With everything costing so much in this day in age, free is attractive to anyone, including online business owners. There are a wide variety of free services available on the internet today. These free services might include free web hosting, free graphics, free banners, free domain names, and even other free elements such as guest books, counters, calendars, forums, and shopping carts.
You might be asking yourself as you read this, what is so bad about free? You are thinking that free helps your business save money, it gives you or visitors the services needed, and it is readily available on the internet for your use. These are all true in a sense, but when you really break it down, you will see why using free services is a bad idea for your business.
What kind of negative impact can free services have on your business? Let's have a look:
1. They could actually help an online business lose money
2. They could lower a customer's trust in the business
3. They could turn a customer away from the start
4. Decrease the reputation of your business
As you can see, even though there are only four negative elements, they are powerful elements none-the-less. Why would anyone want that kind of negative impact on their business, just to save a few bucks? Let's have a closer look at each element.
They Could Actually Help A Business Lose Money
When you use free services, instead of investing into something more solid and appropriate for your business, instead of saving you could actually lose money. This loss of money comes from the fact that you can lose sales and end up making the investment anyways. Why not make the investment from the start and avoid losing sales to figure out that free services will not benefit your online business.
They Could Lower A Customer's Trust In The Business
People want to trust the businesses they deal with, this is a solid fact. However, if you are using free services, you are essentially saying that you do not believe enough in your business to invest in it. People want a professional business, free services are not always professional and it is very easy to spot something that is free. Therefore, stay away from free hosting or free domains, your customers and bank account will thank you for it.
They Could Turn Away Your Customers From The Start
Free services are extremely noticeable. They all come with fine print, which includes the right to display advertisements when the services are used. These advertisements could be in the form of banners on a page, pop-ups, pop-unders, or landing pages. When customers see these, you can almost bet that they will leave. No one likes to see these types of advertisements.
At the same time, if you use free hosting, instead of www.yourbusiness.com it will be something less attractive such as www.freehosting.yourbusines.com this is harder to remember, less attractive, and is a dead give away that you didn't take your business serious enough to invest in quality hosting. Plus, this type of hosting does not have good uptime or dependability either.
If you do not want to decrease the reputation of your online business and drive your customers away, it is a good idea to start out the right way and avoid free services all together.
If you are going to run a home based business, you need extra insurance-that is, you'll need insurance that most other people don't need. It's more than worth the premiums.
Running a home based business means you are self-employed and therefore you are totally responsible for your financial future. You enjoy all the freedom that comes with this, of course. You can travel on vacation whenever you want. You don't have a commute except down the hallway from your bedroom to the den, or something like that. You set your own hours.
If you have a great week you can reward yourself by taking off on Friday-nobody can fire you for that! Your dress code is anything you want it to be. You can always be there for your family. You can eat whenever you want. And, hopefully, the greatest reward of all is you are making a substantial amount of money.
But the greater one's freedom, the greater one's responsibilities. Nobody can make the hard decisions for you: everything is up to you. If you make a bad guess, you pay the price and have no business pointing your finger; just as if you make a good call you reap all the rewards and get all the glory.
Thus, your home based business is your life's blood. What would become of you and/or your family should something happen to you to make it so you can't run your business for a while? What if you are involved in a serious car accident? What if you become extremely ill? What if a thief steals your computer and files one day when you've taken the family on vacation? What if there's a fire that burns down your house and destroys your computer?
All of these tragic scenarios, while unlikely, are possibilities that must be considered.
You need to take a correct assessment of your business' worth. In the case of a home based business, that probably won't involve much in the way of equipment. You have a computer and a desk, perhaps a telephone for equipment. You likely don't have any inventory (unless you're running an eBay store), and even if you do it's not going to be a huge amount.
So the business' worth is going to almost entirely be how much money you make from it. If you've had your business for a few years you can look back and assess this. But if you're starting out, you'll have to take a guess based on what others running a similar business are making and on the stated income potential from the company (if you are an affiliate marketer).
So once you have that figure, you need to purchase disability insurance and home owner's insurance in amounts that can cover you should you be out of commission for a while. You also need to have your own health insurance policy that you pay for (I recommend a high-deductible, lower-premium policy that includes a Medical Savings Account).
You should also have sufficient life insurance to replace your business income should you die an untimely death and if you have a family. Consult with a financial advisor to get these numbers right.
Your home based business is your business, your money, your staff of life. Insure it as you do all of your other valuables.
posted by Chris Simpson
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Thursday, August 14th 2008
If you are a business owner and you are looking for the most cost effective way to get the work done that you need help with and don't want to take on a full time employee, then a Virtual Assistant could be just what you need. Finding the right virtual assistant doesn't have to be a difficult task. To help you out we are going to provide you with a list of things you need to look for in a virtual assistant.
You are going to be relying on the virtual assistant to take care of important tasks for your business. So finding someone that you can work easily with is vital. You also want to make sure that your virtual assistant is going to be able to present your business properly, and that they have the skills you need. Make sure that you can set up a consultation with the Virtual Assistant.
During your consultation you will be looking for how well the VA responds to your questions, how they answer the phone, the promptness of the appointment you made with them and is there follow through.
The virtual assistant that you are going to hire should also have an online office that you can visit. This is usually a website, and this website is the equivalent of a face to face interview. Their website should be free of misspellings, improper grammar and unprofessional writing. If the VA is not presenting a polished professional image for themselves, chances are they aren't going to present you in a polished and professional manner.
You should also look for finesse. The VA you are thinking of working with should be able to easily guide you through the services that they offer. They should be very knowledgeable about their products, services and capabilities. You want to make sure that they have business sense and that they know how to use it.
Knowing their personal and professional traits is also important. To do this all you have to do is listen to the person you are interviewing. They should take the lead when necessary in the conversation, there should be confidence in the way they speak about themselves and their business, as you are listening do you feel as though you can trust this person and finally do you feel as though you can connect with this person.
You should also take a look at their experience. When we talk about experience, we are not talking about as a virtual assistant per se. You need to know the experience they have in the services they are offering.
Many administrative assistants have left the office to start their own VA business with years of experience in the different tasks and services they may offer, but have only been a VA for a few months. Likewise, someone can be a VA for years and actually have little experience in some of the services they offer. Make sure that you get the full picture when you are talking with them.
Making sure that you get the above information will help you find the right virtual assistant for you business and your needs.
posted by Chris Simpson
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