Grab your scorecard all you entrepreneurs with your own home based business. Do you know how to conduct yourself in your business venture? Lets hope so as it will impact your success. Here is a list of some actions you should and shouldnt do as you enter the business world:
Be Honest, Trustworthy and True to Your Word Do Not Make Verbal Contracts
As you encounter people, be honest with them if you are just beginning to build your business you may not promote that fact, but dont hide it either. If you had a set-back and it comes up in a discussion, I recommend you dont attempt to cover it up or discount the impact to your business, but keep the conversation focused on what you learned and how your approach will change next time. If you have had successes, take credit for what you did or how you contributed. If one of your team members accomplished a goal celebrate it, promote it yet keep it about them, not you. People will not stay on your team long if you take away their credit or accomplishments.
To gain the trust of another, it almost seems as if you are taking a series of small tests which you must pass to gain their confidence. With each passing grade, you gain credibility. As you gain credibility, people will open up and share more while still evaluating you and your responses. Trust and respect are earned over time, yet they can be lost in an instant.
For your home based business to grow, you must be true to your word. A person is to be accountable to themselves in order to accomplish the steps and tasks to keep their business moving forward. Just as important is being considerate of others by keeping your appointments, following through when you say you will, and doing what you say you will. Once you disappoint another individual in todays world, you may have a difficult time getting a second chance. The reality is there are too many others who are willing to take your place.
In a business based in your home, you may not be involved with contracts or legal agreements until your business has really taken off. But when the time comes, contracts should be in writing and not just verbal. This is just solid business sense in any type of undertaking.
Smile and Be Friendly to All Keep Friendship Out of Your Decisions
A pleasant smile and a friendly comment is the first step in connecting with others. With your business team members, you wish to develop and maintain a friendly working relationship. With your customers, your smile and friendly greeting will show you value their business. Any time you can ask about their family or a personal situation will show you truly listened to what they shared with your previously. Take the position that you will go out of your way to smile more, to be more friendly, and to make all interaction pleasant.
However, dont take this too far so that you are overly friendly so that people expect you to bend the rules of basic business fairness for them. Any decisions involving a friend should still follow sound business practices. Bending rules for one individual, hiring another only because they are a friend are not sound business decisions. Decisions like this at some point will come back to haunt you. For the health of your business, make your decisions on solid business practices, and not based upon friendship or emotional ties.
Be Persistent, Consistent, and Determined Do Quit at the Right Time or for the Right Reason
Success in your home based business is achieved by calculated effort over a period of time. Understand you will have obstacles and challenges which are a part of the normal success and growth of a business. You may try steps which will fail; use that effort as a learning experience and adjust as necessary and try again.
At times, however, calling it quits is the correct decision. As much as you want a particular promotion, or product to succeed, it still may not happen. So rather than pulling down the remainder of your business or other initiatives, it is an acceptable business decision at times to move on to something else.
Find a Mentor; Ask for Advice Dont Take it Personally
In finding your passion, certain areas will give you pleasure in accomplishing a task or being able to assist others. You may not know exactly how to proceed even if you know which direction you wish to go. Armed with the direction you wish to go, look for others who have experience in that area and request their assistance. This can be in the form of asking questions or seeking direction to secure information based upon an individuals past experiences. You may have someone actually perform a particular task so the next time you may accomplish it on your own, or to have others evaluate your efforts.
When asking for feedback, understand you may receive constructive criticism across a variety of levels. Sometimes it may actually hurt to hear anothers point of view. To improve, we must hear and understand what we need to change about ourselves or our actions to make that improvement. Take the criticism of a particular plan or strategy, but do not take the feedback personally. The information was meant to assist and help you improve as that was the original intent when asking for the advice.
Use Your Connections It Takes More Than Just Connecting
It is perfectly acceptable to allow family, friends, and business associates to put you in touch with people you need to know. It would be a wasted opportunity if you did not pursue these connections. These connections are a means of getting introduced to the right person or having an opportunity to share your product or service.
Understand what the connection means and how far it will take you. A connection will allow you to get your foot in the door, but it does not mean you will be asked to stay. The responsibility of getting others to hear you out falls on yourself. Intelligent business professions make decisions on the value proposition of your product or service, not because of the connection which may have gotten you in the door. The ultimate decision is based upon your ability to fulfill a need for the company or individual. So, once in the door, take your best shot and go for it!
Each home based business entrepreneur will achieve greater success by following these guidelines on how to conduct themselves when interacting with others. How you act, and how you treat others, is very important to the continued success of your business initiative. Following your own golden rule of business conduct will pay results down the road. Your first impression, those first few seconds of a meeting, a phone call or even an email, will set the stage for the time the other individual will give you to sell yourself and your product. Plan your entrance strategy, and then put it into action.