The Appeal of Owning Your Own Home Business

Have you ever thought of owning your own home business? Perhaps you've even tried to start one up before, only to find out some 'hidden' rules that hampered your success. If you have, you are not alone! Many individuals start up home businesses without fulling realizing what they are getting in to.

What is Good (the Pros) About Home Businesses Anyways?

There are many great perks to owning your own business, including having the freedom to create your schedule and balance your work/life schedule as you see fit. Many pros of owning your own home business also include:

• Spending more time with family (great for stay at home parents)
• Earning extra income for, or during your retirement
• Earning extra income while on disability
• Having freedom to come up with your own ideas and see the success of something you have done and worked hard for
• Flexible schedule to accommodate for sick days, medical appointments and even having more than usual vacation days!

But what about the cons? Certainly there has to be a downside to having your own home business? You bet your bottom dollar there is! You need to be motivated and be able to motivate yourself when the going gets tough - and it will get tough from time to time. Nothing worth doing will come super easy in life! If you think you can sit back and rake in millions, please let me in on your secret because I'd love to know about that too!

What is Bad (the Cons) to Owning a Home Business?

Seriously though, there is hard work involved, just like any other business, home or otherwise. Some other cons are:

• Setting up and sticking to a timetable/schedule. It's easy to go off track and while it's great to be flexible you can't get into 'lazy' mode!
• Feeling inadequate. Face it, many people consider home-businesses not 'legit' and don't realize how much work goes into them. You will work harder than most people do who work for high-end jobs! Still, it takes awhile to get the business launched and stable (like any business) and you just need to ignore people who think you don't have a 'real job'. Especially if you are raising a family at the same time - now you are working even harder and most people will not understand that at all! (Trust me, I know!)
• No steady paycheque. Hey, I'm being honest with you. You are not on salary. You are commission-based and you get what you put in. Some months are great, some may be slow. As your business grows you will certainly gain stability but you have to be realistic with your money and goals.
• Here's a pro and a con - No one to answer to! It's great in one way but also, you are on your own. This doesn't mean you don't have anyone to ask for assistance, we'll get into that below! But being your own boss can be scary and if you have that reaction, you are totally human!

What Kind of Home Business Should You Choose to Start Up?

Now, I'm going to say J.R Watkins because I manage a team of over 210 consultants across North America, have been with the company over 5 years and LOVE the products and company itself. However, the real answer is:

Whatever business you believe in!

Do your research and find out all the answers to the questions you have so you can make a sound business decision. Questions you need to ask:

• What is the investment cost to be a member/consultant etc
• Are there any hidden costs/fees
• Any min quotas or monthly sales requirements
• Can you sell anywhere (online, at markets, do home parties)
• Are you restricted to territories or where can you sell geographically
• What kind of support do you have (upline support)
• How long has this company been in business and do they have a good track record of paying commissions
• What kind of revenue can you expect to make and in what timeframe

What Companies I Tried Out: Avon, Partylite & J.R Watkins

 When I was a stay at home Mom I was looking to make some extra income and something to keep me occupied when my child was sleeping. I had heard of Avon but didn't like that you had to buy catalogues (campaigns) every 2 weeks. So that was out. Plus I heard you had territories so that wasn't my cup of tea either.

I did join Partylite because I loved candles and smelly stuff and was super excited when a rep came to visit me and explain the program. A few things were left out when being explained to me but I still paid over $200 for the starter package and got my supplies. I took some orders from family & friends but was really dismayed when I found out I couldn't sell anything at our local market (Partylite rules). I was also upset when I was contacted by Partylite who told me I couldn't have a website with their stuff on it or facebook page since they weren't into the online presence thing yet. (not sure if this has changed but at the time I had to take down my personal website and facebook page). I also found out that if I didn't place an order every x amount of months I lost my status as a consultant and had to place an order totalling a certain amount in order to 'regain' my status and get my discount. So, that was the end of my Partylite career! Never ordered again.

I had also joined J.R Watkins at the time, mainly because my mom and her friends were looking for a consultant. I tell you, best thing I ever did! I ordered a little here and there at first but soon I had people who wanted to join up under me. That was fine, what questions they had for me that I didn't know my manager did and she's awesome! (As is her manager!) It didn't take long for me to create a website to post listings of all my teammates and to create a program to help them grow their businesses (My college degree in Business Administration: E-Commerce & Marketing certainly helped here!)

Over the next few months I reached manager status and my team continued to grow. Most of my business is done online since we aren't restricted by territories. I don't place many customer orders which is fine since Watkins doesn't have any min order requirements or monthly order requirements! Their start up cost is only $39.95, no need to buy any 'packages' which is great! I continue to work with my team and help those out who want it and I make a comfortable income doing so. The business is stable and reliable and best of all, allows me to work at home, allowing me flexibility with my schedule for the important things in my life!

 This is your business choice and one you need to be comfortable with. I say JOIN Watkins! Only because I know how well it works and how well known the products are, but you have to make your own choice and feel right about your decision.

If you want more information on the J.R Watkins business you can get it here....

You can also email me anytime if you have any business questions and I'll be totally 100% honest with you. My job besides being an J.R Watkins Indep Consultant & National Team Manager is to help others make smart business choices and coach them if they want it. This is what I do and I love it!

All the best!

Tamara Laschinsky #378193 

 Tamara Laschinsky
#378193

Indep. JR Watkins Consultant &
National Team Manager

Email
Ph: 403.998.8597

Website

What Kind of Home Businesses Actually Work and How to Start Your Own Business

Want to start your own business but not sure which ones work or how to start them? You are not alone! There are so many businesses out there that you can start and they always say "Be Your Own Boss" and "Work From Home"...blah, blah, blah. But how do you really know what home businesses work and which ones don't?

Finding a Home Business That Actually Works

Sure, we'd all love to make lots of money and have the option of working from home on our own schedule. That is a no-brainer! But there are some REALLY important things to remember when considering starting your own home business:

1. Motivation - Do you have it? Can you motivate yourself and keep yourself going even when times seem low and things look uncertain? Face it, any business, no matter if it's an MLM or something you create from scratch, will have it's ups and downs - be ready for it!
2. Discipline - Being your own boss rocks! (Trust me I know!) But - you have to be disciplined. Yes you can go for lunches with friends/collegues/prospects and yes, you can sleep in (if you don't have kids!) and yes, you can take time out of your day to relax. Heck, you can even plan months of holidays a year - BUT, you have to have discipline to do your job and do what needs doing because there is no one there to kick you in the butt and tell you to get going!
3. Reality - Are you being reasonable with your expectations? I've seen many people who join various home businesses who are so pumped and hyped up about how 'easy' it can be to do the business that they lose sight of the famous saying "If it looks too good to be true, it is!"  Be reasonable with your business expectations. Any home business will take time and work - period! I'm a Watkins team manager and it's taken me 3 years to get where I am now. It wasn't all easy for sure and I still work at it each and every day to keep it growing and expanding. 
4. Investment - Do you have money and time to invest? No matter what home business you are looking at you will need some additional funds to get started. You may need to buy catalogs or other 'start-up' kits so look into that and be honest. You also need some time to commit to working on your business each day. I've seen people who thought they could just 'join up' hundreds of people and live the easy life without working. (See point #3!)
5. History - How successful is this company and it's associates? What do other associates say about the business and how long has it been around? Does it carry products (or services) that are essential or 'want to haves' and does it offer satisfaction guarantees and good customer service? Does it deal with minimum quotas or monthly commitments or require a huge upfront investment? 

Starting Your Home Business

Once you've gone through some of those points above you have to decide what kind of home business to start. Research them and stick with products you like - you can't sell them if you don't like or trust them! Check out the compensation plan and see how likely it is that you can get to the higher levels where you earn more income.

Talk to sponsors and managers and ask questions. You will know from asking questions how trustworthy someone  is and how happy they are with what they do. Find out if there are money-back guarantees and what kind of customer base you can sell to. Find out where you can sell and what training tools are available to you.

Be sure to stick with something you are comfortable with. If you don't like hosting parties, don't do home businesses like Partylite, where most of the sales are all about throwing parties! If you don't want to buy materials every couple of weeks stay away from Avon, as they require updated catalogs often!  Many MLM business models pay the people at the top more so check out the plan and realize how likely it is to make decent money. Some businesses will take time to make steady income, most businesses (even bricks n mortar) don't see big R.O.Is until Year 3, so keep that in mind for measuring.

Starting a Watkins Home Business

Yes, I have to mention Watkins here because I am a Watkins National Team Manager and do fully believe in the company. I tried Partylite before but hated having to buy the big upfront investment and meet quotas. Plus I wasn't a big party person, that wasn't my gig! I didn't even bother with Avon after realizing how many catalogs I'd have to buy each month.

I love my Watkins business and manage a large team all across North America. I started doing sales in 2008 and grew my business. Now I work on helping my team members to grow their business and help them get successful. I am now doing what I love and getting paid for it, plus, it's something that we will use for our retirement. It's an investment that was well worth the membership of $39.95 - trust me! Plus, Watkins has been around since 1868 and offers full money-back guarantees. My family grew up with Watkins in our cupboards and so it's no surprise that many people (like myself originally) joined just to get the discount on personal purchases! With no min orders or quotas, it made total sense! As a manager I see many Watkins associates who are doing great with their Watkins business. Some manage teams like I do and others only do customer sales. So it's not the kind of company where you HAVE to build a team at all. It's your choice and flexible!

Who am I? I'm Tamara Laschinsky, owner of two successful business, author of two books and proud mother and wife to a family who loves spending time together! I have my degree in Business Administration with majors in e-Commerce and Marketing. I've been with Watkins since 2008 and will be honest: It's one of the best home businesses you will ever find! With products and a name that customers trust and a business model that is designed to help you grow, if you are looking for a good reliable business that you can count on - look into joining Watkins a bit more!

If you need more information, feel free to visit my information website where I also post any specials and incentives. Like right now for example, April 2012, new associates who join my team get a $50 Gift certificate. Can't beat that! If you have more questions, feel free to contact me. There's no pressure to join and I have no problem helping you make the right decision. If you are thinking of joining to get rick quick, I'll be 100% honest with you and tell you that's not going to happen!

Tamara Laschinsky, Indep. Watkins Associate & National Team Manager # 378193
403-998-8597
email: info@NaturalProductsOnline.ca
website: http://www.WatkinsOnline.com/tamara.laschinsky