)

- What existing marketing materials need updating

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
- In what ways can you enhance your performance through personal development to achieve more
(time management, financial management, goal setting, focusing your actions, working with a coach, affirmations, overcoming limiting beliefs)

- What business books would you like to read?
- What professional skills would you like to develop?
- What mentors would you like to learn from?
- In what ways can you enhance your home office to make it more inspiring, organized, and efficient for you?

That’s what’s in my detailed business plan for next year. Hope that gives you some food for thought. If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there. But having a vivid plan for your success will take you beyond your wildest dreams.

Wishing you a very successful 2007.

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Buyers online are always weary of whether it’s safe to purchase from a web site or not. But a new kind of web safe mark will alert buyers whether a site is secure. The new EV (Extended Validation) SSL Certificate issued by the Certification Browser Authority Forum displays a green address bar to indicate that it’s “safe” for people who visit a web site. Microsoft plans to activate this green light feature in a future update of IE 7 expected in late January.

Those that fail the EV Certificate security test would case the address bar to remain green.

According to a recent Yahoo News story on this only large companies are affected now, “… the forum has figured out how to validate only larger companies, the ones incorporated by a government agency and thus listed in its databases. General partnerships, unincorporated associations, sole proprietorships and individuals are currently excluded. ”

The purpose of the mark is to stop scams and phishing schemes by sites that appear to be who they are not masquerading as popular web sites.

Learn more about the EV Certificates here:
- Web ’safe’ mark may elude new merchants
- Extended Validation SSL Certificates - A New, Higher Standard for Internet Security

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I personally celebrate Christmas. As a Christian, it is a day to honor the birth of Christ. It reminds me to live as though Christmas was everyday in your heart.

Not everyone celebrates Christmas. Others may celebrate Kwanza or Hannukuk. But what about others, what can they celebrate?

Introducing Festivus: The Holiday for the Rest of Us… (See Seinfeld Festivus episode here)

My husband was Googling and found reference to Festivus, a holiday celebrated on December 23 in Wikipedia. This holiday was first made public on the show Seinfeld in December 1997. Since then, the holiday has taken on a “cult-like” following of it’s own. Festivus was created as an alternative holiday in response to the commercialization of Christmas.

The holiday traditions include the traditional Festivus Pole that requires no decoration, a Festivus Dinner of meatloaf or spaghetti in red sauce. Then after dinner, the family participates in the “Airing of the Grievances” where your family gathers around and tells each other all the ways they have disappointed each other over the past year. Then finally, the celebration ends with Feats of Strength when the head of the household is pinned in a wrestling match.

Apparently this holiday is based on the real life celebrations of Daniel O’Keefe, one of the Seinfeld writers.

Whatever holiday you celebrate, I wish you and your family the very merriest of holidays and a very happy and prosperous New Year!

What fun holiday traditions does your family partake in every year?

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Looking for a way to save money on phone bills? Skype offers a phone service called SkypeOut that allows you to use Skype to phone any landline phone or cell phone. And for calls within the US, it’s only 2 cents per minute. You can see a chart with SkypeOut rates here.

I have a Plantronics USB Gaming/Mutimedia Headset that I just plug into my computer. The sound quality is great.

And what’s nice is it’s a pay as you go system. I tried a call to a friend with a landline and also to a friend with a cell phone and found the quality to be very good (much better than Vonage. I found that Vonage frequently gave me drop outs and static on the line!).

The only downside is that on the caller ID, my friends said it was either blank or had a really wierd number on it. It would be nice to have the caller ID say your number or name so people don’t think it’s a telemarketer call or something.

When I compared SkypeOut (2 cents per min) to my Cingular cell phone plan (which was 5 cents per min), I saw that I could save some serious cash by using Skype instead.

Do any of you use SkypeOut? I’m curious what how SkypeOut is working for you.

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