Every year since 2007, the unemployment rate has been steadily rising. The soft economy has displaced a large number of income earners.  That means each year since, more people have lost their jobs, more households have lost their income and more people have been forced to dig  into their retirement savings in order to survive. The present times have left us with anxiety just getting by day to day. Subsequently, add to this the further dread of facing a very uncertain future.  In the face of the entire crisis, many have found relief in network marketing opportunities.

It had, maybe still has, a shaky reputation with schemes designed to trick and mislead. However, I have found that network marketing has grown into an industry where the honestly successful now outnumber the scammers. Those who have earned an honest buck through network marketing know and endorse it as a feasible option to replace a nine-to-five job and earn additional income.

A network marketing business can be the best solution in this recession mainly because of its practicability.

1.       It is a business that does not require a great amount of financial capital to start or grow.

2.       It is a business which anyone can set-up at home making their own hours by working through the Internet.

3.       It is a business that guarantees huge pay-offs versus investment if it is done correctly.

No other type of business can offer all three benefits. Only network marketing can get all three advantages to work for you if you have the right strategy. For someone who has been in this business for three years and who has gone through several economic highs and lows, I am convinced that anyone who is determined to work hard to put together a feasible strategy can thrive in this industry. Success in network marketing is largely dependent on skillful planning. That is, formulating a tactical plan of action for joining at the right time with the right company. Look for a company that offers the right product or service and an honest earning structure using the most effective marketing formula to recruit and sell.

With the recession, the network marketing industry is ripe for the harvest. It is the fastest growing business trend in today’s economic market. As a distributor, this places you in a very favorable position to grow your existing business or venture into new products and ideas. Do your research and examine your strategy because in the end, it all boils down to having the right strategy.  A typical network marketing strategy involves:

1.       The right time. This opportunity can open a lot of open doors for you and others. With a lot of people looking for new financial opportunities, many are ready for the chance to try out new ideas to make more money. But, also, it’s a wonderful time for you to bring in potential leads and grow your downline.

2.       The right company/ product/earning potential. Remember, these three are your selling points: a reputable company, a strong product, a lucrative income structure.  These are the marks of a great network marketing opportunity. They are what people will look into when searching for a network marketing group to join in. They are what potential leads will scrutinize when you finally get the chance to talk to them and make your presentation.  When marketing your network marketing opportunity make sure you consider these facts:

• The recession has turned the economy into a “need” consumer market. Present your products or services to consumers in such a way that they will regard them as necessities rather than mere luxuries.
• Income and profit is always the bottom line. Present your income structure in such a way that potential leads will see it as more lucrative than the competition. Highlight discounts, opportunities for growth and other benefits as they increase their sales and go up the organizational ladder.
• Highlight the company’s track record for achievement and growth to make for a more convincing presentation.

3.       The right marketing formula. The right formula turns leads to actual buyers. Conversions are the real indicators for success. A formula for success is not just individual selling but includes building a strong downline that can duplicate your efforts. You need to recruit people who are as determined to grow their business as you are. This is a very necessary strategy in network marketing because it is a numbers game. Without a strong team that can give you repeat sales and repeat recruitments, your own efforts become slow-moving.

These are significant factors that can mean success or failure for you in the network marketing industry. It is definitely not about signing up with every available business out there and expecting things to just fall into place and the money to start rolling in. Network marketing is serious business. Network marketing is hard work. A victorious mindset is one that is properly adept at starting up this business, organizing and running it every day and working out every possible hindrance to your progress.

Many people claim that Technorati is beneficial to any new blog. Its credibility to rank blogs is acknowledged by a large number of bloggers, advertisers and web users.  The sizable population single-handily has the power to influence.

I have gathered enough information on the benefits my blog can receive from signing up into the Technorati website, so I recently made the decision to list my blog. Here is my token, RH7Z7B5VTVRR. I hope that Technorati picks it up soon to verify that this is my claim and, therefore, index my blog. These are some of the reasons why I think Technorati can be profitable to blogging:

1. Technorati is a major search engine that specifically tracks blogs. This suggests that Technorati has the capability to drive highly targeted traffic to blogs.  With over 100 million blogs indexed, Google considers Technorati major enough that it set up a contender to it, the Google Blog Search. To rank high in Technorati search results, it is important to use the appropriate tags in unique blog contents as tags help classify search results.

2. Technorati is one approach any blogger can utilize for free to gain greater blog exposure to widen its readership base. It doesn’t cost anything to sign up into Technorati. Getting your blog indexed by Technorati means your content can be read and redistributed by their large community, any of whom can be likely subscribers to your feed.

3. Technorati is a blog content collection authority. Every new post made by each blog that is registered in Technorati immediately gets indexed to its directory listing and included in any web search made for any specified tags typed in.  This real-time synchronization of over 100 million registered blog contents ensures that any Technorati search always results in up-to-date online information. To the web consumer, this makes Technorati a valuable resource site for the latest information on just about any given topic.

4. Technorati is an influential community website that can help establish your blog social standing in the blogosphere and the entire web simply by endorsing your blog as informative and accurate to your niche market. Technorati determines your blog’s authority primarily by the number of incoming links to your blog in a six month period. The higher your Technorati authority, the more your blog can be considered as worth reading, worth sharing and worth mentioning by the blogging community. One way to boost your Technorati authority is to produce valuable content that other bloggers would want to link to.

5. Technorati is a blog ranking system which the blogging population and many advertisers recognize as weighty.  Blogs are rated through link building and through popular vote. A large number of bloggers and advertisers use the Technorati Top 100 Most Linked-to Blogs and the Technorati Top 100 Most Favorite lists to gauge blog popularity and authority.

Getting high traffic leads to greater exposure for your blog, this then results to a wider readership base. Many blog readers imply popularity, which then makes the blog appealing to advertisers.  That’s the profit-making effect of Technorati to any blog.

Time, hard work and money are all valuable resources to the passionate business owner. My proficiency in time management is put to the test every single day as I run my business. There are so many areas to cover that it becomes not just a matter of getting things done, but which to get to first.

Every issue seems to be a priority and there is not enough time within the day to get everything done. So, my goal for effective time management is getting things done resourcefully well, so that the business is productive in every way. No wasting time, no postponing, no delaying, so that I get to finish, if not all, then most tasks within the set deadlines so that business operations are not disrupted and bottom line is achieved on the dot.

How do I manage my time  so that things actually get done?

Focus

Effective time management keeps you on track. Fix attention to your goals. Clear-cut goals will always steer the business in the right direction. My business goals are outlined in my business strategy. With my business strategy as my road-map it is difficult to get sidetracked. I break down my long-term and short-term goals. By doing this, my short-term goals give the directions and point the way towards the attainment of my overall business targets.

Plan out

Efficient time management arranges your time in such a way that every working minute counts so that all resources are utilized to their fullest potential. I manage my time within my short-term goals to get me to my long-term results. I write down my short-term goals as my daily “To-Do” list. It is important to note that each daily task is interrelated to the end results, so to keep things aligned it is vital to:

1. arrange each task in the list according to main concern
2. allot a time frame for each “to-do” task in keeping with the time frame you have set for achieving your overall business targets

Take charge

Time management works when you direct your time, not the other way around. My “to-do” list becomes my schedule for each day. The list is a routine I try to strictly follow to stay focused, keep on the right track and to direct my time. Since I had a pattern to go after, sticking to the list actually helped me form the habit of time management, so that now arranging my time is second-nature to me. Discipline is needed to complete each task on schedule, so I force myself to continue with a task until it is finished. I update my “to-do” list routinely. Daily is best, so I get to monitor how my business is more or less progressing.

Maximum work output is partly due to effective time management. Being active in a deluge of activity does not translate to productivity. Time management is a skill essential to every business owner, especially at the starting stages of the business when many urgent responsibilities vie for attention every single day.

Distractions make your workday much longer than necessary as they disrupt your thought process and flow of energy. Studies have found that people who get distracted take about 10-20 times the length of time of the disruption to recover their earlier level of concentration.

There are lots of time management mistakes that home-based business owners make that cost them hours of work time — procrastination, not concentrating, breaking the schedule, etc.  Let’s narrow down the list and pinpoint the one thing that majority of work-from-home business owners really struggle with—unscheduled interruptions. Research confirms that people waste an average of more than two hours everyday on avoidable interruptions.

Try these tools and tips for drowning out distractions and keep the energy and thought process flowing. They may seem petty but every little bit can help increase productivity.

1. Block off or reroute digital signals. Yep, the digital devices are the number one distractions. Turn off your mobile phone, IM settings, Twitterrific, the automatic pop-up function in your email, or just forward calls to your voice mail. Get all similar tasks done all at once then move on to the next set. So, make major phone calls all at one time, check emails at set hours, and allot a fixed time to chat with people you really need to settle concerns with or update communications in all your social media business accounts.
2. Regulating email and SMS. You don’t really need to reply to all your emails or text messages. Skip those that just need a “thank you” or “okay” or “see you.” If you need to reply to an email or text message at length, call instead. This saves time and your thoughts are spoken straight out from the moment you think them.
3. Go “Invisible” on IM, Facebook, Google chat so everyone thinks you’re, offline but you can still contact the people you need. The “Busy” mode does not usually work as some inconsiderate people still choose to interrupt you.
4. Work some place else. That’s the flexibility of a work-from-home business. You can take work anywhere other than your home office. For some people this works. The change in setting stimulates creativity, recharging your thought process and energy level up to 50% helping you concentrate on work more. Try the coffee shop, the mall or in your parked car while waiting for your kid to end school. Also, the change in your routine can help sidetrack some people for awhile, giving you a bit more uninterrupted time to get some work done.
5. Drown out background noise like the sounds of the TV or radio by wearing earplugs, play instrumental music or use ChatterBlocker.com, a free download that plays out natural sounds to mask distracting noises.
6. Firefox LeechBlock is a free downloadable application that aids you in self-control. You can set it to block specified sites like Facebook or YouTube that can really eat up your time during periods you’re tempted to wander off from work.
7. Make a habit to jot down random thoughts. It avoids mind clutter and regulates your brain to focus on one idea at a time so you don’t get worked up on starting at every new idea every time they pop up in your head.
8. The Mac Isolator or Windows DropCloth are free downloads that help in visual distractions. You can blur out or completely hide from view all the other desktop and icons and focus on just the application you’re working on at present.
9. Avoid worry. Worry is an irritant. It increases stress levels and interferes with your normal line of thinking. It makes you more prone to sporadic work habits like indecisiveness, changeableness, unreliability. A daily To-Do list will help you center attention at the present time, the here and now. Finish the to-do list at the end of the workday so that it’s one task that will no longer distract you when you start work in the morning.

Distractions will always be present. But, there are few issues in business that are a matter of life or death, so it’s really okay if you’re not able to attend to all the concerns right away. Understand that if you let them, distractions can really take a substantial amount out of your working hours. Figure out what your distractions are and get to work managing them without delay.

To every business owner, time is a valuable resource. With so many concerns needing urgent attention, it is easy to lose track of time in a frenzy of activity and then to find out that nothing major has been really accomplished at the end of the day. Every minute counts in business. How do you manage time so that every minute of the workday is productive?

These time-saving tips can give you extra hours in the workday:

Set doable tasks. Starting a task, but not finishing it can frustrate you and wear down your energy level. So, break a major task into smaller tasks at the level of effort and time physically possible for you to attain. Then, check each off your list as you get them done so you feel your energy levels restored each time and you can get moving on to the next task.

Limit warm-up time. It’s easy to let time run away when you think that you have the whole day ahead to get things done so that by the time you get to actual work you already took way too long browsing the Internet or checking out other blogs. It’s okay to allot for warm-up time at the beginning of each workday, but know when to end it and then get started on your to-do list.

Be guided by your Top Two. Arrange your Top Two priority tasks of the day as the first two tasks in your “To-Do” list. This way, you finished two demanding tasks with less stress as your energy level is still high. You will still feel productive if you’ve completed two major issues concerning your business at the end of the day, even if you have eight other less demanding tasks to do in your, let’s say, ten item list.

Peak Time & Down Time. Figure out your most alert moments for deep-thinking and for doing actual work. Most people find they like to do the manual, tangible work by mid-afternoon and upwards and do the brainstorming usually in the early mornings or early evenings when they’re cool and calm.

Now/Later/Delegate. As new tasks come your way during the workday, decide on the spot if you need to work on it now, if it’s something you can get back to later, or if it’s something you can assign to someone else in your team. You can save hours by simply not lingering.

Multitasking does not work. Recent studies show that it is normally impossible for the brain to focus on more than one task at a time. You think you’re doing a number of things at once, but you’re really only switching hastily back and forth between them. This kind of work habit is irregular. It drains your energy level, your brain won’t absorb as much info and you’re more likely to make more errors. Instead, group similar tasks and then finish them all at once.

Organize daily. Spend at least 30 minutes each day putting things in order. Better yet, organize as you go. Hours get wasted trying to find lost papers and other stuff. Psychologists say you can train yourself to be organized by consciously putting things back in their proper places. Do this for three straight weeks and you’ll form the habit of it.

Learn to cut back. Lessen meeting time by getting together only for major brainstorming sessions. Shorten work calls by getting straight to the purpose of your call. Meetings and phone calls have a tendency to drag and get you waylaid by idle chatter. If an email requires you to write out at length, call instead. Learn to say no to activities that are trivial to your business or those you cannot commit to.

There are only a maximum of 12 hours in your workday to do everything without burning yourself out. The better you organize your time, the more you can fit in the day.

One of the first concerns I had to cope with in running my business from home is managing my work day. It is difficult to run a business from home without letting all the concerns, the clutter and the fixations of work overrun my personal life. I have to take extra care not to allow work to spill over into my home life, as well as, to not let home activities slow down my work.

Creating a work environment in the home surrounded by all the distractions — the kids wanting to play with you when there’s a deadline to meet, the need to answer the ringing of the door bell or the home phone in between brainstorming, getting the daily household tasks done even with a jam-packed work day, the temptation to put off work to read that book you’ve been meaning to get to — is an action item that I think any home business owner must arrange first  if the home business is to be expected to succeed in the long run.

Running a successful home business and managing a healthy home environment is greatly reliant on a reasonable work-life balance mindset. Both are a priority, maybe the balance can be achieved simply by arranging tasks within a workable schedule, but sometimes it will also call for you to make choices and sacrifices. Which situation takes precedence over the other situations in your life is a challenge that needs to be balanced.

It takes a great deal of discipline to keep the work life-home life balance. The key for me is keeping my home/family life separate from the business by setting up physical and mental limitations for each area. These tips help me turn the work-home life switch on or off as needed:

Designate a workstation within the home

A space exclusively for work keeps me focused on just work. A dedicated home office keeps my concentration on issues about the business. Make sure to create a workspace that stimulates enthusiasm and inspires thoughts/ideas to boost work output. Set up your computer, lighting and sitting fixtures correctly to help in proper posture. Keep all the other tools and work materials within easy reach so that your thought process is uninterrupted and enthusiasm is not stalled.

Follow a regular daily work schedule

This sets my body clock into a routine. During work days I automatically wake up, accomplish all the household/personal tasks as planned and then go into work mode at the set hours. On weekends, my body & mind also knows I can sleep late. To control overworking, and make myself available for family/friends, I make it a point to be in my workspace in the hours I’ve set for work and leave the workspace when work hours are up.

Treat your home business like a real job

Working from home is a real job. It is important to make this clear to yourself, your family/relatives, your friends/neighbors, even your clients and business partners right from the start so that it is treated as such. Inform them of your work schedule and help them adhere to it when they attempt to distract you. When a child asks that you watch TV with him/her, explain why you cannot. When a friend calls within work hours just to chitchat, hold him/her off. Also, when a client demands your time on a weekend discourage it discreetly by clarifying your business hours.

Balancing work and home life may be hard, especially in the starting stages of a home business. The upshot, however, is so worth it sooner or later — an established business that brings in the money and loads of free time to spend for family and friends.

Organization is the backbone of any business. Every good business man works diligently on getting organized and staying organized. Organization is the key to getting work done efficiently so that valuable time is invested productively on increasing  profits rather than on looking for things.

Whether it’s a daily scheduled work routine, a method of record keeping or a simple process to tracking business profits, organization is the skill of simplifying confusion and clutter within your work atmosphere. It makes all the difference between you just being active to you being downright productive.

Unfortunately, organization is not as simple as knowing where to find the things you need. I can tell you honestly that the challenge with organizing my marketing business is not limited to arranging the work space or to sorting out financial issues. The real test in my organizational skills came in managing time and resources, coordinating efforts of my staff, putting together all our thoughts and ideas to accomplish the bottom line.

Dealing with information overload and balancing time and resources

With all our tech gadgets and all the software available, you’d think organizing would be easy  these days, but then we’re faced with the challenge to get everything configured and then synchronized so that we can keep up with it all. I’m all for automation.  I’ll automate everything if I can,  but organization also requires us to find the balance in making the best use of all these digital resources so that they are actually a help to us and not a distraction or cause for confusion. With all the information that comes with setting up our blackberry, our calendars, our email accounts, the auto-responders, all the plug-ins and the multiple social networking sites that all need to be in  working order for our business, time now becomes a factor. Learning how to set up all these resources takes time.  It was a great advantage when I hired people to help construct and establish a good operational situation to run my business more effectively.

Thought organization and prioritizing

Organizing my thoughts and ideas keeps my sanity intact. A checklist makes it easier to stay on top of things despite wrestling with pressure, worry, concerns and setbacks. A list of all the to-do stuff gives me a quick glance at all the tasks that have been completed and stuff that yet needs to be done. This aids me in setting down realistic expectations. I make it a point to follow a cool and calm pace for me and the people who work for me. Nothing can be achieved when working minds are all cluttered up, so I arrange tasks in such a way that I can get to them at a physically possible schedule.

“Business is like a wheelbarrow–it stands still until someone pushes it.” Anonymous

A business strategy is the game plan for any business. An effective line of attack guides the business direction clearly. From the point of launch, to the moment the business levels off, encounters setbacks, and gains momentum again or pushes off to another direction, the business strategy is at work non-stop. It’s a working plan, a thought out strategy, you constantly refer to when making your business decisions and solutions. It’s Plan A, Plan B, Plan C — which one will you play out during specific conditions in your business? Without a business strategy as a guide, you will lose direction. Simply put, your business success or failure, whether you win the game or not, largely depends on the business strategy you as business owner put at play.

Like any trained athlete, I know not to get into the game without a game plan. I know I had to have a planned direction to maneuver my business or else I’ll fail. There is no perfect game plan at the onset of any business. Just like coaching, you review stats and tweak the game plan from time to time according to what’s working and what’s not.Here are a few basic rules I considered in setting up my own business game plan:

1. Outline the business as clearly as you can at the start.

• Be precise about your business idea and research your market thoroughly
• Take on the business mindset, know what challenges to expect in running your own business

2. Form your short-term and long-term goals

• Remember to be S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-directed) when setting goals
• Plan short-term for the quick-fixes and immediate deadlines. Plan long-term for your bottom line.

3.  Set your action plans, giving attention to the income-generating aspects of the business:

• Marketing (traffic-generating) strategies to make use of
• Advertising plan to promote the business
• Selling plan for finding leads, bringing in actual buyers, increasing revenue

4. Check your business progress.

• Implement your action plans, then measure and correct or adjust after that.
• Be ready to act on any setbacks. Time is critical in business, the sooner delays and drawbacks are dealt with, the better the chances for the business to get back on track.

I manage my business like going into a game — all geared up with a game plan, with several plan options on stand-by in case I need to change the game up at anytime. Each day, I go in for the play, put my best foot forward, change up the game plan when called for, and play the game all over again.

“I like thinking big. If you’re going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big.” Donald Trump

Before the setup of my marketing company, Perfect Pitch Marketing Group, I had no idea what kind of business to go into. I just knew I wanted to go into business and was determined to make things work. I had the right attitude, but the hardest part was deciding on a business idea I felt confident I could do … until someone gave me some information about the VoIP business opportunity. That got me thinking big in this direction.

Figuring out what online business to go into can be overwhelming. Just look into Google and you see pages of suggestions. Which ones are the legitimate ways to make money online? What kind of business is the right business idea? Just like me, I know a lot of people who want to start their own business, but don’t know how or where to start, and just need a helping hand towards the right direction.

Basically, I just ask myself this question when figuring out ideas: “Is my good idea, a good idea to others, too?” It’s the basic economics of supply and demand. For any business to work there has to be consumer demand. If I believe in a product or service and many other people think the same way, then I go for it. It’s all about market research and gut-feel for me … knowing the great product in detail, zeroing in on the target market, studying the competition,  estimating market challenges, and trusting my instincts.These are some of the online business ideas I am into, which I believe are legitimate, long-term, guaranteed ways to make you money online. These business ideas cost very little to start up, but have very promising returns on investment when done correctly:

Through your Blog or Website

1. Renting out advertising space to marketers, if your site has high traffic then advertisers can pay you to place their banners or pop-ups on your site
2. Contextual advertising by simply displaying ads related to the content on your web-page and earning from the number of clicks made (Google’s Ad-sense program or Kontera)
3. There are actually different blog styles to fit your business concept. You can find out here: Dosh Dosh: How to Make Money Blogging
4. You can make money with your blogs by means of paid blogging. See how here: Dosh Dosh: A Definitive List of Paid Blogging Websites
5. Use your website as an e-commerce storefront to sell products/services complete with online catalog, shopping cart, multiple payment options
6. Use your website to sell informational products.  Highlight your expertise or any skill you’re good at and then promote. There are people who would pay to know what you know.

Through Affiliate Marketing and Network Marketing

No matter what you might have heard about online affiliate marketing and network marketing being scams and all, I know for a fact that most affiliate and network marketing programs are legitimate companies and that you can make substantial income through them.

• In affiliate marketing, you earn one time commission on each sale made. Good examples: Amazon, Clickbank, DISH Network affiliate program

• In network marketing, earnings are based on the number of levels achieved, personal sales plus downline sales and referral fees. Good examples: 5LINX VoIP network marketing program and other network marketing ideas here.

No matter which marketing method you use, make sure you examine the product/service and the income structure so that you get the most out of these two systems for your business.

These are all legitimate and profitable business ideas to start with. I hope one of them inspires your business vision. And keep in mind, there are countless get-rich-quick scams out there, so be careful. There is no easy road to success. If any business idea sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Do research, weigh up all the pros and cons, don’t procrastinate, make the decision and then get started on making the idea a reality right away.

“In business, I’ve discovered that my purpose is to do my best to my utmost ability every day. That’s my standard. I learned early in my life that I had high standards.”

Donald Trump

One of the reasons I started this blog was for it to be a platform where I could share ideas about what I learned as I continue to grow my business. I share my personal success by giving out information of value to anyone starting  their own business. To show them how stuff I learned has worked for me, with the hope that it would help others too.

Starting Perfect Pitch Marketing Group has kicked off many challenges to me as business owner. For one, I am eager to gain  a lot of business advice,  so there is a lot of information to process. I think I suffer more from burn out via information overload than on any other aspect of the business.

As I grow my business, the struggle for me is in:

1. dealing with so many emotions about it’s direction — fear, worry, insecurity, impatience, eagerness
2. learning to focus, balancing things, pacing myself
3. coming up with business ideas

The road to business triumph is not easy, but here’s what I learned along the way so far:

RESEARCH can really help switch on that light bulb of ideas. By making inquiries, delving into several recommendations, and studying a number of options I got beyond the confusing first step of forming my own business model. Information empowers me. I think information can change the direction of any business–it can develop it or destroy it. When you have correct facts, data, figures, expertise, comprehension, ideas on any business you want to get into, then you can plan on a course of action that can help set you out in the right direction. So, gather information, make the decision, and then get started on it right away.

PLANNING is really needed because now I have a guideline to operate my business on. A business plan starts with researching on business ideas followed by outlining your business strategy for branding, advertising, selling, dealing with setbacks, and making profits.

HARD WORK, TIME MANAGEMENT AND MONEY are critical in business. I didn’t expect to make tons of money right away, but I did count on making money at some point through hard work and persistence. Time management is a skill I am learning to master daily; by prioritizing I can actually get more things done. Money makes it easy to set all my ideas in motion.

ANTICIPATE some bad days. Reality check: there will be setbacks to the good days. I always try to take away something of value from all the hard times that come my way and the mistakes that I make. I believe that difficult things happen because I need to learn something from them. So, take the loss along with the profits, the criticisms along with the praise … overwhelmed with hard luck? All successful business people have had their share, let’s just keep getting up, never give in, and keep moving forward.

WORK OUT THE BASICS. I didn’t know everything when I launched my marketing business, I wasn’t technology savvy and didn’t know the in’s and out’s of the marketing game, but I knew enough computer skills to make things work, and had successful associates to mentor me. You can’t know everything all at once when you start the ball rolling, but at the very least go into your business equipped with the essentials. Invest money wisely on the foundational work such as the structural design of your website/blog, educating yourself through online trainings that can help you put everything together and acquiring tools/plug-ins/apps and how-to materials that are only really necessary.

CREATE A POSITIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT. I owe my success to hard work, persistence and the great people whom I work with. I think it’s basic business wisdom to partner with people who can be solid business allies to you. Pick out business associates and employees whom you can trust to share your vision with, whom you can call on during tough times and help you press forward.

CONCENTRATE. To persist, I focus on the task at hand and stick with it through thick and thin. I refuse to get sidetracked, so I gain confidence by concentrating on completing what I can do one task at a time, one day at a time — and then, give myself a pat on the back for those little achievements. My business strategy helps out a lot because it gives me direction and keeps me on track. I set a deadline for each task each day always aiming towards the time lines I’ve set for the bigger outcome.

One thing I know from my own experience is that starting a business and running it daily, will require great commitment from you as business owner.  It takes a lot of effort to keep going despite the setbacks.  As a pro-athlete, I have been trained to focus and persist. But I’ve realized that building a business calls for twice as much focus and persistence — it’s a whole new ballgame I take on everyday.