Zero to 60, How a Slight Fear of Broken Glass (Nelophobia) Led to a $60m Growth Opportunity

Nelophobia, the fear of broken glass, may have led to an idea that developed into a new business that went from zero to $60 million in just 3 years. We had a strong core business and a good idea. In 3 years we had a $60m business expansion without making an acquisition, without building a factory, with nearly zero capital investment, and a staff addition of… 3.

This series, Double-Digit Growth in a Slow Economy, discusses the methods that have successfully been used to drive growth when you aren’t able to count on a growing economy. We reference actual cases and companies that were transformed into growth engines beyond the natural buoyancy of economic growth. This installment discusses growth driven by entering new categories of goods as an extension of the overall growth strategy.

Growth through near adjacencies

Once you have strengthened your core business and can leverage those strengths, you will likely find the market is open to your expansion through near adjacencies. These are opportunities that directly leverage some or all of the elements of your core business. Leaping too far from the core business works for some, but it is more challenging, takes more resources, and most importantly it fails to leverage the strengths of the core business. Leveraging those strengths and resources is less of a distraction when the initiative is a near adjacency. Starting a.com business may be strategically important, but may not be a near adjacency. If it is strategically critical, you need to consider it a start up with its own independent resources. This may also help prevent building in too much of your current business model into what should be a truly new business. It is irresistible to use your current resources, but the differences in the business lead to distraction within your team and dilution of resources. For expansion that does not meet the definition of a near adjacency, establishing a start up is the preferred way to go. Once it is off the ground and has it’s own operational stability, you can consider strategic options to expand, integrate, spin off, etc. For this discussion it is important to define a near adjacency.

A near adjacency is an expansion opportunity that leverages a broad cross section of your core competencies. The more that can be leveraged, the easier to execute and build financial performance from your expansion initiatives. A near adjacency is often more financially accretive nah evident when looking at product margins alone. Because this expansion leverages so much of the current business’s strengths, the fall through to the EBITDA line is significant. If an expansion requires significant capital and staffing to manage it may not have the returns of an expansion that can fit within the envelope of the current business. Those that fit more neatly in the current structure are often lower risk for the same reason. Defining a near adjacency starts with defining the core competencies you can leverage. They have to be relevant competencies to your customers in order to create a value proposition for expansion.

Some potential competencies that are often leverage-able:

  • Key channel strengths and relationships
  • Sourcing and supply chain
  • Design
  • Engineering
  • IP or patents
  • Logistics and service efficiency
  • Relevant brands with equity in broad categories
  • Capacity – Physical space, processes, and people

A starting point is identifying strong channel relationships that can be leveraged or a strong product position that can be extended into a new geography. It is also helpful to have an objective scoring method to consider the benefits, investment, and risks associated with a category expansion.

Customer need is an important entry point

Expansion through near adjacencies may be opportunistic. It is important to listen closely to the customer’s issues. In more than one case, I have been asked to enter a new category of goods by the customer. They had a concern over their supply chain and saw our company as a strong supplier that could extend into something new. These opportunistic expansion opportunities are the most interesting since there is already an opportunity for interrupting the current supply arrangements. It is far easier to obtain an audience for your proposal when there is a need on the part of the customer. When it is not opportunistic, it is critical to create a value proposition that resonates with the customer or better yet, with the end user as well. The simplest is an advantage in the customer’s acquisition cost. Old-fashioned lower price is often too good to pass up. Do you have a cost advantage? If you do, it may work, but if you do not, it is likely all you will accomplish is reducing your competitor’s margin. They can respond to your offer of lower price. If that is the extent of your value proposition it is likely going to fail to secure new business for you or worse, end up providing a new business that has poor margins.

The expansion by near adjacency should lead to a stronger value proposition for the customer. It could be a group of benefits that individually need not be significant, but in total they are meaningful. Assuming you are selling to a channel partner like a distributor, dealer, or retailer the value proposition can be centered on driving their margins. If you are selling directly to a consumer or end user, the value proposition needs to offer an advantage to the user. In most cases we are better off not targeting acquisition cost as a means of entry unless we have a sustainable cost advantage in the goods.

Layering on improvements in the products that lead to better sales for your channel partners is an important opportunity to develop. Merchandising, packaging, simpler to install or service, a new design or features lead to a compelling case for the customer to switch. Hitting a multitude of benefits creates the most compelling position. A product that sells better than its predecessor is a great start. The customer has to believe they will have better business results taking on your new extension. If the incumbent has problems the bar is lower, but a package of clearly articulated benefits demonstrating how the customer’s business results are improved is the starting point. “New” isn’t enough. “New and improved”, you’re getting warmer.

Zero to sixty… Million

The company that had turned from a downslide to rapid growth with a 19% annual growth rate driven by gains in share, not an economic gift. We had achieved 100% of our largest customer’s shelf in our core category, 60% with our second largest, and 100% with our third. We were running out of growth runway. We had built a far more efficient organization that was designed for growth and performing so well, we were about to run out of share to gain.The Sales team was tasked to cultivate new accounts for our core products and expansion with smaller customers where we had growth opportunities. We quantified our available targets for growth with new and existing customers and it was quickly apparent we needed a new category of goods to offer. We began a project to look at categories we could expand in that would leverage our strong customer relationships, our supply chain, and facilities. I established a director of new category development to focus on developing new product categories to facilitate continued growth at a rate much greater than the growth of the economy. (Shout out to Pat Boehnen)

We needed a new category that we could leverage with our strongest “core” customers. They knew us best and we had credibility and competency in serving them. Our new category team created a solid list of opportunities and performed research around current suppliers, level of innovation, estimates of market size and used our scoring system to project which categories would offer the best opportunity. Nothing was a slam-dunk, but we initiated work on the top three areas to see if we could develop a new business. This is inherently long term compared to increasing sales of current products which are ready to ship, versus a set of goods that would take at least a year to develop if not longer. This emphasizes the point of having simultaneous effort to manage the company performance curve. We were growing at 19% and did not want to see growth slow to 5%. In the near term our sales team could fill the gap by selling our current goods more successfully to a broader customer list. We established more sales presence in our nearest international opportunity, Canada. It was the most serviceable area of geographical growth considering our presence. This continued our growth during the category development period until our new categories could start to bear fruit.

We needed a new category that offered a compelling advantage over the current suppliers, who by the way were likely years ahead in their own core category we sought to enter and beat them in. Yes, it is a tall order when you put it in those terms. You need an entry point. A stale category perhaps. A sleepy competitor. An innovation or technology you can bring to a category first. A cost advantage you can use to create a value for the customer. Better services that support your products. These are some of the forms of advantage you can bring over a competitor. As a start-up, you have to bring more benefit than just a tweak or two. If you cannot bring a significant advantage of your own, you need an invitation from the customer. They need to want a supplier change and see you as a company that has certain strengths. Perhaps the incumbent is struggling with fill rates, quality, or the most likely reason to stimulate change… they have initiated a price increase.

Our new category team was doing a nice job identifying opportunities and began to design products and programs to test with our supply chain as well as with key customers. In each of the three highest ranked opportunities there were challenges. The category you wish to enter need not be fast growing. Often times companies feel they need to chase the fast growing segment or geography in order to grow. It is nice of course, but you overlook current mature revenue that is there for the taking in larger categories. Not to mention that fast growing categories invite more new entrants. As the new entrant, we seek to grow much more by share gain, not through normal category growth rate. We would rather not duke it out as we get our bearings in the category with others entering at the same time.

US based companies with reasonably strong share positions often are lured into thinking international growth is key when they look at markets growing at faster rates than the US. We all chased BRIC countries a few years ago and found significant barriers. We look at growth rates and think that is where the growth is. US companies work in the largest economy on the planet. I think international growth is an important strategy, but if you have strength in the US, you can grow even when the market growth is at a slow rate. There is a lot more share to gain where you have assets and a solid understanding of the market than an overseas start-up. This emphasizes the opportunity offered by category expansion over other forms if you can leverage your presence. While our category development team was modest with a staff of 3 people, they were making good progress on the conceptual aspects of the initiative.

Neophobia? (I didn’t know what it was either)

We were part of a conglomerate and I was attending a meeting with our second largest customer where my peers also attended. Halfway through the meeting a senior VP from our customer looked across the room in my direction, but veered to my right to another business unit president and said, “you guys need to get into the shower door business.” That business made bath fixtures like bathtubs and shower units, so it made prefect sense. Unfortunately, they had been in it before and found it was a difficult category. Bulky, easy to damage, high return rates, too many combinations to stock which were slow moving, enough to push back almost before the words were spoken. Not to mention that business was working on a new innovation in their core bathing fixtures business that was taking up most of their resources. I quietly noted the idea rather than express an interest. After all, our business didn’t really have the right set up for shower doors. We sold decorative hardware. About 1/3 of the business was decorative bath hardware as I started to grasp for a reason to think we could meet the challenge. My first thoughts were those of a normal human being. What were all of the problems with this idea? Bulky packaging that would not work in our automated distribution facility was just the first of a long list. Managing through a manual pick and ship process was possible. Then Nelophobia set in. The possibility of shards of broken glass in our distribution centers… That we need to do something about, yes we could package the glass separately so it could be protected. Solving this problem for a purely self-serving reason led to a fantastic innovation and a $60 million dollar win for our company.

One thing leads to another

Protecting the glass was the key? Not entirely. Thinking of the product in a completely different way than the incumbent supplier was the key. Shower doors are packaged with an aluminum frame available in 4-5 colors, glass panels were available in 5-6 patterns, and hardware to install. They are not assembled, so why do the parts have to be in one package? Our customer carried 28 combinations in stock and inherently, not the right 28. Splitting the product into 2-3 selectable packages that allowed for mix-and-match merchandising would change the entire consumer experience. I quickly realized that we would have over 100 combinations in stock. It turned out to be 115. As far as manufacturing and sourcing, we could easily source the components if packaged separately by type. A glass pack sourced directly from a glass supplier and an aluminum frame pack from an aluminum extruder. Great news, I don’t need to capitalize a glass factory and an aluminum extrusion business. At the proper scale, perhaps a big capital outlay would make sense, but if available capacity exists, why not start and leverage someone else’s unused fixed overhead first? All of this was in my notes and the meeting was still going on. The concept was drafted in as little as 20 minutes after thinking about the reasons why I could not lead us into the shower door business and looking for a way around each problem. When the meeting adjourned, we had a smaller summary meeting with the group from our parent company. I said, “I think we can take on the lead on shower doors.” There was silence, initially. Oh my god, was this Jerry McGuire’s memo in real life? It made no sense and we were just getting our mojo back in our core business. Why on earth go into a business that the logical peer company wasn’t interested in?

We had an innovative idea. That’s why.

And, we had command of our core. I tried to cover it by explaining my notes on the subject. No time for PowerPoint… All I needed here was not to hear a veto. I didn’t need to hear enthusiasm, just not a barrier to develop the concept. One key influencer said, “Let them take a look at it.” Perfect, saved by one open mind that happened to be someone who had more insight to our strengths. The next day I sat with our category development team and reviewed the concept. This one had not even been on the radar. We needed to put a tad more thought into the opportunity and the challenges. One thing for sure, the category was ripe. The incumbent supplier was resting and not beloved, but neither was the category. No one was tending to this business as a part of their core. The major home centers gave it minimal space. Returns were amazingly high at 18%. Sales were flat. Inventory turns were very low. Of course, the retailer didn’t have the right combinations in stock. We had a good team for the task. They realized the value of the invitation. There was available share to gain even though the category wasn’t growing very fast. A part of the learning of this initiative is that the category need not be a growth category if it is incremental to your business and you have a good deal of share to gain. In this case we happened to make it a growth category by improving the consumer experience.

Within a matter of weeks we had become convinced this was a great opportunity and we had all of the makings of a strong entry. We had an invitation form a customer that sold maybe 30% of the industry. We had a competitor that was not investing. We had a category that needed a fresh approach, and we had a great innovation. We began formal development in multiple prongs, engineering the product, sourcing, and merchandising. We requested a formal review with the customer and a date was established. We only had a few months to prepare. Merchandising development was key. We could easily enough engineer the product and early signs in sourcing gave us confidence we could come close to our cost targets. However, if we could not present this in the retail aisle in a compelling way, it might not sell. Most of our efforts were to mock up and test the in-store presence. We set up a 24-foot display in our warehouse and began tinkering. What was the best way to get this across? Anything that differs from the norm is a risk. Consumers and channel partners can be slow to change.

Bring in the critics.

We started bringing in consumer groups to our mock store. The feedback was enormously helpful in refining the presentation and led to a 1-2-3 selection process. The consumer figured it out pretty quickly. We set our refined displays and had our first exposure with the decision makers from the customer. The feedback was good, but a little subdued. Reading the tealeaves I think it was apparent that this was more different than they expected. They weren’t prepared for a different model. Typically they were focused on a different price for goods that looked like a simple replacement of the existing. We weren’t attempting to be cheaper. We were attempting to be better. They could see merit, but… we were not a shower company. The incumbent… was part of a highly respected multi-billion dollar leader in the fashion bath industry globally. How do we reconcile this? We leveraged our peers. The branding was borrowed from our sister company, which had become the leading brand in faucets. We had a winner, but we had only played a pre-season scrimmage.

Based on the initial review of the concept, a full line review was scheduled. This would include the incumbent and would invite them to bring their best ideas to the review. Fortunately, they did not feel at risk and didn’t offer much of a challenge to our concept. What wasn’t known at the time is that the customer was mounting a strong push for value through price reduction. The fastest way to realize a price reduction is with your current suppliers. They can discount starting at 8:00 AM tomorrow or better yet, retroactively. Even if we were cheaper, it would take a year or more for us to get into all stores, which is the point you would realize a savings.

We weren’t cheaper.

We were better. Our tests indicated a strong increase in sales of 15% over the current products. That in a category offering almost no current growth. It would be a competitive advantage over other home centers. Our return rate projection was 50% lower than the current program because the parts were separately packed. The leading reason for return was miss-cutting the aluminum channel. If you do that on ours, you only try to return the “defective” aluminum channel… But, the incumbent was the only one in a position to provide better costs tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM and even if we had identical costs, the retailer would have to wait 12 months or more to realize it. It was a matter of goal alignment. We truly had a better value on the table, but we could not address the goal the customer had to achieve. We lost in the final outcome.

Now what? We are months in and we lost…

We had a great concept and it was a matter of time before something leaked and our great concept became the incumbent’s great concept. It happens. We loaded up the truck and moved to another customer. This time we had no invitation, but we did have a great concept and it was well developed through our research. The quality of the concept was evident immediately, but this was one of the least attractive categories in the fashion-bathing aisle. It was slow moving. Unlike trying to gauge the age of a tree by counting the rings, you don’t have to kill a shower door to know how long it has been there. Dust is the first indicator and there was plenty. It just wasn’t a target category for a big change, but maybe it should be. Maybe that is why the dust is there. We won a test market, 50 stores to try it out, hardly enough to get our supply chain working. We would have to subsidize it during the test. We needed about 10 times that number of stores to get leverage with suppliers. These weren’t necessarily the top 50 stores in the country mind you. It was a test that if we passed would definitely speak to the benefits of the program. The test was set and after some adjustment and work with the store associates we started to see the results we expected. We tweaked some things and added some price points. The program did exactly what it was designed to do. The consumer responded well and sales were up in the high teens as a result. Returns were far lass than half. The initial success and our lack of scale presented challenges to meet demand. You would think a small store count would make it easy, but in this case it was a challenge because we lacked scale with our supply chain. Challenges aside, we ironed out a very good program that was then installed in 200 stores, then to 1,000 stores, and then to 2,000 stores. The program went from zero to $60 million in 3 years. $60 million in new revenue for a business that was $220m in revenue at the time, quite a growth curve.

The lessons here are that to grow in adjacent categories or customers you have to find leverage-able strengths. These are much more important than a market that is growing. You grow through share gains for 3-4 years and that does not mean the market has to lift you. Of course in years 5+ growth will be slower, but you are working on the next growth program to continue fueling your engine. Going for a large, mature market with a new approach is an excellent way to grow your share.

Kinderdance Franchise Opportunity Review – Kinderdance Franchise Facts

Do you enjoy working with children? If you are in search of such a business, this review will outline a very popular company. This Kinderdance Franchise Review explores basic information of this business and investments related to it.

Background: Kinderdance was founded in 1979 by Carol Kay Harsell. Its main office is in Florida. The company started offering franchisee in 1985. Now it has more than 110 franchises in United States. The Kinderdance Franchise offers an innovative program that focuses on education through dance. The idea of the activity is to offer different activities like motor development, Gymnastics and fitness programs mixed together with education that is numbers colors, words, songs and shapes to educate children of the age group 2-12 through the program. As well as other unique and innovative programs that assist in early childhood education.

Benefits of a Kinderdance Int’l. Inc. Franchise: Kinderdance Int’l. Inc. is a fast growing company in the United States. It is engaged in working in an interesting and different area of children education. It offers a great business opportunity for people who like to work with children. As a Kinderdance Franchise owner you can start your own business that has great opportunity in your area. It is home based business with many benefits. Some benefits of the franchise include:

· It is a home based business with very low investments and low overheads. You can work with children, which is perfect for those who like to work with children.

· There is no night work as well as weekend working requirements.

· Kinderdance Int’l. Inc. offers finance assistance for its franchises.

· It provides systematic programs including all activities like dance, Gymnastics, and fitness programs to its franchises.

· As a Kinderdance Int’l. Inc. Franchise, you can receive comprehensive training. It gives ongoing support and marketing aid for your business.

· The Kinderdance Int’l. Inc. Franchise has very simple business procedures and one can start it part time with 1-2 employees.

There are many opportunities to grow your business through child care centers, pre-schools, and other schools.

Investments required: The franchise fee ranges from $12,000 to $40,000. The ongoing royalty fee is 6-12%. The terms of agreement is for ten years and is renewable. The cash liquidity requires $14,950. With the availability of finance assistance, one can own Kinderdance Int’l. Inc. Franchise investing small amounts.

Kinderdance Int’l. Inc. is engaged in offering dance and education programs for the children of age group 2-12. The programs are designed with combination of Gymnastics, dance and fitness program along with songs, numbers, colors and other educational aspects for educating children with dance activities. This is a vast industry of around $28 billion. Individuals who enjoy working with children can definitely benefit with Kinderdance Int’l. Inc. Franchise Review as opposed to choosing a business in a different field. Kinderdance Int’l. Inc. provides all training and marketing support however, as with any business it is up to the business owner to successfully grow their business.

Don’t Wait For The Opportunity, Create It

Most of us wait for the right opportunity to come. We wait for an opportunity to be offered a better position or a better job. We wait for an opportunity to make more money. Does the opportunity ever come? Sometimes it does, but sometimes it doesn’t.

You wait passively for something to happen. Why just daydream and not go beyond the dream? Why become disappointed and unhappy because nothing happens? You can create opportunities!

Opportunities are missed by most people because they don’t realize they’ve encountered such. There will always be opportunities for those who recognize and pursue them. The lucky people are simply those who have taken more chances than average

Often, it is not a matter of creating them, but becoming aware of them. Often, they are there all the time, in front of us, but we do not recognize them. Seeing them and recognizing them requires a change of your mindset.

When you want something very strongly, and focus on it, things start happening. There is no magic here, just plain mental and emotional laws at work. Successful people use these laws, albeit unknowingly. Most people use the same laws, but in a negative manner, creating things they don’t want.

You need to define what you want. If you don’t know what exactly you want, how can you get it? When you know what you want, you will recognize the opportunities. Know your limits. You can’t be perfect. You can’t do everything yourself.

You can’t create a business or live the life of your dreams or make a lot of money if you don’t know your weaknesses, strengths, and passions. If you know your limits and what you are capable of, you will know exactly what you need. Once you begin to know yourself, you will realize your weakness and you can fill these weaknesses with other people’s strengths.

Visualize your goal as already accomplished. Feel it, and enjoy it. This will motivate and energize you to make it real. When you have the motivation, energy, and enthusiasm, you see opportunities, which you haven’t seen before. People you meet would sense your enthusiasm and would open new doors for you.

For example, if you want a new job very much, believe you will find one, and expect to find it, certain opportunities will become available. You might see an advertisement in a newspaper, or a friend might tell you about it. The job was there, and because of your expectant attitude, you became aware of the opportunity. Without this mindset, you would have probably missed it.

Another example is if you want to travel abroad, but believing the trip would cost you a lot of money, you don’t even check the prices. You regard this dream as not an achievable dream. This attitude would block any chance of traveling. This is different if you can awaken a strong ambition, not just a mild wish.

Visualize and see yourself traveling, without having any doubts about it. Sooner or later, you will find a deal, a discount, or some other way to enable you to travel, which you can afford. You might also find an opportunity to make more money, so you can travel.

You should visit different places for at least one time a year. This way you will sure as well meet new people and also might be presented with an opportunity that simply doesn’t exist in your hometown.

If you want to find friends, you create the opportunity by mixing with people, not by staying at home. You create the opportunity, by rehearsing in your mind how to talk and behave, so that they are attracted to you.

If you want to be presented with more opportunities, simply meet new people. The more people you know, the higher chances you will be presented with new experiences. Go to meetings with people having similar interests as you.

You just never know, life is unpredictable, and that’s why you should always keep your eyes wide open. You might miss an opportunity simply because you were too busy listening to your iPod. Always be on the lookout even when doing simple activities as drinking coffee, riding the bus, or walking back home.

Don’t be afraid to ask. – Just DON’T! There is no shame in not knowing something, and there is no shame in questioning things. Most people would gladly help you if you asked them nicely for some help. People are not monsters, most of us are good and kind. You just have to ask the right way.

Don’t be afraid to try a different approach. Build your self-confidence. You can’t make people follow you if you don’t look confident. If you could make people follow you, you will surely be able to create a lot of opportunities for yourself/ your company/ your workplace.

Keep learning. Learning is a process that never ends. You can always learn something new. Always maintain the attitude of a student. If you think you are done learning, bitterness set in, but if you have more to achieve every day, in any arena, that makes each morning’s awakening full of potential and cheery portent.

In the end, it all comes to doing. You will never get presented with opportunities by sitting and watching TV all day. Go out, feel, see, be, and take part in life. If you are active and always on the lookout, you will always end up in the right place at the right moment.

How to Find an Online Opportunity

If you are looking for a promising business opportunity, the best thing to do is to explore the wide range of opportunities available online.

An online job allows you to work at home. It enables you to offer your marketable skills and put them to good use. All you have to do is to hook up with a reliable online employer.

The Internet provides a variety of jobs. Just sift through all the information to find one that matches your skills.

If you are looking for a good honest job – and you have the necessary skills for it, you can become a freelancer.

There are countless employers looking for good people to hire. There are many jobs available, especially if you are a writer, web designer, graphic designer, programmer, or an expert in SEO and online marketing. You can work from home and be productive in your own business home.

It is easy to put up a based business home. You don’t need any capital to work free lance and earn money. You simply have to have the skills that the job requires.

It is not surprising that more and more individuals are offering some sort of business service online.

There are many online jobs for people with various skills and lines of expertise. There are jobs available even for students who are still in business school or for professionals looking for part-time jobs to augment their income. If you hope to establish an IT company but think that starting your business small is the best way to go, you can find opportunities online.

How do you look for prospective employers?

You can offer your services on your own website. Considering the somewhat limited reach of personal websites, however, you may have to wait for quite some time for responses to your offer.

You can also join a site that is designed primarily to connect service buyers with freelancers.

How do these sites operate?

Service buyers post jobs or projects on the site. Freelancers who find a particular project interesting make their bids. They offer a price and mention how long it will take them to complete the project. The service buyer will then make an offer to the person whom he thinks offers the best bid.

If you are hired for a certain project, you are expected to complete it on time. Your service buyer will go over the assignment and give you feedback about your work.

You build your reputation as a freelancer on such feedback. As you work on more and more assignments, and receive good feedback on your work, you slowly build your reputation as a reliable and proficient worker.

Service buyers are always on the look-out for freelancers whom they can trust to do a first-rate job. If you are able to turn in projects that consistently receive good feedback, you increase your opportunities for being hired.

If you are a beginner at freelance work, the key is to offer your services at a low price for your first projects. Your low bid will help you get more projects. Work on these projects well so that you get good feedback about your work.

As you build on the number of projects completed, as well as on the positive feedback, you will soon acquire a reputation as a dependable, efficient, and professional freelancer. You will find it easier to get more projects.

You can even bid higher on some projects. There are many service providers who do not mind paying extra just as long as they are guaranteed first-class work.

You can always find gainful business to business employment online. You can earn a lot of money even if you just stay at home.

To Create Wealth Marry the Mindset of an Entrepreneur to a Network Marketing Business Opportunity

No professional entrepreneur with a thorough understanding of Network Marketing will deny its viability as a wealth creational asset that makes available the ability to persevere in the profession of entrepreneurship. Network Marketing and the Direct Selling industry as a whole continues to grow through good economic times as well as bad. It has survived a roller coaster ride of poor press and bad word of mouth criticism that still lingers in the memories of some to this day, yet through the entire tenure of the business models conception it has prospered and enriched the lives of all whom are able to bring to it an entrepreneurial mindset to succeed in business.

The vast majority of businesses, conventional and those offered through a Network Marketing home business opportunity will fail within their first few years. The cause of most conventional business failures is due to the inability of the entrepreneur to continually raise the necessary capital to keep the business afloat until it is able to operate solely and continuously from its accounts receivables while maintaining a security cash reserve. The most common cause of failure among those operating a Network Marketing home business is that the newly independent business owner is either not an entrepreneur, or has failed to adapt the mental mindset of an entrepreneur.

The low cost of operating a Network Marketing home business and the fact that it can be started and operated part time makes it an attractive option to the employed and unemployed that see a visionary path to financial freedom, and gets excited about it. When it does not quickly transpire, they quit, and continue along the path of their familiarity, and believed security of being among the employed working for someone else. An entrepreneur sees a market demand, an opportunity to create a business to address it, and moves forward with a vision so clear that others are willing to follow.

Entrepreneurs are not born with a special gene. They acquire a philosophical way of thinking that those that are not do not have. However among the few things that is freely among our control in life, our way of thinking is one of them. This mental adjustment is within your powers, and adapting it to its fullest is within your capability. The cost effectiveness of starting, owning and operating an independent Network Marketing home business monetarily affords you the time. It further exposes you to others that will help you through the maze until you exit at the door of the financial prosperity that only an entrepreneurial path can bring you too.

An entrepreneurial mindset is a positive attitude. It may seem difficult to develop, and even harder to sustain when most of the attitudes around you are conditioned to its opposite. If you want to be among those who obtain long term success in Network Marketing (it will not happen quickly), you must acquire it and sustain it even during periods of your worst doubts. Wealth is not a privilege, it is a right! You have the ability to achieve financial abundance through Network Marketing, time, effort and the help of others (no one strives to financial abundance on their own, we all need the help from others), but wanting it is not enough; you have to want it bad.

MLM Home Based Business Work From Home Opportunity

There are various work at home business options; one of which is the mlm model or network marketing. In spite of the industry being a $31 billion dollar industry, mlm is dogged by an image problem. Let’s look at a mlm home based business work from home opportunity to see it is a viable option for you to make money from home, which I’m guessing is the main reason you are reading this article.

About MLM

Direct selling or MLM or network marketing (you pick the name you prefer) is a business model that offers entrepreneurial opportunities to individuals as independent contractors to market and/or sell products and services, typically outside of a fixed retail establishment, through one-to-one selling, in-home product demonstrations or online. Compensation is ultimately based on sales and may be earned based on personal sales and/or the sales of others in their sales organizations.

Direct sellers may be called distributors, representatives, consultants or various other titles. They may participate in various ways, including selling the products themselves or through their sales organizations, providing training and leadership to their sales organizations, referring customers to the company, and purchasing products and services for personal use.

MLM Companies

There a thousands of companies operating under this model. Some are country specific (eg Malaysia only) whereas others undertake global expansion and stretch into many countries (eg Herbalife is in 80+ countries).

In choosing a MLM home based business work from home opportunity, size might be one criteria that you would want to look at. The DSA (Direct Selling Association) recently release the Top 20 Companies in the US (alphabetic order)

  • AdvoCare International, LP
  • Ambit Energy
  • Amway
  • Arbonne International, LLC
  • Avon Products, Inc.
  • CUTCO/Vector Marketing Corp.
  • Herbalife
  • Isagenix
  • LifeVantage Corporation
  • Mary Kay Inc.
  • Melaleuca, Inc.
  • Nu Skin Enterprises
  • The Pampered Chef
  • Scentsy, Inc.
  • Stampin’ Up!
  • Stream Energy
  • Take Shape for Life – Medifast
  • Team Beachbody
  • Thirty-One Gifts
  • USANA Health Sciences, Inc.

As well as size these companies have longevity especially Amway starting back in 1959.

MLM Products

MLM companies offer an array of products from health, technology, beauty, legal services, energy and much more. There is a product here for everybody to market. While I believe it’s preferable to market a product that is consumable, there are success stories in every company. You choose what product you prefer to market.

MLM Compensation Plans

There are numerous ways a distributor is compensated in a network marketing company. These plans include unilever, breakaway, matrix, binary and a hybrid of some of these plans. To get a better understanding of these plans, have a look at this post http://mlminsider.com/main.php?/compensation_plans

Can You Make Money?

Most people will not. That’s not the fault of the company or the products because with inside every company there are thousands of success stories; both income and product testimonials. To improve your chances of mlm home based business work from home success, here’s 3 simple rules to improve your chances:

  1. Pick A Company And Stay. Choose a company based on your own preferences of product, size, locality etc and decide to stay with that company until you become a success. Too many people are lured by a new option and leave only to find that their new business isn’t firing and perhaps they are the reason for their failure and not the company or it’s products. If you look at the top industry earners you’ll find a majority have been with their company for a long time. Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare. MLM success is the same.
  2. Talk To People. While there are many ways to connect with people ( email, social media, advertising etc) those who are the most successful in the industry speak to their prospects. There’s no getting away from it. The rest is just avoidance behaviour.
  3. Be A Company Advocate; Use The Products. You need to believe 110% in your company and the industry. You will be bombarded with words like ‘scam’, ‘pyramid scheme’ and ‘is this Amway’. If you don’t have 100% conviction, you’ll falter and you won’t be a success. A personal way to get conviction or belief is to use your company’s products and get a result. Nobody can take that success away from you. If your belief in the network marketing industry needs boosting watch the Evolution of Network Marketing on YouTube.

A MLM home based business work from home opportunity can be a viable option to have you quit your job and to make money from home. The success of which relies 100% on you.

Legitimate Online Home Based Business Opportunity

Are you looking for a legitimate online home based business opportunity? This has become of great interest for many people since there is a lot of money to make online that has become apparent in recent years. This has caused many people to try different tactics to make money online but unfortunately, scams have risen out of this in an attempt to make money off those that are trying to find a true legitimate home business opportunity.

The only way to have a successful home business is to begin with a solid foundation and make sure you have the tools you need to run the business. For starters, you need to have a business plan or at least a guide to what your new company is going to be about. For instance, do you plan to sell an actual product or is the business more service oriented? For example, starting a consultant agency is definitely going to be a service or advice that people are buying as opposed to something tangible they can hold.

The next step in preparing for your home based online business is to have the office space or some part of the home designated for your business. You’ll need to have a computer, Internet connection, and a phone. You will also need to set up a website that explains your business. Do not take this step lightly since your website is what gives visitors a first impression so you want to make it good. If you do not know how to set up a website, this may be your first expense as a new business.

You will also need to have your website optimized so that the search engines, namely Google begin to index your site in the search results. You can do this by using keywords that are the most searched as they relate to your business and then build quality articles around these keywords. All of this might sound small, but if you can’t get traffic to your site, you will not have many new customers.

It’s important to use other free marketing strategies for your new online home based business opportunity that you’ve undertaken. One of the hottest ways to do this is via social media marketing. This includes the social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. You can use these to get more people to your website and interested in your product or service. Building a new home business takes time and there are true legitimate opportunities available, you simply have to take the time to do your research to find one that best suits your interests.

Christopher Benoit

http://www.WorkWithChrisBenoit.com

How to Create a Profitable Home Based Business Online – Home Business Opportunity

I am going to give you the steps I used to begin my online, home based business and it will take you less than an hour (being realistic). It’s so easy!

1. Find a niche market you are interested in which you know has hungry buyers. Use Google AdWords Keyword Tool to find top keywords that you can base your site content on.

2. Buy a domain name and hosting for less than $20 – I find the best value for a domain name is GoDaddy (coupons are available if you Google them) and Hostgator as a hosting provider (I recommend their ‘Baby’ package) for new home based businesses.

3. The hosting provider will email you nameservers which you will need to change in your domain account settings. This means your blog will appear when you type in your domain to the browser.

4. Create a WordPress blog which will be uploaded to your server. The reason I use WordPress is that it is incredibly flexible for getting top ranks in search engines and easy to update. They are also a great trust builder, so make sure you add some affiliate products for you to gain healthy commissions from buyers.

5. Change the nameservers in your domain account for your home based business domain.

6. For the topic which your blog relates to, you want to write articles or have them written. This really isn’t as hard as you may think as there is so much material out there already (just don’t duplicate other peoples content).

7. Submit these first to EzineArticles (EZA) as they always rank best. Once approved, you can then create variations of the articles and submit to other article directories but in the resource box, always create an anchor text link pointing back (backlinks) to your main site. As you create more articles and backlinks, your site will rank higher and traffic should flood in.

8. By now you should be making nice commissions from your home based business and people should be loving your blog, as you are feeding them with valuable information. Take advantage of this and offer a free report in exchange for their email address. You can do this by signing up to Aweber for an autoresponder. If people want your report they will opt in, submitting their name and email address. Once you build a list, you can promote other affiliate products and make even MORE money.

9. Promotion is the key to any business success but the great thing about home based businesses is that you should only need to work at most 3 hours per day! It sure does beat 9 – 5! At your own will just keep submitting articles, bookmark your content at social media sites and promote in related niche blogs and forums.

10. It really is that easy to start a home based business. Create a blog that sells affiliate products, promote the main blog page using articles and social bookmarking, then once the traffic starts to flood in, the blog will rank higher and higher, meaning more money!

The most commissions come from being extremely targeted in the market you want to approach. So if you enter the body building niche, stick with that and do not sell products on how to spice up a relationship. People search online for specific things, so keep your blog specific to what you are trying to promote.

The Google Sandbox – A Frustrating Inevitability or a Golden Opportunity?

Introduction

The Google Sandbox is a term applied to the phenomenon experienced by many new websites that delays the sites inclusion within the main Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS) of Google. Often new websites can find themselves confined to the ‘Sandbox’ for 6-9 months, during which time traffic to the site is severely compromised. The Google Sandbox is therefore usually seen as a frustrating inevitability by webmasters and one for which there is no quick easy solution.

My recent observations however have led me to believe that the time your website spends in the Google Sandbox should be seen as a golden opportunity rather than a frustrating inevitability.

Into the Sandbox

Many webmasters respond to their websites confinement to the Sandbox by spending endless hours forever checking the listings in Googles results pages for any sign of their website. Not only is this a waste of precious time but also serves only to increase the frustration caused by the Sandbox. Other webmasters more sensibly focus their time and effort improving the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) of their website in order to improve its rankings within other search engines such as MSN, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves and others. Although these may not be as widely used as the Google search engine, they don’t have the same aging delay of the Sandbox that Google does. Therefore, achieving good listings in these search engines early in a websites life can at least generate some traffic and hopefully some sales whilst confined to the Sandbox.

Earlier this year the Tsunami disaster in Asia forced me to change the name of my web development business from Tsunami-Site-Design to Pixelwave Design. I had to register a new domain name, build a new website and start from scratch with my web promotion. The new site was an ideal candidate for confinement to the Google Sandbox, and sure enough after an initial day or two of good rankings the new site couldn’t be found in a Google search for any of my keywords. A search for the business name did bring the new site up in first place though so I was safe in the knowledge that my site was contained within the Google database but the lack of inclusion for my keywords suggested that my site had been confined to the Sandbox. The inclusion of my own personal site within the Google Sandbox gave me a great opportunity to monitor and track its progress.

The first thing I noticed was the high frequency with which a Googlebot spidered the pages of my site. The Googlebots were visiting a few times everyday and visiting all the pages of the site. It struck me that if Google had gone to the trouble of writing and implementing the ‘Sandbox’ filter as part of their algorithm and regularly spidering the sites within the Sandbox then the Sandbox wasn’t simply an area into which new sites get put in order to delay their inclusion in the SERPS. Instead it can be considered as a probationary period for new websites during which Google pays close attention to the sites development.

This means that as far as Google is concerned, your websites time in the Sandbox may well be one of the most important times in its development. Rather than seeing this time as a frustrating inevitability you should see it as an opportunity to really show Google how your website can shine. The Google Sandbox should be a time to make the most of all the attention your site is getting from Google and show the search engine what it wants to see.

The Steps to Success

Now that we have decided that Google is actually paying your site a good deal of attention whilst it is in the Sandbox it is time to see how we can make the most of this Golden Opportunity.

The first thing to do is plan ahead and get your site into the Sandbox as soon as possible, so attracting this attention from Google. Don’t wait until your website is built in all its glory before registering a domain name and uploading your site. Instead make sure the first thing you do is register your domain name, set up a hosting account and go live with one or two pages explaining what your site is about and what can be expected from it as it develops.

Next get the Googlebot to visit these embryonic pages so that Google is aware of the new site as soon as possible. There is no need to submit your site manually or repeatedly to search engines, a couple of inbound links (IBL’s) from other sites that are regularly spidered will be sufficient to get the Googlebot calling. Once the robots have paid an initial visit they will return.

You may be lucky and find that your site gets straight into the main SERPS, but if it is a new domain name and new site then it is likely that before long you will find your new creation in the Sandbox where it will receive a great deal of attention from the Googlebot. Now is the time to be proactive with your website development, don’t sit back patiently waiting to be released from the Sandbox, instead make the most of your time in there and show Google the potential of your website.

Content is King

The first thing you need to do is continue the development of your website. Regularly add new pages packed full of relevant content to your site. As far as search engines are concerned, ‘content is king’. Search Engines exist to provide their users with links to content relevant to their search criteria, therefore they are always on the lookout for websites that contain plenty of good quality, regularly updated relevant content. Of course, good quality, relevant content will also be beneficial to your websites human visitors, which at the end of the day is your number one priority. Add plenty of new, relevant content of interest to real visitors and the Googlebot will thank you for it.

Linking Strategy

Next you need to develop and implement a strategy for obtaining a network of inbound links. Googles algorithm relies heavily on link popularity so it is likely that it pays attention to the number of IBL’s your site gains whilst in the Sandbox. Don’t sit back waiting for people to link to your site, get out there and be proactive. As always relevance is the key, and a sensible linking strategy whilst in the Sandbox will be noticed by the Googlebot.

There are numerous ways to generate inbound links and I have covered these in previous articles. However, things rarely stand still for long in the world of Search Engine Optimisation and latest research seems to suggest that simply getting huge amounts of IBL’s whilst in the Sandbox may no longer be sufficient. It now seems that the rate of accumulation of IBL’s may be important. Google is now thought to pay attention to the rate of accumulation of IBL’s and expects to see them develop in what it considers a natural, organic manner. This means that suddenly gaining a huge number of inbound links may be frowned upon by Google. Instead your linking strategy should be a sustained effort aimed at gaining new IBL’s from relevant websites over a long period of time.

Summary

Although the Google Sandbox is still a frustrating inevitability and there is no quick fix way limit the amount of time a website spends confined to it, patiently sitting by waiting for this confinement to end is a waste of what could be a golden opportunity. Google pays a lot of attention to sites in the Sandbox making confinement to the Sandbox an ideal time to really let your website shine. During this time give Google what it wants to see; regularly updated relevant content, lots of new pages and a sustained increase in the number of inbound links. Not only could this improve your sites ranking within the SERPS once its confinement to the Sandbox is over, but it will pay dividends for your site in general by providing its visitors with the information they require.

Income Opportunity Home Based Business – Do This & You Will Never Be In Debt Again

In this article I am going to take a look at some of the easiest ways to get started with your income opportunity home based business.

*Start selling on the world’s biggest e-commerce site: ebay.

*Start a Blog in under 5 minutes and reach a whole new market on the Internet.

*Use Google Page Creator to instantly create a presence on the web.

Get access to millions of potential buyers.

eBay.com is biggest e-commerce site on the web today, more than 2 million people visit eBay every single day, spending at least 2 hours going through eBay’s pages and listings. Most eBay users have incomes in excess of $50 000 per year, more than $1 000 in sales happen on eBay every single second, this is the quickest way to start a income opportunity home based business.

Getting Started on eBay will take you less than 1 hour to get set-up and within minutes, you will be ready to set up your new action listings. What a great, home based business, that you can start with no capital.

To get started on eBay today, just go to eBay

Stuck on what to sell? This is the real beauty of eBay: there is a market for practically everything, if you are not too sure what you want to sell, try checking out what products are popular at ebay.

The easiest way to get started is to sell off of your old items you no longer need from your basement or storage place. Just think everything you make from these sales is Pure Profit and you can soon start getting out of Debt

Create Your own website in minutes-For Free.

Blogs (or weblogs) are updated websites that shown the latest content at the top of the page, older content follows in the order it was posted.

Business Blogs are one of the hottest tools for income opportunity home based businesses on the web today, while some companies use them to promote their products in addition to their main websites, you don’t need to have a website, or even have a business yet, to start a Blog.

You can make money instantly with your Blog, by doing the following,

*Start a Google AdSense campaign.

* Join an Affiliate program.

* Sell products directly from your Blog.

With Paypal, customers can order your product and pay for it in seconds, even with their credit cards, and it only takes you a few moments to set up.

The following 3 free hosts are considered the best options for blogging beginners:

*Blooger.

* Yahoo!360.

*MSN Spaces.

Free exposure on the “Net”.

Google Page Creator enables anyone with a Google ID to set up their very own website in just minutes, the most obvious benefit of this program is that your pages are rapidly indexed by the Google search engine spiders.

Within minutes, you will have a fully functional web site that you can use to make money online immediately, the same way as you did with your Blog another excellent way to start your own online Business Income opportunity.

*You can promote your own product, with a Sales letter, the direct customers to your paypal checkout.

*You can promote other peoples products as an affiliate.

* You can add AdSense to your page.

So to get started today, get your Google ID at,

http://www.google.com/accounts/newaccount

Once you have an ID, go to the Page Creator homepage,

pages.google.com

Conclusion

Can you see now – Why there has never been a better time to start your own online business, so for a fantastic way to generate a second income, to getting out of Debt and compared to setting up a traditional business. Can you see why having a Internet Business is the way to go in the Future.

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