My cheek to the kitchen floor I said, “Dad. There’s a metal thing hanging down here. Isn’t that what you’ve been looking for?”

My dad, also on his knees, extracted his mid-section from between the washing machine and the wall. He looked slowly at my mother and then to where my finger was pointing. “Yeah, that’s it,” he calmly said.

In the next three minutes, he was able to complete the job on which he had already spent an hour.

My dad was not a prideful man. He accepted the obvious truth when he saw it, regardless of the source. Today, if I were a 10-year-old little helper and my dad was a professional businessman, I’d say, “Dad. Independent business, isn’t that what you’ve been looking for?”

He’d extract himself from between his job and his financial obligations. Then he’d look at my mother, look at where I was pointing, evaluate the subject, and then say, “Yeah, that’s it.” Then he’d take action and work over the next five years to do what he hadn’t been able to do in the previous 30.

Job’s fail 98% of the time. People come out at the end of a 40 year career either dead or broke – or both. Most people stay in that system because it’s all they know. Our parents told us to get a good education, get a good job, and then work hard. That advice starts the wheels down that road. Then we get a paycheck and security, and translate that into debt and obligations. From then on there is never a time when we think we can break the cycle of paycheck-obligation in order to start a business – even if we were so inclined. It takes repeated corporate beatings to precipitate an eye opening.

Corporate Beatings

There are times, when our economy slumps, that a great awareness takes place. Like a bear awaking from a winter’s nap, professionals rub their eyes and realize that they can, rather need to, get out of their redundant, sleepy day and make some serious changes. Often, these people are forced to review their options. The job they considered secure was considered excess in the eyes of their company. These mid- to late-career professionals have finally experienced this type of loss enough times to be ready to make a career adjustment. Like the bear emerging from his cave, he is focused and determined. He has a hunger that will be fed through the product of his effort; effort that is in distinct contrast to the long winter’s sleep of a job.

“We’ve all talked about going back to a ‘corporate’ job. The thing is; this is a great life. Why would I want to give it up?” asked Jennifer Overholt, an independent consultant. Working for yourself is empirically and intuitively the superior choice for creating a living when compared to a job. The joy of the independent “is in the work they do and in doing it without the burden of managing anyone but themselves. They own what they earn, but more importantly, they own their decisions.” I will not detail the woes of the economy, the fickleness of corporate leadership, or the constraints of a job. I’d rather stay focused on the positives of working independently, while showing you how to overcome the weaknesses of this approach.

Control

I have spoken with thousands of people who dream of being independent. They want to join the estimated half a million annual home-based business start-ups and 8.6 million independent contractors nationally. Most are coming from high level positions in business that demand extraordinary hours and effort, frequent travel away from home, and a limited income. Granted, for most of these people, $200,000 defines limited income. They were looking for the antithesis to their current situation. In general, they wanted to control their schedule, work near home, have unlimited income potential, and the security of not having a job that is kept at the pleasure of their employer.

Simply the opportunity to take this step is something most professionals miss during their job-hibernation. People without a college degree start over 71% of businesses. People with a higher education, years of earnings and experience, and family stability should be leveraging those attributes to craft the exceptional life they want. They are infinitely more qualified to run a business properly when compared to a high school educated, blue collar worker. Our white-collar wearing peers, however, often ignore this truth because of the habit of a job, a substantial income, and insufficient self-esteem that won’t allow them to risk their security on their own abilities.

One of the weaknesses of an independent business is that it does primarily depend on the abilities and efforts of the owner. More importantly, however, it depends on their determination combined with their abilities. There are two different issues here, abilities and determination. You can control both.

Is Your Education an Advantage?

Your education and experience are advantages to you because you have a larger foundation on which to place new information. Accepting that, when you choose a business, opt for something in which you already have abilities, or which you can learn effectively, very quickly. Don’t try to learn a complicated product or service while you learn how to run a business. You need to be able to focus your effort in the moneymaking activities and necessary administrative procedures that your business demands.

Your determination needs to be like the hungry bear’s. You have to remove failure as an option. If the bear fails, it dies. You’ve never had to persevere as you may have to in your own business. Losses typically come out of your personal pocket, off of your dinner table, out of your children’s college fund. You can’t syndicate the decision making or responsibility. Stress is carried on the shoulders of perseverance like an overweight child. The rewards you are looking for are ONLY available for those who will shoulder that burden over time.

Ownership. Do it or Stop Complaining.

For some of you, ownership is a foreign concept. You’ve always worked for a company who owned something. You always looked at the owners as the fortunate people who make all the real money while you do the hard work for a set salary. Here’s a secret. Owners ALWAYS take risks and make investments BEFORE they make the real money. The owners of the company you work for spent money and did work BEFORE you were hired. They risked the loss of that money and time BEFORE they saw a return. They had anxiety over their decision to leave their safe paycheck behind BEFORE they made their business work. You have the same choice before you now. You must decide to persevere.

Even your effort alone cannot guarantee success. You need funding. It is always intriguing to me to speak with someone who is a high-level professional who doesn’t have the funding to start even a modest business. To independently start a home based business it is going to cost $20,000 to $50,000. These self-professed successes can’t pull that money out of a liquid investment to make a start. Most are struggling financially, even after a decade or more in a high paying job, and yet they still thrash about with the decision to go in a different direction. I’ll spell it out again – Jobs don’t work. The proof of this lies within their own experience and they continue to resist seeing it.

See it!

Funding

Funding is critical for all start up costs such as office space, equipment, inventory and advertising. It is just as vital to have money for the time period prior to becoming profitable. If this is not available from your personal funds, you must find an outside source. It makes sense that you want to keep your costs down while providing the product or service you envisioned in your business plan. “Operating out of the home has always been fabulous for me. It gives a business owner a financial advantage because it really keeps your cost down, and that allows you to funnel most of your cash flow into growth activities that matter,” says Sheila Lovell. Mrs. Lovell has already founded and sold one successful home-based business and is currently building and profitable in her second.

Financing is usually an issue, and the ability to work out of your home will drastically cut your capital need. If you choose a business that requires financing in the range of $70,000 the way Sheila’s did, you may find it difficult to go through traditional sources due to banking regulations and banker’s preconceptions of what a ‘real’ business is. According to a banker with Capital Connection, you will need, “to work very hard on a business plan that will document a company’s strengths and potential.”

A business plan is your road map to success. It should be as comprehensive and reasonable as possible in order to predict the time, costs, and effort that you need to outlay in order to become profitable. You must research the market, determine overhead, predict the product acceptance, and figure out how you’ll get the word out. The pleasantness of your move onto this new path is directly proportional to the amount of forethought and refinement in your business plan.

Business Opportunities and More

The dilemma now is that the knot in your stomach is balanced by the excitement in your mind. You know you have to put action behind the intellectual decision to start your own business, and you know it won’t be easy.

You can now see why the Business Opportunity section in USA Today is so large and why magazines are dedicated solely to the market of people looking to own their own business. The draw to these types of businesses is their turnkey nature. They are packaged so you simply need to add effort and it will succeed. These businesses level the playing field for everyone. Inc. magazine discovered that the “key difference between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs isn’t personality traits; It’s that entrepreneurs somehow have learned to take the steps required to set up a business.” Business Opportunities have done these start-up steps for you.

You don’t have to create a business or business plan from the ground up in order for it to be successful. You can evaluate the business plans of others, examine track records, and pick from among the best businesses in the world. It is perfectly reasonable for you to pay for and take what others have emplaced, and create a successful business from that point forward. The legitimate offers are designed to reduce the knot and increase the excitement.

Business Opportunities are businesses and business plans that have been developed through several different methods. Many have grown out of experience in the field, while others are created from a completely new idea.

An appropriate business for you will lower or eliminate the obstacles I’ve mentioned. It will train you thoroughly on simple, proven products or methods, perhaps some in which you already have experience. This will shorten the learning curve and allow you to focus on building your business and completing the administrative details that are always necessary.

In order to remove some of the stress of being independent, ongoing support and networking with peers is available. Overholt complained, “I had no one to bounce my ideas off of.” Typically business opportunities have a developed community of business owners with whom you can learn and grow. Terri Lonier, President of a consulting company warns, “A mistake many entrepreneurs and free-lancers make is thinking they can go it alone.” It’s hard to overemphasize the importance of community and support as it relates to business and success. I consider the high level of community that people experience at a job one of the major reasons why they stay in that situation. Even when times are bad, at least we’re all in it together. Support and connection will be a significant strength in a business opportunity.

Surprisingly Low Cost

The cost should be reasonable to start and maintain. The start-up costs of business opportunities have risen dramatically over the past four years with many starting in the $30,000 to $50,000 range. Interestingly, some of the most powerful ones are still below $15,000, and the best one isn’t even a business opportunity, it’s a school. Beyond Business School, Inc. keeps its costs low while teaching people a unique method for successfully becoming an independent consultant. They have a different approach that I don’t have time to detail. They educate people in how to run their own business and give them the tools to do so, without limiting their products, services or suppliers. Pretty impressive model and one that is very attractive for the professional who wants to maintain control.

Even though the cost of a business opportunity will typically be much less than starting from the ground up, you still need to make a plan for cash flow. Also be aware of any additional costs you might incur to become profitable. For standard storefront type businesses the sell price is based on some derivative of the annual gross sales of that business. Purchasers of those businesses don’t plan on actually making money for two to three years. Evaluate the reasonableness of the business opportunity’s one-time start up cost based on a conservative estimate of your monthly earnings once you are up and running. A good rule of thumb is that they should be about the same.

Conclusion

Considering the benefits of lower cost, available expertise, and a short launch timeline, I consider business opportunities a rich field of choices for the person who is seriously looking to safely move into the ranks of the self-employed. The best advice I’ve seen for when and what type of business to start comes from Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO of Dell Computer Corp. “I’m not really a market timer when it comes to entrepreneurship. I think you do it when it feels like it’s time to do it. … Find a really large market – or one that’s going to be large – that’s inefficient, and you come up with a breakthrough way of delivering value to customers that nobody has ever done before.”

Business Opportunities give you have a great chance for the life-style you desire if you are willing to put your education and effort behind a proven plan. When will you be a business owner?

1. Tenacity

Some people have very low appetites for risk and as a result love to hear a failure story and always rub their hands with glee when they find another business venture gone awry. But what did the business owner that failed time and time again have to say to such naysayers? He just dug his heels in and spent his energy and efforts on his next business project. Once you are satisfied that what you are doing can make you money, focus all your energies on that one thing and do not give up on your home based business. Remember not everyone can have this tenacity and success in home based business ventures are based on persistence.

Ray Croc the founder of Macdonalds started out with a mere burger and buns stand at one corner of the street. The entry barrier of that business venture is very low and as Warren Buffet says, this means that many people can compete with you and business competition is tough. Did he throw in the towel at that time merely because he felt that doing business with burgers was tough? No he persisted and revamped the entire burger stand concept and came out with his own business model that was revolutionary. Only persisting and innovating at something that you strongly believe in can results start coming in your home based business.

2. Reasonable expectations

Any home based business owner will tell you that it boils down to reasonable expectations. You get signups and some of them will upgrade. You must understand this. Some people do understand delayed gratification and then ironically they stop promoting their home based business and start managing their downlines. A home based business is a direct sales business you must remember that so you should always have reasonable expectations that the number of signups and sales is proportionate to the amount of internet promotion that you do.

John was a internet home based business owner but was dismayed at his dismal results with his business. Mary on the other hand did not worry about her results and spent her time on weekends writing articles and submitting them, tweaking her pay per click costs and finding some time to do some search engine optimization on her home based business website. At the end of three months, while both had upgraded in their respective internet home based business, John had nothing to show for it but gripe about how the system did not work. Mary on the other hand was getting signups for her internet home based business daily and spent time qualifying them and working with them. Needless to say Mary made more money online with the internet home based business.

3. Take responsibility for your business

Some people fail to realized that they are their own marketing department, customer service and everything rolled into one when they start their own home based business. The significance of this is that they gripe about the payment plans, the products and focus their energies on everything but the promotion of their business. On the other hand if you look at those people who are actively promoting their home based business ideas, they are focused on promoting their website business and generating more sales. The trick is to take full responsibility of your home based business and focus on things that directly affect the number of sales of your business.

John was looking at his internet home based business and saw five things he could do with his business. But he had to make a decision since there are only so many hours in a day for him to spend. He looked through his cash flow statement for the month and realized that one of the five things he could do directly impacted the sales of his home based business. He focused on that and spent the most amount of time on it and internet home business success was his.

In conclusion, we have covered three elements that are present in any successful home based business owner. Take massive action today by writing down a plan of action and write clearly what you hope to achieve out of this and your internet home based business sales will start increasing slow but surely. Remember any business be it a home based business or a traditional business takes time. Work hard at the sales aspect of it and you will find that your income will rise.

Obtaining finance is central for starting a new business or making business grow. Financing a business through business loans can be a formidable task. But a good preparation can easily sort out any matter detrimental to getting your business loans approved. Taking a loan for business is an important decision. A business loans borrower must understand that while taking loans can help a business grow, a wrong decision will mean debt and actually damage financial stability of a business. Determine how much loan amount you require as business loans. There are different business loans products to decide from.

A well thought out business plan is the most significant part of getting a business loans approved. The business plan should have projection. Don’t go into details, a concise to the point executive summary which answers all the queries of a business loans, will gain easy acceptance. If you have an established business – financial statement, cash flow for the past three years will be required.

When
Business Loans application is reviewed, some of the following questions might come up in one version or the other.

o How much loan do you require?

o What about business profits, does it have enough cash flow, to service the debt?

o Is there collateral to cover the loan?

o Is there a reasonable balance between debt and equity?

Business loans lender would pay much emphasis on your repayment ability. He would like to know if you have invested your own money in the business. He would not be very interested in taking risk in a venture where the business owner has not.

For business loans it is important to know your credit history. The business loans lender will undeniably go through your credit history. Go through your recent credit history and find out faults and recent credit discrepancies. If there are inconsistencies, get them removed. A credit history that is questionable will most likely not get business loans. However, if you attach a letter explaining your credit conduct can evoke a favourable response. The worst mistake will be to hiding your faults. This will most certainly reject an otherwise encouraging business loans application.

Few people realize it but locating a good business loans lender is integral to finding business loans. It is not easy to find business loans lender that abides by your needs. In fact it is an investment in itself. Look for business loans lender who is willing to work with you and for you.

Business loans also depend on your character and your ability to be present yourself, your business details and your confidence. They also count in getting your business loans accepted. In case business loans application is rejected – make sure you know the reason why this happened. This will enable you to rectify mistakes next time you make attempt to get business loans.

Collateral is chief ingredient for business loans. Secured business loans will require collateral and greatly add to the business loans application. Business loans without collateral are unsecured business loans. They are usually difficult to find. But unsecured business loans will only satisfy small financing needs.

Business loans are available for most financing needs. Business loans can be used for starting a business, refinancing, expanding your business, purchase of equipments or any other commercial investment. Insufficient business funds are one of the leading causes of business failure.

First, there are product oriented businesses versus service oriented businesses. In the case of the former, questions arise as to the source(s) of supply, how the inventory is to be managed, whether the product is perishable, and how the product is delivered into the hands of the customer. The business may need a substantial physical infrastructure. In the instance of a product like new cars, you need a lot, a parts department, service and cleanup capacity, and a sales, financing, and administration area. You will also need lighting, security, and other amenities to ensure that buyers have a sense of confidence in the business. If you’re selling ice cream, you need to keep it cold; this implies freezers and refrigerated trucks, perishibility, and substantial energy bills. If you’re selling clothes, you need display and storage space for a variety of sizes and styles. In all of these cases, you need the product itself in inventory. You might also wish to categorize this type of business as having one other similarity among others of like kind: these are “brick and mortar” businesses.

Service businesses may also require “bricks and mortar,” so just because a product is not physically stocked or otherwise identified as tangible, one must not jump to conclusions. A day spa, a bank, or a hotel, are all examples of service businesses that are also brick and mortar businesses. Generally speaking, brick and mortar businesses rely on a “place” where they must exist, and acquiring such a place requires capital. The “place” characteristics of a given business may carry great weight in the eyes of its customers or clientele. It should not be a surprise that many hotels and apartment complexes invest heavily in lobby and entrance areas when designing their facilities.

One might expect that professionals such as attorneys would charge significantly more, or less, simply judging by the type of offices in which their practices are located. Let’s compare two hypothetical situations. The first is the instance of an attorney whose office comes complete with marble floors, collectable paintings, and an attractive, albeit somewhat pouty, reception area representative. We could then compare this to another attorney, whose office is combined with an income tax service and a small engine repair business. The difference between the two is about $300 an hour. There’s a reason that high profile celebrity defendants hire so-called “dream teams” for representation: they get positive results.

Some businesses sell undifferentiated products or services. This means that the product or service offered by one business is the same, or substantially the same, as the one offered by competing businesses. A gallon of gasoline is probably a good example. (At the present time, it appears that every provider has the same goal: reap substantial profits from consumers.) One station may attempt to distinguish itself from another through slight pricing differences. Oil companies may proclaim “we do research to protect the environment with clean burning fuels that are better for your car”; but, a gallon of gas is a gallon of gas in the eyes of most consumers. Any slight price differences, auxiliary services such as clean rest rooms and a convenience store, and location largely determine where consumers will ultimately spend their money (in ever increasing amounts, it seems).

All business models require some form of promotion. The “person on the street” typically confuses terminology that is actually quite specific. The terms promotion, advertising, and marketing are often incorrectly used interchangeably, for instance. Marketing is inclusive of price, product, place, and promotion. A business can be promoted through word-of-mouth and referral; therefore, a good reputation and testimonials should be cultivated by any business. Some products require heavy paid advertising. “Paid” is the critical word here, in that it suggests that the advertiser has some choice in placing a message before a desired audience. By definition, advertising is paid, non-personal communication; ordinarily it is underwritten by an identified sponsor; it is meant to be informative, if not persuasive in nature. By far, most advertising is local, even though one might tend to first think of national advertisers and brands in an advertising recall test (a test of what someone remembers).

Another way to promote a product is through personal selling efforts. Some types of businesses use independent representatives for this purpose, because it makes sense. For example, suppose that one has a line of porcelain figures that are sold primarily through gift stores. However, as a small business, it would be hard to afford a staff of in-house sales representatives to call on thousands of gift stores nationwide. One could use a firm that represents several product lines (such as greeting cards, writing pens, and silver) and simply add the porcelain figurines to the list of products that might be presented to gift store owners and buyers during sales calls. In a small business, it is the management team’s job to make sure that someone is doing the selling. It helps if the owner is comfortable with this role, as his or her passion for the business can usually be leveraged. However, if you are a prospective business founder, and you are not comfortable addressing audiences one-on-one, in small groups, or behind a podium, you’d better enlist one or more individuals who are competent in this area, for the sake of your future success.

After reviewing more marketing and business plans than I can any longer count, I can just about bet that material under the heading “Promotion,” will be the Achilles’ heel in a majority of plans. Authors of these plans, who are often lacking adequate financial wherewithal, tend to sum up an entire treatise on promoting a proposed product, service, or business with: “We will use word-of-mouth to advertise [sic]…” Word-of-mouth is a fantastic way to promote, if is nurtured. A large “buzz” can be created with a great product that is professionally represented through an in-house sales force, or independent representatives. Companies selling encyclopedias, vacuum cleaners, and cosmetics were built through independent representatives who approached consumers directly. More recent examples have utilized network marketing, where an emphasis on building organizational teams has been made. Senior representatives’ roles are to mentor the development of new representatives.

There are labor and equipment intensive businesses, and there are knowledge intensive businesses. Either can be relatively easy, or relatively difficult for a competitor to duplicate. It all depends on the degree of investment and specialization necessary to get into a business. This concept also suggests that there are certain “entry costs” into a given line of business or industry, and these costs represent barriers that must be overcome. The opening statement to this article, where I outlined various “little or no” scenarios, should be reiterated here. You should find a business that meets the “little or no” test according to your set of circumstances. A personal service or consulting-type business is far less expensive to launch than a restaurant or a retail store. If you have speaking skills and a set of overheads and hand-outs, consider a training and development business. If you’re good at matchmaking, become a recruiter or a dating expert.

Most of my own prior business endeavors have been service oriented businesses that required some specialized knowledge. Building a clientele and personally servicing that clientele has been a central premise in each of these entrepreneurial instances. That has often entailed long hours, scheduling dilemmas, and few breaks in between: clients want what they want, when they want it, which, more often than not means “yesterday.” With the advent of the Internet, an entirely new realm of entrepreneurial opportunity was opened to me and millions of other would-be entrepreneurs around the globe. Recognizing some fundamental differences in business models, I registered the Internet domain name, “WebPreneurship.com,” along with numerous others.

The main difference in Internet business models has to do with the fact that one can create an online presence, with the capability to represent numerous types of products or services, many of which can be entirely transacted and delivered using the Web as a facilitator of that process. Digital products can be downloaded; physical products can be delivered through contracted fulfillment services. A related concept, known as drop-shipping, can allow an Internet business to overcome this latter obstacle as well. Drop-shipping means that when an order is generated on an entrepreneur’s Web site, the product supplier or manufacturer will receive the order and send the shipment directly to the consumer. There is a virtual presence facilitated by technology and strategic relationships, as compared to a physical presence with associated brick and mortar costs. Hence, my own working definition of “webpreneurship” began to take shape.

Information products such as electronic books and reports have also created yet another new term in our vocabulary, known as “infopreneurship.” Infopreneurship has to do with making a living (on the part of the infopreneur) by providing information of value. Prior to the advent of the Internet infopreneurs did exist, although they operated under a whole different set of constraints that had to do with the costs of advertising, mailing, shipping, printing, and other expenses that the Internet has largely eliminated.

Even those business types that cannot complete the full product or service creation, selling, and delivery cycle, can enhance their presence over the Internet. For example, you can’t get a haircut on the Internet, but you certainly can look at styling options, pricing and service options, and location information (including interactive maps and directions); subsequently, you can book an appointment time and date. Basic Internet businesses can be created at relatively low cost, and can be maintained with a flexible schedule, assuming that they are fully automated and sell a product such as information and reports as compared to one that requires a physical product to be shipped. An entrepreneur may exercise the drop-shipping or fulfillment services mentioned above, or handle this for him or herself in-house. Of course the latter situation, relative to business models, entails providing availability to customers that confines the entrepreneur to the business during its publicized hours of operation.

Franchises and business opportunities (including buying an existing business) provide one major advantage over other business ventures that are started from scratch: greater certainty derived from a formula that is “tried and true.” If you have no idea where to start, but you are trainable and ambitious with a few dollars to spend, consider a franchise. There are some franchises that use what amounts to a “promote from within” approach, favoring successful managers as candidates for franchise ownership (and providing a helping hand toward financing the franchise fees). Bootstrapping and sweat equity go hand-in-hand, and if you really want a piece of the action, there are individuals out there who are looking for partners–you could quite possibly earn your way into owning a share, or even all, of an existing business.

As for me, I have come to enjoy having multiple roles and avenues for personal as well as professional fulfillment. I teach entrepreneurship at a university, write, and engage audiences as a public speaker. I have invested in several Internet sites. I have created several of these sites myself, while others are turn-key sites. (A turn-key site is one where a system is already in place to provide a product or service as well as technical support, transaction processing, and customer service.) For instance, I have one site that provides Internet domain names, and that is a turn-key site which I purchased for less than two hundred dollars. I am also an independent consultant for a network marketing firm that offers consumable health, wellness and beauty products. A network marketing structure offers me the opportunity to develop, train, and mentor persons who are interested in growing a business opportunity. Meanwhile, as a continual learner myself, I can enhance my skills and knowledge and benefit from peers and individuals who have already blazed a trail before me.

Every business model implies trade-offs and unique characteristics as well as lifestyle choices. I enjoy teaching, but I also think that staying connected as an entrepreneur makes me a better teacher. I like to learn, so I am always pursuing new insights through casual as well as formal research (which I share through writing and speaking). I enjoy helping others, and teaching, mentoring, and guiding others is essential, to me. As a person of humble beginnings whose accomplishments have often been the result of starting from scratch, my most profound lessons have been acquired from the “school of hard knocks.” If I can smooth out someone else’s path, I’d like to do that. I also have enduring financial obligations, like most people, as well as responsibilities and love for friends and family members. Thus, any entrepreneurial decision has a direct impact on every aspect of my life.

In your own way and given your own set of circumstances, you will have to juggle to achieve your own unique entrepreneurial and lifestyle solutions. Before you take the entrepreneurial plunge, consider various business models and their implications completely. Your decisions will impact your life in ways that are to be considered just as seriously as the business models that you scrutinize. The right model will serve as a pattern for your fulfillment and success. Whatever you do, I suggest that you seek spiritual, emotional, and professional balance as a guiding light in your entrepreneurial journey. Making the right choices will enable you to find your “groove,” gain your freedom, and live the kind of life that you’ve always wanted, both on and off the entrepreneurial playing field.

It wasn’t necessarily the competition that we glued too. Really, does getting “a job” that way makes any sense at all? Its appeal for us, week after week, was watching business school played out, emotionally, right in front of our eyes.

Watching the participants, the Donald, his team, and the producers make decisions, now THAT was fascinating! Watching the show gave us a new way to work on our own business:

What would we do, as business owners, to win each challenge?

How would we decide who was really responsible for failure?

What was this whole challenge really about?

In an age where millions of people are leaving corporate life for entrepreneurial ones, where the corporate bar is not only being raised it’s being shifted to a whole new place, “The Apprentice” connected the big dream of business success to the TV audience in a mass-media way. And it was for REAL! At least the part they showed us.

The show became an instant hit and “you’re fired” became the buzzword of the Nation. The fact that commercial tie-ins, which surfaced in season two, actually became part of the content was sheer brilliance. It took TV back to the days of the Bob Hope Texaco Hour. Well that…on steroids. While it was showcasing other brands, the show became a “brand” in itself–launching products beyond the original service it provided which was simply…entertainment.

While the ‘TV machine’ ramped up (code words for huge money) the “The Apprentice” caught up with itself. The mix of the challengers changed. The show concept got tweaked. And ‘the show’ began to believe it was invincible. And something changed. It lost its ‘soul’. The shiny gold we had held so dear every Wednesday night became less appealing and cheep. And then we saw it! Right there in the beginning of each and every show, something that was there from day one, was now screaming at us–the tagline of the show, “It’s not personal, its just business.”

Oh, really?

That phrase hit us like a ton of bricks. “It’s not personal, its just business. OUCH! Their very own tagline was the blood that killed the show for us! It belied everything we know about the future of business. It belied everything we know about the past of business. It belied everything Donald and every single person on the show knows– if they are aware of it or not.

Donald wouldn’t have been able amass his fortune twice, coming back from the abyss of bankruptcy, if he did didn’t have an immensely personal connection to his business. It’s so obvious. After all, it is the Trump Organization (ego aside), not the Massive Faceless Real Estate Development Corporation. That’s not to say all companies that are driven by strong personal visions are named after their founders. Microsoft, Apple, Pixar, Peak Potentials etc. have super-strong driven leaders with immense vision. But let’s call it for what business really is… it is and ALWAYS will be personal.

Now we’re not ragging on the show or even on ‘the Donald’ himself… both are amazing achievements. The bottom-line is that anybody who says business is not personal is hiding something–whether they’re aware of it or not. It can be innocuous or malicious, but either way it is not the way to create a lasting successful business. It was the lack of personal connection that brought about experiences like Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, Arthur Andersen, Jim & Tammy Bakker to name a few? Those unfortunate events are understandable. Because it’s very easy to do unconscionable things when ‘business’ is JUST business.

A business is so much more when business is deeply personal(TM). Successful long-lasting businesses that have local and even global impact are–ones that ‘do business’ with complete integrity and sincere connection to the impact here business has on the individual as well as the world.

We’ve worked with entrepreneurs and large companies, public and private, guiding single visionaries and executive committees alike. In our experience, most companies, no matter their size, have marketing challenges when they can’t articulate their vision, connect their business to it and communicate it clearly from a deeply personal place. Great marketing can sell anything… at least initially.

The marketing and the packaging of “The Apprentice” pulled us into a show that appears to stand for the opposite of what we believe. The first question that any business owners should ask themselves… is not can we sell it but should we sell it? Then if the answer is yes, the second question should be…why?

With our ‘inside/out’ approach to building businesses, we find ourselves more naturally aligned with entrepreneurs and small business owners. They naturally feel ‘the connection.’ They’re closer to what they’re doing in their business. The larger the business, the greater the potential for diminished connection, unless there is a strong, domineering or persuasive founder or leader and a method for keeping that vision in place. Think Apple or Virgin.

If a business is only about numbers, results, quotas, and money, the easier it is for the company to act impersonally and rationalize negative situations. We’re not saying that we believe big business, the large corporation, is bad. Quite the contrary. To us, size doesn’t matter–only the vision. As we were quoted in Inc. magazine in December 2004:

“…the words of Jessica Rabbit, “I’m not bad, I just drawn that way.” Companies aren’t bad; the leaders of companies may be bad.”

Looking for quick fixes, the silver bullets, is a major side effect of this type of disconnected operation. We just did a live internet presentation to nearly 400 people worldwide and many just wanted to know the “tricks” of how to use branding to make more their business more successful. Looking for just the ‘tricks’ they missed the whole simple point.

The act of being sure you are personally connected to your business is where branding truly begins. Disembodied corporate brand leaders in ivory towers with deep pockets have the resources to “buy” a personal connection. Even still, this ‘purchased’ connection is hit or miss depending on who is hired to create the personal connection and their own connection to the product or service being branded. Believe it or not, entrepreneurs and small business owners have the advantage.

A more foolproof, cost-effective method is to make sure you, your staff, or your executive team is fully connected – emotionally, energetically and effectively to your business. If you’re in business just to make money, make sure you’re in the business that focuses on money, like banking, Western Union, or if you have really high hopes…the Federal Reserve.

We include ourselves with the likes of Oprah, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Anita Roddick, Mark Victor Hansen, Wayne Dyer, and many many others, who are not solely driven by the desire of money and the fast way to it. This illustrious group has been gifted not only vision and leadership but also the instinct and the dedication to create their vision in a natural organic order. Our personal mission is to share that process with small business owners so that everyone can experience the personal joy and financial success that these leaders demonstrate year after year.

Individuals and small companies truly have the power to easily change the world. The large companies have deep stockpiled resources but the rest of us have so much more. In this one-world market, fueled by the Internet, all types of businesses with all types of positive impact can succeed… and succeed BIG.

To genuinely succeed as a small business, you need to take a ‘whole success’ systems view and not be afraid to use both the tangible and intangible methods:

o Invest the time to know yourself. Your success potential soars when you can express your unique gifts in all facets of your life. This is especially important in your largest focus of time each day (other than sleeping) your business activities. No more, “I can’t wait to leave work.” Change that to, ” I love how I spend my day.”

o Begin to align yourself with your business by carefully examining what business you are truly in and how it is connected to who you really are. If you can’t find the connection or it’s weak, and then change it. If it is only for the money, look for the business that is aligned with your passion of money. Contrary to logic, it is harder to stay in the condition that is not ‘right,’ than the energy it takes to make the change. When the change is right, it will be surprisingly effortless.

o Anchor your business to your power by developing your business using a process that is most in tune with discovering and connecting your unique passion to the company’s name, logo, look & feel and language.

o Know that business IS deeply personal and that the balance of work and life is the key, not the separation. To truly be successful, you need to “live” your brand, and be fully engaged in a balanced life– including health, relationships, the exchange of value, and the use and care of money.

We hope you’ll join us, and many others, in the business revolution that is coming. This insurgency is consciously building sustainable independence through a complete connection to their work.

Many business buyers unfortunately pay a heavy price for not
investing in appropriate business acquisition expertise and
counsel after they’ve bought a business. They clearing bought
the wrong business or the right business for the wrong purchase
terms and now they end up paying dearly financially and
personally. Some business buyers, without adequate contingency
funds, loose the business altogether!

Financial Risks and NON-Financial Risks to Buying a Business

Whether you are a veteran business buyer or someone who
purchases a company once in a lifetime, you need to take the
time upfront to think about what really is at stake in any
contemplated business purchase. It is most enlightening for
business buyers to evaluate an acquisition from a financial and
a non-financial perspective. Let’s take a deeper look at these
business buying risk elements:

Financial Risk Elements:

* The $ you personally invest in the business purchase

* The “$ finder’s fees” you pay to locate the business

* The seller’s $ business brokerage fee you indirectly pay

* The lost $ income while you are searching and evaluating a
business to buy

* The $ acquisition counsel fees paid, (CPA, Attorney, Market
research, Consultants)

* The $ cost of personal guarantees for acquisition debt and
asset leases

* The $ interest on acquisition debt

* The $ you overpaid for the business, (determined long after
closing)

* The capital needed post purchase for “business surprises”

NON-Financial Risk Elements:

* Your time away from other things important to you

* Your stress levels, negative health consequences

* Your additional marriage stress

* Your self confidence/ esteem damage

* Your reputation

* Your personal credit rating

* Your future employment prospects

Obviously it is much easier to put a monetary value on the
financial risk elements than the non-financial. For that
matter, putting a monetary value on your personal risk elements
may not be appropriate for this analysis. However, it may be
insightful to put some numbers next to the financial risk items
listed above to give you a better feel of what really is at
stake.

Concepts to Consider to Reduce Your Own “Business Buyer Risk”

There are many noteworthy tactics you can consider and implement
to reduce your risk levels in buying a business. Some of these
concepts listed below may warrant further consideration:

A 3rd party business appraisal that comes in significantly below
the seller’s asking price should be leveraged in any way
possible to reduce the company purchase price, buyer down
payment levels, seller financing interest, buyer debt payment
time frames … whatever you can RE-negotiate!

Do what you can to eliminate personal guarantee’s. This is best
accomplished within the business purchase terms. The business
buyer will undoubtedly appreciate this concept if the business
has to close its doors later.

If you hire the “right” business acquisition advisor you can
eliminate over half of your common business acquisition “sunk
costs”, even legal and accounting fees!

If you can utilize low or no cost means to find viable
businesses for sale that do not include a seller intermediary
cost augmentation to the purchase price, you can save thousands
of dollars and/ or significantly expand the seller’s ability to
negotiate.

If you can maintain your current source of income AND search,
qualify and negotiate a business purchase you can realize
substantial financial risk reduction.

If possible, structure acquisition advisor compensation formats
based on actual first year, post closing business results. This
concept will intensify advisor involvement and almost guarantee
continued support during the most challenging first months of
ownership.

Make a conscious effort not to try to do everything yourself.
Allocate funds to utilize high value expertise and reduce the
time required to either finalize or kill the deal.

Lastly, and probably most important, if you are heavily
leveraging personal assets and you are married, communicate all
the risks and all potential positive and negative consequences
of buying a business to your spouse. The personal risks of
buying a business are truly the most important!

This article is not intended to demotivate business buyers but
to give them another viable perspective about business merger
and acquisition risk and reward relationships before limited
human and financial resources are further invested in a pending
business purchase. As you can see, the risk of buying a
business starts at the moment you invest any of your time to
pursue a business.

If you correctly purchase a profitable business or obtain “a
deal” on an undervalued viable business, you should expect your
company’s annual profits and your owner’s compensation to total
at least 5% of total net revenues. Remember, best of all, that
your personal net worth will increase as you retain your
business profits, consistently pay off debt while your
company’s market value increases over time … this is the
“reward” part of the risk / reward perspective!

As a business buyer, you often need to use “creative” means to
position yourself to get the first, if not the only, shot at a
promising business acquisition candidate. You need to explore
as many ways as you can to find quality companies that are for
sale that can be bought with extraordinarily favorable purchase
terms. Pursuing acquisitions that surface due to unexpected
business events or catastrophic business owner life situations
can a “win-win” opportunity for both business buyers and
sellers.

Unexpected Personal and Business Events

Assuming you have clearly defined business purchase criteria and
have the purchase skills and financial resources to effectively
respond to an unexpected, short term disposition business
purchase opportunity, you may want to leverage common personal
and business events to your purchase advantage.

Although catastrophic events are relatively rare in business,
they are genuine realities and must be dealt with in a prompt
fashion by business owners to reduce further company value
deterioration or even potential liquidation.

Personal life events for business owners such as death, divorce,
indictment, sickness, disability or addiction to expensive
vices often significantly accelerates the need to recapitalize
or sell the business owner’s viable business.

Unexpected catastrophic business consequences, realized from
unexpected events or neglect, stupidity or devastating reactive
business tactics such as: large liability claims, loss of a
major customer(s), government seizures or new legislation,
employee fraud, strikes, lender financing changes or no viable
contingencies for acts of God, to name just a few, also
significantly accelerate the need to refinance or quickly
market the business for sale.

How Fast Do You Need To React?

Business buyers typically do not want to purchase a company that
has experienced a major unexpected setback or have to put
themselves through a quick “buying blitz” to qualify a rapidly
deteriorating acquisition candidate. However, high return on
investment purchase opportunities resulting from catastrophic
events, of viable businesses that are consistently profitable
with immediate, critical, financial or human resource
deprivation are often well worth the extraordinary effort.

To quickly restore a business to its established efficiency a
business buyer must act quickly to qualify and close the
business purchase. Often the business buyer who can react the
quickest in its purchase methodology or offer immediate
purchase funds will easily offset a higher purchase price
offering from another potential buyer.

For a business owner personal tragedy, a business buyer
typically has less than 60 days to buy the company before major
value deterioration occurs. For a wide variety of major
business catastrophes, a business buyer typically has slightly
more time, but not much more!

How Do I Find These “Deals”?

Effectively locating immediately distressed businesses that must
be recapitalized or sold because of unexpected personal
business owner situations or business management misfortunes
does not happen overnight. It requires a premeditated,
organized and ongoing program of communication and
documentation of your distressed business purchase interests to
legal, financial and business brokerage intermediaries who
typically must handle these extraordinary situations.
Reinforcing your unique interests and abilities to respond to
specific business catastrophe situations also requires periodic
oral and written communication to these same types of business
service providers.

Steps to “Get the Word Out”

* Define and document your distressed business purchase criteria

* Define business: legal, financial and acquisition service
providers who typically deal with distressed business
situations: M&A or Probate attorneys, Bank Trust Departments,
Commercial bank “workout” managers or “turn-around”
acquisition intermediaries: investment bankers, business
brokers, consultants or CPA’s

* Get the word out! Implement an organized effort to communicate
and document your specific catastrophic business purchase
criteria to all above noted service providers

* Periodically reinforce your distressed business purchase
interests and criteria with broadcast mailings, announcements
or advertisements

* Embellish your successful acquisitions of distressed
businesses with press releases and formal printed or
electronic announcements to like business service providers

Often the more “creative” you are to find deals, the quicker
you’ll find the “right” deal. The more diverse your means to
locate viable companies that are for sale, the better your
chances of finding a quality acquisition candidate that few
others are aware of.

As a business buyer, you have two ways to look at buying
businesses based on catastrophic events: 1) as negative, taking
advantage of distressed sellers, or, 2) as positive, taking
advantage of a unique opportunity to become a business
seller’s, “savior”, the best means available to allow their
employees to keep their jobs and continue to provide for their
families. You make the choice… like most lucrative business
opportunities, if you don’t participate, others more than
likely will!

Thousands of company purchase candidates defined, that lead to
hundreds of contacts to be made, resulting in tens of
acquisition conversations that hopefully lead to ONE company
acquisition! Many merger and acquisition veterans will tell
you “It takes 100 potential opportunities to get one good
deal” … a numbers game.

At any point in the business buyer’s purchase process, for any
number of valid or invalid reasons, either the business buyer
or the business seller can call off the potential deal. Most
potential business mergers and acquisitions pursuits do fall
apart. The human and financial costs to both parties involved
can be significant, sometimes devastating.

What Is a Business Buyer to Do?

From a business buyer’s perspective, there are four fundamental
stages to finalizing a business acquisition: searching for a
business, qualifying the business, valuing it and negotiating
with the seller. This article will highlight how a business
buyer can eliminate many of the major, common mistakes buyers
make within these business purchase steps:

THE BUSINESS SEARCH STAGE:

As a business buyer you want to use as many means possible to
position yourself to get the first shot at a viable business
that can be purchased. Preferably your goal should be to find
a purchase opportunity where you have no other purchase
competition. Herein lies the most noteworthy justification for
being as creative and diverse as you can be to locate
acquisition candidates.

Often the more “creative” you are to find companies to purchase
the quicker you’ll find the “right” deal. This is particularly
true if you seek to locate quality candidate companies that
are not officially “for sale”. The level of buyer competition
is often most intense relative to quality companies who have
NO KNOWN justification to consider a merger or acquisition
offer. If the business owner has no compelling reason to sell,
knows he has a company of extraordinary value, in great
purchase demand, more often than not, only creativity will get
you in front of that potential seller.

THE BUSINESS QUALIFICATION STAGE:

As a business buyer you not only need to know how to
effectively qualify a business financially and non-
financially, but you must present your financial and management
capabilities to the business seller in a most professional
manner.

Often business buyers have not prepared in advance a formal,
written: resume’, identification and qualification summary of
their “purchase team” or validation of their financial
resources, to be provided to the business seller at
introduction. To an owner of a quality business, getting this
information early in the mutual buyer/seller evaluation
process is critical, especially if there are multiple buyer
candidates.

THE BUSINESS VALUATION STAGE:

As a business buyer you need to know “what you don’t know”! Do
not try to do everything yourself, especially if you are not
familiar with the task requirements at hand.

When it comes to determining the market value of a business, a
business buyer must hire a proven business valuation expert
for two key reasons:

1) This step in the business purchase process can be very
complex and warrants utilization of proven expertise, and

2) When it comes to presenting a market value to a business
owner who has invested significant time and money to “build
his baby”, you as a business buyer want to make sure the
business valuation analysis and final valuation number comes
from a “3rd party”. It is much easier to negotiate a purchase
price with the business seller if you weren’t the same guy who
established the opening “low ball” offer!

THE BUSINESS NEGOTIATION STAGE:

As a business buyer you essentially want to purchase
controlling interest in a viable business for a fair price,
with favorable purchase terms, financed with as much of other
entity’s money as possible.

The negotiation portion of the business purchase process with
the business seller, or their representative, is where most of
this purchase objective can become a realization. Effective
negotiation skills are not innate. They are developed, acquired
and honed over many years of “verbal warfare”. Plan
and practice you negotiation strategy prior to meeting with
the owner and hire a professional if you have any doubt about
your desired outcome. This is NOT the point in the business
purchase process to start to minimize your acquisition costs!

The odds of a business buyer finding and effectively buying a
quality business are against him before he even starts his
business purchase program. Ultimately the business seller
knows EVERYTHING about the business for sale but the business
buyer theoretically only knows what he asks about or
determines to be valid via his due diligence …”buyer beware”!

Buying a business is truly a numbers game … a game that can be
consistently won if the business buyer truly understands his
challenge at hand and has the discipline to know when to stop
the purchase pursuit and utilize proven business merger and
acquisition expertise.

As a business buyer, each and every sentence within the business
purchase contract needs to be read, understood and agreed to
before you sign on the “dotted line”. This article will give
the business buyer a quick “fly-over “of the most significant
concepts one should understand relative to development and
eventual execution of any business purchase contract.

“He Who Writes, Wins!”

If you have been consistently exposed to business contracts in
your career, you quickly learn to appreciate the concept that,
in development of most complex business agreements, “He who
writes, wins!” Any attorney will tell you that it is always in
his, his client’s, best interest to be the author of the
business contract to be signed in a two party agreement. As a
business buyer, you want to be the writer of the purchase
contact. If you personally cannot effectively write one, invest
the money and have a competent contract lawyer write a purchase
contract on your behalf. If the business seller, or their legal
counsel writes the business purchase contract be sure you and
your attorney evaluate every detail within.

Always Maintain a “Paper Trail”

Given the extraordinary amount of capital involved in most
business mergers or acquisitions, coupled with the wide range
of people, conversations, meetings and iterative business
evaluation steps involved to effectively buy a business, it is
imperative for the business buyer to maintain ongoing, copious
notes of all related events and communication exchanged between
themselves and the business seller or their designated
representative, throughout the purchase process.

There are three significant advantages for the business buyer in
maintaining a paper trail of notes during the purchase process:
1) All key agreement points can be traced to a specific buyer/
seller conversation, 2) If something is written, it can be
improved upon by either party, if it is not documented, the
likelihood of refining the content is significantly reduced, 3)
Sometimes related records can be incorporated into the final
business purchase contract as an addendum or attached exhibit

“Buyer Beware!”

As a business buyer, you like to think that all business sellers
are honest, forthright and have genuine intentions of
developing a mutually beneficial business purchase contract.
Most business sellers are! However, like in any complex asset
purchase agreement, neither party knows what negative future
consequences may surface in the ownership of the sold asset.
More often than not, in a business purchase contract, it’s the
business buyer who exclusively must address the problem not
thought of or included in the final purchase contract. The
negative consequences of many common business misfortunes can
be reduced, shared between the business buyer and seller, or
eliminated altogether with proper business purchase contract
contingency language

Fundamental Business Purchase Contract Concepts

Listed below are some fundamental business purchase contract
concepts that any prudent business buyer will want to
incorporate in their legal due diligence and documentation
fulfillment:

Astute business buyers never present an offer to purchase
a business without preceding it with a nonbinding “Letter of
Intent” to purchase. (If you are not familiar with the
purpose or advantages of use of a “LOI”, you must research
this topic)

Never make a purchase offer and certainly never sign a
purchase offer or make an earnest money deposit until after
you completed most of the due diligence required to
effectively evaluate the business for sale.

No business purchase terms should ever be communicated to
the business seller without a written statement from the
business buyer to the seller, specifically documenting,
“that any, and all, purchase terms are subject to analysis,
justification and confirmation by an independent business
appraisal entity, employed and paid by the business buyer”.

Be suspect of “canned” business purchase contracts
provided by the seller’s broker or representative, they are
typically “seller biased”

Be sure to negotiate a reasonable time period to evaluate
and approve all documents provided to you from the business
seller or their representative for your required due
diligence

Invest in an environmental analysis of the business
premises and keep the business seller “on the hook” for any
future environmental $ penalties or negative consequences
realized as a result any documented negative environmental
conditions made prior to the sale of the business

If something does not make sense to you, ask, make sure
you understand every detail

Utilize all the expertise available to you from your
intended primary lender on the deal

If there are noteworthy levels of inventory and assets
involved, inspect each item and use credible valuation
expertise to determine approximate market value. This can
represent significant dollars to you in the future as the
business owner.

All current legal encumbrances or extraordinary
liabilities should remain the responsibility of the business
seller

Any discovered misrepresentations associated with
documents provided by the seller or their designated
representative to the business buyer, that surface in the
future operation of the business should remain “fair game”
for financial resolution, from the seller to the buyer, post
purchase

All records provided by the seller or their designated
representative, to the business buyer should become an
purchase contract addendum or exhibit and be subject to
seller warranty of accuracy

Lastly, there are published business purchase contract
content “checklists” available, take the time to review
these, especially business seller warranties and
representations

Typical business purchase contracts prepared by business sellers
or their representatives often contain many provisions which
are dangerous to business buyers. In many cases it is not what
is written that is of greatest concern, it is what is omitted
that represents a potential time bomb that will eventually
explode long after the business seller has left town with your
money. Take the time, invest the money, expend the necessary
thought required to structure a mutually beneficial business
purchase agreement with the business seller!

Couda, shouda, wouda

Why did you miss out? Was it lack of knowledge? Was it indecision? If it was lack of knowledge, you can forgive yourself. You can not know what you do not know. There was nothing you could do about it. If it was indecision, there was something you could have done.

Oportunity is the fruit of Convergence. Peter Drucker defines opportunity this way:

“Opportunity in the market place is because of a process of convergence of forces that were previously not together.”

The idea of forces coming together, converging, is stronger than the business itself. The essential forces Peter Drucker did not individually identify as converging will be enumerated and discussed in this article.

There are five essential forces that must be present for any successful online homebased business opportunity. This article will describe these five essential forces that must be in place for any online homebased business opportunity to be successful. These five essential forces apply to any online homebased business opportunity. They are universal, abstract, and independent of business type. They apply from academia to zymology.

A simple analytical method to evaluate these essential elements and arrive at a numerical figure of merit will be presented. The method is strong, impersonal, and reliable. You will arrive at a numerical rating for the relative strength for the Probability of Success (S) for any online homebased business opportunity you care to evaluate. Reducing the evaluation to a number between zero and 100 gives you a powerful, impartial method to evaluate or compare any online homebased business opportunity. This will remove emotion from the decision process.

Convergence of these five essential ingredients is absolutely essential for success. All five forces must be present simultaneously. In other words, they must all converge at the same point in time for the same business venture. They must all be in the right place at the right time to create a successful online homebased business opportunity.

These forces are the essence of all businesses, regardless of product. They are like the spokes in a wagon wheel. If one spoke is missing, the wheel breaks down. Each factor dramatically affects the success of any online homebased business opportunity.

Without the convergence of these five forces there is no online homebased business opportunity. If there is no convergence, there is nothing you can do to make the business a success. No amount of hard work and no amount of money will yield success.

Opportunity presents itself only when all these forces are in simultaneous alignment. One force is not considered more important than the others. The order in which they are presented is no indication of their relative values. They will be discussed in random order.

This method is not buried in concrete. Feel free to make your own assessments of relative importance. When you finally establish a value, stick with it. Be consistent so comparisons can be made between one online homebased business opportunity and another. For example, if you decide leadership has a maximum value of 2 or 5, stick with it on any online homebased business opportunity you wish to evaluate.

It will be convenient if the sum of the maximum values allowed always equals 100. In this case, Leadership has been arbitrarily assigned a maximum value of 2. All you need to do is decide if the leadership of your proposed online homebased business opportunity deserves a zero, 1, or 2.

1. Company (C ) (Maximum = 20)

Company Management (Maximum = 10)

Leadership (2)

Confidence or trust (2)

Experience (2)

Honesty (2)

Influence (2)

Company Financial Stability (Maximum = 10)

Assets (2)

Cash (2)

Credit Rating (2)

Visibility (2)

Technology (2)

Many start-up online homebased business opportunities do not have the financial assets to sustain their own growth. A viable online homebased business opportunity must have very deep pockets or be owned by a company with very deep pockets, preferably a parent company that has already gone through the growth cycle and has the funds to support the new growth.

2. ProDucts (D) (Maximum = 20)

Leading Edge Product Technology (Maximum = 5)

R&D

Proprietary (No other place to get it)

Competitive

Product Quality (Maximum = 5)

Quality, like Reliability, must be built into the design and process. It cannot be “tested” or “worked” into the products.

Product Fills a Recognizable Need (Maximum = 5)

There should be a clear need for your product or service. If there is no need, there is no demand, and there is no opportunity. There may be very little demand for 78 rpm vinyl records.

Consumable (Maximum = 5)

If the product is not consumable, there is no additional market after the initial sales and there is no opportunity.

Trends (R) (Maximum = 20)

Demographic Trends (Maximum = 10)

As individuals, we can not create a demographic trend. We can only recognize it and take advantage of it. The “Baby Boomers” are the largest market in history. Starting immediately after WWII, 76 million babies were born during the period between1945 to 1964. When the first of these babies were born, a powerful demand for baby products materialized. Companies like Johnson & Johnson and Gerber’s made huge profits. As these babies started shaving, Gillette started making huge profits. As they learned to drive, the Ford Mustang was in demand. As these babies began to have babies, the Mini-Van became desirable. If your online homebased business opportunity is positioned in front of the Baby Boomers, assign Demographic Trends a maximum value.

Economic Trends (Maximum = 10)

Individuals do not create an economic trend. Individuals have no control over economic trends; however certain businesses are sensitive to economic trends. Real estate is sensitive to interest rates. In times of economic downtrends a low number would be assigned. Cosmetics, on the other hand, are virtually immune to economic downtrends and would be assigned a high number. People will give up eating to look good and feel good. If your online homebased business opportunity is immune to economic trends assign a high number.

Timing (T) (Maximum = 20)

You have no doubt heard the expression that in real estate the three most important factors are Location, Location, and Location. In an online homebased business opportunity, the mantra is Timing, Timing, and Timing.

If one force is more important than the others, perhaps timing is the most important element of success. Timing, like trends, is also beyond your control. Like trends, you can only recognize timing and take advantage of it. There is nothing you can do to improve timing. It is either there or it is not. If timing is present assign a high number based upon the following criteria.

A. Formulation Phase: (Maximum = 20)

This is the phase where research and development are just completed. Production and initial marketing efforts begin. This region is characterized by slow, deliberate growth. As an agricultural example, this is the time for planting. It is defined as the region of the growth curve where income from sales is less than $50 million per year.

This is the time to get into any business. It requires forethought and knowledge. It does not require speculation. It requires due diligence on your part to study the online homebased business opportunity and arrive at your estimate of the strength of the five essential force ingredients of a successful online business venture. If you identify that your online homebased business opportunity is in the formulation phase, assign timing a value of 20.

B. Critical Mass Point

he critical mass point is defined as sales of $50 million per year. This is the point which will determine ” When”. This is the point when your labors will begin to yield fruit at such a great rate you will be unable to contain them. From this point onward, the curve rises ever so steeply. This is the time to act quickly and decisively. If you are not on board at this time, your online homebased business opportunity will quickly leave you behind. If you identify that your online homebased business opportunity is at the critical point, assign timing a value of 20.

C. Momentum

Momentum is defined as sales greater than $50 million per year and increasing very rapidly. If you have exercised your desire, ability, and motivation, you have already become a participant before your online homebased business opportunity reaches momentum. You have exercised your choice and are now in position to enjoy the fruits of your labor. There is nothing you can do to stop the momentum which is now building beneath you. It is beyond your control. It is like a giant wave that carries you to the pinnacle of success. There may be some who grab onto an online homebased business opportunity as it speeds by them, but the exponential growth eventually decays exponentially as the wave crest rises higher and higher until the opportunity diminishes. For example, you could buy Microsoft stock now, but the big opportunity is already over and it will never come back again. If you find your online homebased business opportunity is just starting into momentum, assign timing a value closer to 20. If you find your online homebased business opportunity near the top of the curve, near stabilization (defined below), assign timing a number closer to one.

D. Stabilization

This is the area where the exponential growth has died out. Momentum has dissipated. Sales are good, but sales are not increasing exponentially. The business is mature, stable, and secure. The curve is relatively flat, and growth has slowed to a value similar to the development phase. The online homebased business opportunity has gone. It is passed. It is over. There is no online homebased business opportunity. If you find that your online homebased business opportunity is in stabilization, assign timing a value near zero and start looking for another online homebased business opportunity.

Compensation (K) (Maximum = 20)

Leverage (Maximum = 10)

If you trade time for money, you will never get ahead by investing one increment of your time for one increment of income. You will remain in the very treadmill you are trying to escape. You will get by, but you will never get ahead. If you want to get ahead, you must find a way to multiply your efforts. That is done by leveraging yourself. J. Paul Getty stated this clearly when he said:

“I had rather have one percent of a hundred people’s efforts than 100% of my own efforts”.

If you have no way to leverage yourself (e.g. fixed salary) assign leverage a number near zero. If you can leverage yourself, assign a number closer to 10.

Multiple ways to earn income (Maximum = 10)

Sales Profits (1)

When you can profit from your own sales efforts, assign a value of 1, otherwise zero.

Override (1)

If you receive override compensation on the efforts of others, assign a value of 1, otherwise zero.

Matching (5)

If you can receive matching compensation on the efforts of others, assign a full value of 5.

Residual (2)

If you can build your equity to the point that you have residual compensation from your previous efforts, assign a value of 2.

Perpetuity (1)

If your equity is yours to sell or will to your survivors, assign a value of 1, otherwise zero.

Define the Possibility for Success (P) as being totally dependent upon the sum of the five prime forces required for a successful business (above). Notice that it has nothing to do with you. The only thing you will do is evaluate each ingredient and assign it a strength value. This will depend upon the research you conduct to gain information about the five essentials for the particular online homebased business opportunity. Assign each one of the five ingredients a value from zero to 20 according to the instructions presented above. (Naturally, 20 is the ideal, strongest value.) You have determined all the values for C, D, R, T, and K.
Repeating, you have evaluated each force ingredient separately and arrived at your evaluation of its relative strength.

Add up all five of your separate evaluations.

P = C + D + R + T + K

For example, if all five ingredients are present in your online homebased business opportunity and each is individually evaluated as being 20, then:

P = 20 + 20 + 20 + 20 + 20

P = 100

Let us further define a Multiplier (M), as a figure of merit derived from your desire, motivation, and ability to succeed. Let M be limited to a number between zero and one with zero being the worst case and one being the best case. Note that this multiplier is entirely dependent upon you, not the online homebased business opportunity. Determine this multiplier number by self-evaluating your desire, ability, and motivation. Notice that the multiplier number does not depend on your time. Too many people say “I don’t have the time.” That means you are “too busy chopping wood to stop and sharpen the axe”. Successful people do not have time—they make time. Ideally, you want to rate yourself as a “1″, not a zero. But unto thine ownself be true.

Define Success (S) as:

S = M(P)

If you are a “one” and not a “zero”, and all five ingredients of your online homebased business opportunity are present at their full value, there is no gamble since:

S = 1(100)

S = 100

Having completed your “due diligence”, failure is no longer an option or possibility. The probability for success is 100 percent. Your success is assured. It is no longer a question of “If”. It is simply a question of “When”.

Get on board this online homebased business opportunity fast

Use this procedure one each online homebased business opportunity that you wish to evaluate and compare.