Make the Leap

[anthuwin]

If you are going to build a successful Home Business,you need 3 intangibles:
First,you must have a strong WHY.
Why must you make a home business work?What's driving you?What is it that you CAN'T have in your life anymore and/or what is it that you absolutely MUST HAVE now?
For me,i couldn't stand working 12+ hours a day anymore and missing the experience of my children growing up.I also absolutely HAD TO HAVE the freedom of being able to control my life and finances.
Secontly,you must BELIEVE that it is possible.
For me,figuring out that it was possible was just a matter of realizing that many other people were ALREADY making great money with a home business online.If they could do it,i could it.Truth is,it's getting easier and easier to succeed in a home business.And the cost to start is very low.
Third,you must make THE LEAP.
Ready,fire,then aim...This is the operating philosophy you MUST adopt to succeed with an Internet home business.It may sound backwards.But the fact is,the internet is a moving target...the only thing constant about it is change.You need to stop analyzing the game and simply jump into it.You can't learn from the outside...You have to be IN THE RING to truly understand it.
The lesson here is that you will never really be READY to start a home based business.You simply have to start one.This is what i call "MAKING THE LEAP"
The good news is that the cost of failure on the internet is very very small.And you can often start a successful home business for less than $20.
A great example of this is a program called Be Motivated Today:http://www.bemotivatedtoday.com/82786
You simply need to get in the GAME...each moment that you stay out there,you're wasting valuable time that you could be learning and skills necessary to become a successful entrepreneur.

[Dave A]

I have to say I chewed hard before passing this one through moderation, but frankly the post does pose some interesting questions.

For starters:

Can an affiliate in an affiliate program be classified as an entrepreneur?
For that matter, can an Independant Business Operator (IBO) in more traditonal MLM's such as Amway, GNLD, Tupperware, Avon etc. be classified as entrepreneurs?

p.s. If you're considering trying Be Motivated Today - make sure you read this discussion first. (Sorry Anthuwin - consider it the price for overlooking your breach of the TFSA advertising policy).

[adrianh]

Interesting how some consider sitting on their a$$e$ waiting for other people to sign up to THEIR rung in an American pyramid scheme to be entreprenuership.

[Blurock]

Interesting how some consider sitting on their a$$e$ waiting for other people to sign up to THEIR rung in an American pyramid scheme to be entreprenuership.

I cannot agree more. If you are selling something, you show the PRODUCT to the customer who then decides to buy or not. Considerations will be the features and benefits of the product. In the case of these pyramid schemes, the product is kept a secret and is only revealed to you after you have attended a presentation and signed up to their scheme.

You will then get an "Introduction Pack", further training material and maybe a small stock of products. All this you pay for and keep paying for until you leave the scheme. You also have to attend meetings which is usually once a week where you will introduce your catch for the week. This is held at night, so there goes my family time! Your catch of the week will be handed over to an experienced sales manager/principal/co-ordinator what ever who can talk the socks off anyone. (You may also eventually be able to do the hard selling bit if you stick to the training programme and invest enough money).

[Citizen X]

Selling an intangible product or service will always have it's critics and rightfully so. I will never endorse such a concept, I'll never recommend this concept as a bona fide business to anyone under any circumstance!

[Blurock]

Interesting how some consider sitting on their a$$e$ waiting for other people to sign up to THEIR rung in an American pyramid scheme to be entreprenuership.

In the same vein; do you consider someone who buys a franchise as an entrepreneur? Considering that he has to conform to the strict rules of a franchise and can not use any initiative to make a different hamburger or pizza of his own design?

[Chrisjan B]

Interesting question that, but when he bought the second franchise then he is an entrepreneur...

[Blurock]

Interesting question that, but when he bought the second franchise then he is an entrepreneur...

What is different with the 2nd franchise? Is it not "paint by numbers" also?

[Dave A]

In the same vein; do you consider someone who buys a franchise as an entrepreneur? Considering that he has to conform to the strict rules of a franchise and can not use any initiative to make a different hamburger or pizza of his own design?

And yet some franchisees succeed and flourish and others fail despite same product and business model...

I think even in a classic franchise situation, the soft skills and self-discipline of the franchisee matters - and there's no doubt that varies from person to person.

Dragging franchises into the mix, there was a patch where MLM's (or at least their promoters) were painting "distributors" as "franchise operators." It ticked off the franchise industry enough for them to go to the ASA about it (and win the argument).

It's amazing how things change over time. I can recall a time when a company that just franchised their concept (rather than build a business out of that concept themselves) were questioned as to whether they were a "real" business.

Maybe one day making a living out of dropping affiliate links all over social media sites and encouraging other people to do the same will be considered a "real business."

[Darkangelyaya]

Interesting how some consider sitting on their a$$e$ waiting for other people to sign up to THEIR rung in an American pyramid scheme to be entreprenuership.

Lol, you always manage to make me laugh when you're so direct about stating what most of us are thinking anyway.

[Darkangelyaya]

Be Motivated Today

BTW, they happily took my money...
As a result:
I'm motivated to the point of being comatose.

[Blurock]

And yet some franchisees succeed and flourish and others fail despite same product and business model...

I think even in a classic franchise situation, the soft skills and self-discipline of the franchisee matters - and there's no doubt that varies from person to person.

I would consider that to be management skills. Maybe also an intrepreneur (a person who has entrepreneurial skills, but is employed by someone else).

Maybe one day making a living out of dropping affiliate links all over social media sites and encouraging other people to do the same will be considered a "real business."

Exactly like unsolicited and unplanned cold calling. The more people you contact, the more chance you have of hooking just that one prospect.

[adrianh]

There doesn't seem to be a single clear definition of the erm "Entreprenuer"

I suppose the best description would be "a person who creates business where there was none before" - this of course means that buying and runnning a franchise or getting poor sods to sign up to your MLM is not considered to be entreprenuerial because you are not creating NEW business - you are simply extending an existing business.

[Dave A]

... is not considered to be entreprenuerial because you are not creating NEW business - you are simply extending an existing business.

I had thought of that. The hitch in that thinking is the folk who buy struggling businesses, make them very profitable, sell them and go onto the next. To my mind that's very entrepreneurial.

[Blurock]

I like the definition by the Stanford Business School:

en·tre·pre·neur /ˌäntrəprəˈno͝or/

Noun
1. A person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on financial risk to do so.
2. A promoter in the entertainment industry.

Synonyms
contractor - undertaker - businessman - impresario

Consider the example of a promoter who identifies an artist as worthy of promoting. He hires a venue and supporting acts and spends money on staging a production. This may be his own or borrowed money, which he will have to repay anyway.

He sells tickets in the hope that enough people will attend to cover the cost of putting up the production. If the artist is good, more people will attend and hopefully the show may be extended. The longer the show runs, the more profit there is to be made after paying the artists and the production people.

If the show flops, he still needs to pay the salaries of the people involved and cost of production, the venue etc. In business it is exactly the same. That is the risk that you take as an entrepreneur.