Search Results for: blog focusing on performance for your business

Sample Annual Review for a Home Based Business

Yesterday, I talked about the importance of evaluating your performance and the performance of your home – based business at least once a year. Since I have not evaluated my two home – based businesses yet this year, now is a good time for me to do so. Today I am evaluating my freelance writing business. It is the business that I spend the most time working at, and the business that is my primary source of income. Just so you know exactly what is being evaluated, my freelance writing business is a sole proprietorship. I work part time, between ten and … Continue reading →

Understanding Visibility for Your Business

There is a difference between public relations and “visibility” when it comes to your business marketing and promotions. Visibility refers to how visible your business is—how “out in public” it is and how aware your public or market is of your business and what you do. Visibility can be a real problem for home-based businesses since many of us don’t have a physical location or “store” where we can draw attention to our operations. This reality doesn’t have to mean that we toil away in obscurity, however. In this day and age, we can create visibility for our businesses without … Continue reading →

Focusing on “Performance” For Your Business

“Performance” is one of those buzz words that gets thrown around for all sorts of things—particularly in the business world. It is one of those words that gets bantered about so much, it can lose its meaning and you might be wondering how, in your little home-based business, performance really comes into play? Performance is basically how well you are executing your business operations. It might mean different things to you than it does to your customers and clients. Your customers want to know that they are getting a good product, service and value and they want to know that … Continue reading →

Dealing with Different Standards

Standards and expectations can play a big part in our customer relations. Even if we think we have high standards, we may very well be facing a different set of standards as we work with different clients and customers. Finding a common ground and having the tact not to offend anyone is one of the customer service and relationship issues that come with the small business territory. I find that it does not matter how high I think my work standards are, there are always going to be those who have higher ones. AND, there are going to be those … Continue reading →

Do You Have Enough Information to Make a Good Decision?

When it comes to our home businesses, it is often NOT that we cannot make a good or reasonable decision when problem-solving opportunities arrive, but that we don’t gather enough information prior to making those decisions. We may feel rushed or as if we need to make a quick decision right now and we haven’t even gotten a clear picture of the problem or the situation yet. It may just be a matter of our needing to take time to gather all that information, in order to make sound and successful decisions. It takes some patience and persistence in order … Continue reading →

Should You Use Promotional Products?

What do you think of when you think of promotional products to market your business? Do you think of the annual calendars that your hardware store or bank gives out? Or, perhaps all those ball point pens you’ve collected with the names of various businesses written across them? The idea of putting a business name or brand on a useful item as means to promote the business is an old one, but it does still work. Have you given much thought to ways you can use promotional products to get the word out about your home business? In addition to … Continue reading →

Dealing With the “Ex” in Public

After a divorce or separation, you may be hoping for “out of sight, out of mind.” Or, at least, you might like to only have to deal with your ex at pre-arranged times for transfers and child-related decisions. However, there is the “public” factor to be considered—all the sporting events, special occasions, and performances involving your child where you will have to deal with the ex, and possible his or her new partner, in public. I don’t know about you, but the public events were the hardest for me to get used to. I would get “triggered”—particularly at my kids’ … Continue reading →