The Carefree Entrepreneur

Success, Anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (The Carefree Entrepreneur) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:39:00 +0000

We all want to be successful.

But few know how to really do it.

One person, Jack Canfield, is a master at this and has just come out with a new book show everyone how to do it too.

I just bought it, and I have to say it's one of the clearest, most complete guides on how to get from where you are to where you want to be that I've ever seen.

I'd suggest checking it out as it could be just the thing to turn your life around:

The Success Principles(TM): How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

Please post your comments below by clicking on the "comments" link.

Biggest Mistake in Home Business #6

noreply@blogger.com (The Carefree Entrepreneur) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:04:00 +0000

Here is something that we've all been guilty of.

Biggest Mistake #6

THE FROG SYNDROME

Every day your email is flooded with new offers and opportunities, some great and some not so great.

You see one that looks like "the biggie" and think, "Boy, this looks great! This is going to be it - the big breakthrough!"

Five minutes later a new email hits your inbox and internally you have the same reaction.

"Wow - this one will make me rich for sure."

Then you start to feel confused, because you have potentially two or more fantastic options in front of you that promise you the world.

You feel if you don't get both, you'll lose out on finally "making it".

So you buy them, start looking at them, start working them, but by the next day, the emails start descending on you, starting the cycle all over again.

"Gee - this one looks better than the last one. Maybe I should try this instead."

You find yourself jumping from opportunity to opportunity as all of them seem like "the latest and greatest".

This is deadly to a home business, because by being a business opportunity seeker instead of a business opportunity doer, you'll never make money, get frustrated, and quit.

The truth is that there will always be great opportunities out there and a few not so great ones mixed in.

But the basics of making money don't change, and while it's always good to keep ahead of the game and educate yourself with the latest money-making information, get the fundamentals, work them, and you'll always make money.

Today's takeaway:

STICK WITH ONE OPPORTUNITY, BECOME SUCCESSFUL AT IT, AND THEN ADD MORE STREAMS OF INCOME

Please leave your feedback below by clicking on the "comments" link.

Biggest Mistakes in Home Business #5

noreply@blogger.com (The Carefree Entrepreneur) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:15:00 +0000

This is a common mistake that many home business owners make, especially right at the beginning.

Biggest Mistake #5

TRYING TO DO EVERYTHING ALONE

You've started your home business, and you've made a plan to accomplish your big picture goals.

Now you have to implement these steps on a day-to-day basis.

You have two choices:

You can do everything yourself.

You can focus only on the things you like to do or that you do well, and outsource everything else.

Many newbies try and do everything themselves, and quickly get overwhelmed. They get discouraged, frustrated, and end up quitting.

They feel like they don't own their business - their business owns them.

But it's very easy to avoid that.

Ask yourself what you like to do. Are you a good writer? Are you good on the phone? Are you a good programmer?

Then do these activities, and outsource everything else.

Go to www.Guru.com or www.Elance.com to find freelancers in pretty much any area you'll ever need in your business.

Hire them for a few dollars an hour, while you focus on what you like to do and what you are good at.

Your time is more valuable than anything, so use it effectively, outsource as much as you can, and you'll find your home business an incredible way to gain the time freedom, and wealth freedom you started it for.

Takeaway for today:

DON'T DO EVERYTHING ALONE - OUTSOURCE, OUTSOURCE, OUTSOURCE

Please leave your feedback below by clicking on the "comments" link.

Biggest Mistakes in Home Business #4

noreply@blogger.com (The Carefree Entrepreneur) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:03:00 +0000

Here's another mistake that many home business owners make.

Biggest Mistake #4

THEY DON'T HAVE A PLAN

If you wanted to go to New York but didn't have a clear plan of how to get there, what would happen?

You might get in your car and just start driving and end up in Los Angeles.

You might get on a plane not knowing where it was headed and find yourself in Australia instead of the Big Apple.

It's mind-boggling how many would-be entrepreneurs start off in their home business in exactly the same way.

They know they want to be successful, but don't have any kind of plan in place to insure that they will end up exactly where they want to go.

They have an idea for a product but then find themselves floundering around to find what things to do next to make it successful.

You've got to have a clear plan on action to know what steps to take first, what to do second, what to do third, etc.

You need to be very clear not only in where you want to go with your home business, but how you're going to get there.

So how do you make a business plan?

Take a big sheet of paper, or make a mind map and title it: "Business-At-a-Glance".

Write down everything concerned with your business including:

• Purpose:

What is the main purpose of your business? What value do you want to give to the customer? How will you make their lives better?

• Goals

Where do you want to see your business in the next year? Five years? Ten years?

• Market:

Who is your market and who are you selling to? What does your prospect look like? What are they looking for? Where do they hang out?

• Competition:

Who is your competition and how can you differentiate yourself from them?

• Marketing System:

How will you be marketing your business? Adwords? Articles? Web 2.0? Press Releases? Forums? Flyers? Direct Mail? Business Cards? Blogs? Teleseminars?

• Start-up Requirements:

What is necessary for you to start your business? A Product? A Website? Sales Letter? Follow-up Autoresponder Series?

• People:

Who will you be involving in your business? A mentor? A coach? A mastermind group? Employees? Independent Contractors?

• Structure:

What is your legal structure? What is your bookeeping system? What is needed for your home office?

Once you have this on paper, you'll get a feeling for all the ingredients in your business. Then you'll be able to make a step-by-step action plan to achieve the goals of your business in the fastest and most efficient way.

Takeaway for today:

HAVE A CLEAR VISION OF YOUR BUSINESS AND A STEP-BY-STEP PLAN FOR HITTING ITS GOALS

Please leave your feedback below by clicking on the "comments" link.

Biggest Mistakes in Home Business #3

noreply@blogger.com (The Carefree Entrepreneur) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 21:48:00 +0000

What else do many "rookie" entrepreneurs do that ruins

their efforts when first getting started?

Biggest Mistake #3

TRYING TO MAKE EVERYTHING PERFECT

You get an idea for a home business and you spend weeks

or months getting it started. You feel that:

Your website has to be just perfect.

Your sales letter has to be just perfect.

Your autoresponder series has to be just perfect.

Your videos have to be just perfect.

Your ads have to be just perfect.

And you spend countless hours perfecting them before

you put them out in the market.

Big mistake.

Why?

1. The more you try and make it perfect, the more you

will delay getting ANYTHING out there, and the more

chances you will have of giving up before seeing any results.

Nothing happens until you take action, so don't spend too

long on the initial steps.

2. Even more important: No matter how perfect it

seems on paper, you don't know how well it will do

until you put it out there and TEST it.

Go back and read the above sentence again, cause this is

a million dollar secret that's worth its weight in gold.

You want to see it work in practice, not just theory.

And the best strategy to see if what you have out there

is working or not is to:

test, test, test.

This is the key strategy for countless millionaires (and

billionaires).

And you can't test if you don't have anything out there to

test.

So as soon as you have something that seems pretty

good, then get it on the web and see how others react

to it.

Only then can you tweak, refine, change, etc.

Experience-based results they call it.

Works great every time, and it's the surest way to take

your business to the next level fast.

So don't try and get it perfect - just get it started, and

you'll be well on your way.

Takeaway for today:

DON'T TRY AND MAKE IT PERFECT - JUST GET IT

STARTED.

Please leave your feedback below by clicking on the "comments" link.

Biggest Mistakes in Home Business #2

noreply@blogger.com (The Carefree Entrepreneur) — Sun, 25 May 2008 14:35:00 +0000

Here's another mistake that I see people making when they're starting out in home business:

Biggest Mistake #2

GIVING UP TOO SOON

Another big mistake that people make is that they give up too soon. They don't stick with anything long enough to see results.

They see a business opportunity they like, get all enthusiastic about it, but after a few days they see something else and drop the first thing to jump over to that.

Lisa Diane calls it the "Two Day Wonder" - i.e. after two days of being in love with your business, you abandon it for something else that seems better, shinier, newer.

These are the kind of people who will buy every ebook, course, seminar, or tape out there, and most of the time these courses will end up sitting on their floor unopened.

Almost any business out there will work for you if you give it a chance.

Hopping from one biz opp to the next doesn't serve any purpose other that to make money for the people who are selling the biz opps to you.

Sure, it's good to have multiple streams of income, and you should diversify your business portfolio as you go along.

But when you're first starting out, just pick one thing and stick with it.

If you do, you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish.

Once you have that business up and running, then go on to other opportunities and duplicate your success.

You'll find that before you know it, you'll have the freedom, wealth, and lifestyle that is the real reason why you started your home business in the first place.

It's a simple formula, but one that works every time.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about Biggest Mistake #3.

You'll find this one really interesting. :)

Takeaway for Today:

DON'T GIVE UP TOO SOON - STICK WITH YOUR HOME BUSINESS LONG ENOUGH TO SEE RESULTS.

Please leave your feedback below by clicking on the "comments" link.

Biggest Mistakes in Home Business #1

noreply@blogger.com (The Carefree Entrepreneur) — Sun, 25 May 2008 13:58:00 +0000

Over the last two years since I've been online, I've seen the same mistakes being made over and over again.

I wanted to mention them here so that you won't have to go through that yourself.

Biggest Mistake #1:

TREATING YOUR BUSINESS LIKE A HOBBY

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is that they treat their home business like a hobby.

While your business can definitely be built around your hobby, you have to treat it like a business for the real money to come in.

You can't just throw up a website and hope that magically you'll be rich the next morning (although that is what a lot of the home biz ads would like you to believe...)

You have to put in some time and effort, just like you would with any other business.

It can be a lot less than you would with other businesses, but if you have a "get rich quick" or a "lottery mentality" about your business, you may be sorely disappointed.

The good news is that once you put in the time and effort to build your business, with the power of leverage and residual income, it's possible for you to get paid over and over again for something that you did one time.

That's called smart business, and it's simple to do.

Just treat your business like a business and not a hobby, and you'll be well rewarded.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about another big mistake that most people make, so stay tuned and I'll see you then.

Takeaway for today:

TREAT YOUR BUSINESS LIKE A BUSINESS - NOT A HOBBY.

Please leave your feedback below by clicking on the "comments" link.

Easy Tips for Time Management

noreply@blogger.com (The Carefree Entrepreneur) — Sat, 24 May 2008 05:59:00 +0000

Here's something for you to keep in mind when you're

starting your home business.

I found these great tips for time management from

Timothy Ferriss, author of "The Four Hour Workweek."

Watch it and implement it, and you'll find your

production increases ten fold!

Please leave your comments below by clicking on the "comments" link.

How To Choose A Market For Your Home Business

noreply@blogger.com (The Carefree Entrepreneur) — Sat, 24 May 2008 05:40:00 +0000

Your passion is key when choosing a market for your

home business.

(If you missed the previous blog post where Joel Comm

shows you how to find your passion, then watch it here:)

Finding Your Passion

Once you have your passion in mind, you can start

looking for a market that matches your passion too.

Here's a few strategies to use when choosing a niche

market.

1. Choose a Market Where You Have the Most

Knowledge and Expertise.

This could include areas that you have been employed in

(such as being a teacher, a lawyer, a chef, a secretary, etc.).

It could also include special experiences or interests

you've had, as well as things you've enjoyed learning

about, or you want to learn about.

2. Choose a Market That Has Some Healthy Competition.

You want to have a clear indication that your market has

bought things in the past and is currently buying as well.

If there is no competition, that could mean there is no

demand, and therefore no profit.

You shouldn't choose a market with huge competition,

but a good amount of competition is necessary to make

surethat there is enough demand in the market to make

it worthwhile.

3. Target Your Market Well.

You want to target a market that's not too big, but not

too small either.

If you are interested in the golf market, targeting all

golfers is too big.

Targeting only left-handed women golfers under 5'4"

might be too small.

Choose a medium sized market to make sure there are

enough buyers to be profitable without trying to market

to everyone.

Here is a good blog post which includes tools to help

narrow down your market choice:

How To Choose The Right Niche

Take a look at it, get a feeling for the market you want

to be in, and watch the money follow your passion.

Please leave your comments below by clicking on the "comments" link.

Are You Doing What You Were Ment to Do?

noreply@blogger.com (The Carefree Entrepreneur) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:53:00 +0000

One of the most important things about starting your

own internet business is to find something that you

love to do.

It can be a passion, a hobby, a skill, a talent, or even just

an interest that you have.

Joel Comm made a great video on this which I wanted to

share with you.

Watch it and take action to find out what YOUR passions

are.

(By the way, Joel has just released his latest version of

Adsnese Secrets 4.0.

If you're using Adsense at all for one of your traffic

generation and money making strategies, you might

want to check it out here:)

www.AdsenseSecretsRevealed.com

Please leave your comments below by clicking on the "comments" link.

The Five Essential Steps To Starting a Home Business

noreply@blogger.com (The Carefree Entrepreneur) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 02:38:00 +0000

You're all revved up to start your own home-based

business.

You've gotten the "internet bug" and realize the

phenomenal potential to achieve your desire to

create a perfect lifestyle for you and your family.

So now what?

Now you have to take that desire and put it into action.

How do you start?

Here are the steps that I have personally taken to create

the kind of success I have today.

I've spent hundreds of hours researching, implementing,

testing and tweaking so that you don't have to.

Here's the big picture of what you want to do to get

going the easy way:

***************************************************

Step One: Choose Your Mindset

***************************************************

We covered the importance of this in yesterday's post,

but let me reiterate it once again.

Mindset makes up 90% of the success equation, whether

in business or in any other area of life.

Get the right mindset and everything else is automatic.

We'll get into more details of this a little later on, but

for now, just remember that mindset is the number one

key to your online success.

***************************************************

Step Two: Choose Your Market

***************************************************

This is a step that a lot of marketers overlook.

Before you can sell anything online, you have to find a

hungry market to sell to.

You have to find people who are ALREADY BUYING

what it is that you want to sell, and are dying to buy

more of it.

You have to find a starving crowd who is passionate

about a product and will spend money to acquire it.

Once you have found this kind of market, you'll be able

to sell them things easily.

***************************************************

Step Three: Choose Your Masterpiece

***************************************************

Once you have found a hungry market to sell to, you have

to decide what it is you want to sell.

This is will be based on what they want and what they're

willing to buy.

Once you've decided on a product to sell them, since

they're already wanting to buy it, the selling process is a

breeze.

***************************************************

Choose Your Mentor

***************************************************

There is one thing that all the Internet Marketing experts

agree on.

If you want to be successful in a home business, then find

someone who has been successful before you and do what

they did.

Success leaves clues, and you want to take advantage of

other's experience to shortcut your learning curve.

Don't try and do everything alone — it won't work.

Model after those who have already achieved what you

want to achieve and you'll gain success much faster.

***************************************************

Step Five: Choose Your Marketing System

***************************************************

Once you have your mindset, market, masterpiece, and

mentor in place, then and only then should you choose

your marketing system.

Many home business hopefuls decide to start an online

business and immediately ask about how to generate

traffic, place ads, write articles, etc.

But unless you have all the other four steps in place,

these kind of marketing tactics are useless.

So don't put the cart before the horse — follow the steps

in order and they will naturally unfold one into the other.

Please leave your feedback below by clicking on the "comments" link.

Getting Started In A Home Business

noreply@blogger.com (The Carefree Entrepreneur) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 05:21:00 +0000

We've all heard the saying: "Well begun is half done".

In home business, well begun is more than half done.

If you start your home-based business off on the right

foot, then you're 90% of the way there.

I'm going to let you in on a few secrets to starting a home

business the right way, which, if you use them, you'll be

home free.

The first one is the key to all the others, and often the

most overlooked.

And oddly enough, it is the one we have the most control

over, yet is the one that eludes us the most as well.

Here it is:

The first and most important step in starting a home

business is getting the right MINDSET.

Mindset is 90% of the equation, while everything else

makes up the other 10%.

If you have a mindset that is focused on failure, worry,

and doubt, then guess what? That's what you'll see in

your business.

If you have a mindset that is focused on success,

confidence, and abundance, then that is what you'll get.

Success is a choice. You can either choose to have it

or to not have it.

It's all in the mindset you choose to have.

If you get this right, then the rest of the steps

automatically unfold from there.

This is the one secret that has created fortunes and

conquered nations.

Your success is directly proportional to your mindset.

You completely control whether you win or lose.

Making that shift from failure mindset to success

mindset is no farther than your own mind.

And that's right inside of you.

Please post your feedback below. Just click on the "comments" link.

The Most Important Thing in Your Business Is ...

noreply@blogger.com (The Carefree Entrepreneur) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:13:00 +0000

Have you ever asked yourself this question:

What's the most important thing in your business?

You might say that it's the:

• product

• opportunity

• marketing system

• business strategies

• customers

• sales

and you'd be right ... sort of.

Those things ARE important, but you know what?

There's something much MORE important than all that.

It's the very thing that will make or break your business;

will support or sabotage your success; will help you or

hinder you — no matter what the surrounding

circumstances are.

What is that "thing"?

That thing is YOU.

*******************************************

YOU ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN

YOUR BUSINESS.

*******************************************

You are the one who has the vision, makes the decisions,

has the guts, and has the dream.

You are the one with the power to make it happen, and

you are the one who will reap the rewards.

How you fare in your business is completely up to you.

Scary, huh?

Yes, it may sound scary at first, but once you realize this,

you'll find out pretty fast that you are your biggest asset.

You are what makes your business unique.

YOU = Your Own Uniqueness

YOU are what you can bring to the table that no one

else can.

There's only one of you, and you can make the most

of your uniqueness to catapult you to success.

We'll get into the "how" of all that soon, but for now,

just be glad that you're you, and start to think about

all the special qualities, gifts, knowledge, expertise,

passions, likes, dislikes, etc. that you have.

The trick is to build on these to make you a maven in

your market who has no competition and a ton of

customers flocking to you for whatever you have to

offer.

It's all about unlocking the hidden value inside of you

and offering it to the world.

And that's where it all begins.

Please leave your comments below by clicking on the "comments" link.

So, You Want to Start a Home Business?

noreply@blogger.com (The Carefree Entrepreneur) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:50:00 +0000

You're excited to start a home business, and with

good reason.

Not only do home-based businesses give you time

freedom, wealth freedom, and security freedom,

but the potential of home businesses, especially

internet-based businesses, is huge.

As a matter of fact, the statistics are mind-boggling:

• Every 11 seconds someone starts a home-based

business.

• There are between 34-36 Million home-office

households in the US alone.

• $427 billion is generated each year by home-based

businesses. (That's bigger than General Motors, Ford,

and Chrysler all put together!).

• 40% of all home businesses require less than $5,000

for startup.

• Home-based businesses create an estimated 8,500 new

jobs a day.

• As of today, there are 1,319,872,109 Internet users in

233 countries.

• Millions of people are making billions of dollars each

and every year.

The potential is enormous, and there is no better time

to start a home business than right now.

Yes, there are some things that you must put in place to

have your home business successful, but compared to a

traditional "brick-and-mortar" business, home-based

internet businesses are the way to go.

And that's what this blog is all about — helping you to

create success in an easy, effortless, and effective way.

So give yourself a pat on the back for taking the plunge,

and enjoy the freedom, wealth, and fulfillment you'll

soon be giving to yourself and your family.

Please leave your comments below by clicking on the "comments" link.

The Carefree Entrepreneur

noreply@blogger.com (The Carefree Entrepreneur) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 05:23:00 +0000

Welcome to the Carefree Entrepreneur~

First of all, congratulations on being here.

If you're on this page, that means you're looking for

something better in life.

It means you want more — more time, more freedom,

more wealth, more security — just more of everything

good in life.

And you've come to the right place to get it.

When I started online two years ago, I knew nothing

about Internet Marketing or online business.

I was clueless.

I only knew that there was tremendous potential to

make a full time income online, and I wanted to be a

part of it.

So I dove in head first, spending hundreds of hours

researching, implementing, testing, and tweaking to

distill the information that I have now.

And I'm about to share it with you.

You see, online business is not just about creating

wealth.

It's about creating freedom, health, joy, and fulfillment

through leadership, personal development, and

marketing skills.

We all have infinite potential to realize anything we want

in life, and it's easy to do that once you know how.

I'll give you the "how" and it's up to you to take that

"how" and run with it.

Sound like a good deal? :)

Thanks for joining me and I think you'll enjoy the ride!

Carolyn Carey

"The Carefree Entrepreneur"