Think about your the road ahead and obstacles that may be in your path.

Nicole Dean, owner - ShowMomTheMoney.com

You Started a Home-Based Business- Now What? Set a Goal!

Yep - that is one of the most important things you can do regardless of what point in your business you are- WHY?

It helps you get organized from the beginning- it might not
seem as exciting and productive as getting people to join the
business or selling the products, but it is a very important step
that will save you from lots of headaches along the way.

So how do you set a realistic goal?

First - write WHY did you join, WHAT do you expect of the business.
For example- do you need the extra money to help pay that credit
card? Or do you need to be able to contribute to your household
income? Or do you want just some extra money to buy those little
indulgences that your budget does not allow you to?

Second - HOW do you want to work your business? Do you love doing in-home parties or want to learn how? Or does your situation allow you
to spend several hours a week in the computer? Do you like doing
craft fairs and flea markets? or do you want to do direct sales and
catalog parties, or do you like a mix of a bit of everything? Or what is it that YOUR business requires YOU to do?

Third - look at your own personal situation, and don't compare your
success to others! It is very different to be a SAHM who has 6 hours
a day to work on the business with no restrictions while the kids are
at school, compared to someone who homeschools (like me) or cares for a sick relative - or if you yourself has a health issues that you have to deal with, or if you have the kids at home with you, or if you work out of the home, care for the family and on top is trying to get the business going. Only YOU can determine what will fit YOUR needs! Now, this DOESN'T mean you take the "lazy" approach and say "ok- I'll work one hour a week"- sure, you can, but how far can you go with that?

On this I want to mention- you DON'T need to be setting 2-3 hours
apart at a time- your personal situation might not allow you to, BUT
you can do realistic things like "blocks" of 15-20 minutes 2-3 times
a day- Is amazing how much you can get done in that time.

Fourth - Do you have your family's support? This is for two reasons-
for example, you REALLY want to do parties once a week, but have kids or a relative that you care for- who will watch them while you are
gone? You have to do some planning, and you have to see if you have
family support. The second reason- more than once people who could have been successful have given up because their significant other is not supportive- If you really want to get your business going, and your significant other is not supportive, you might need to look for
alternate sources of support, or even "step up" and say- 'I AM doing
this- and I NEED you do _____ for me" It might be tough at the
beginning, but when you are determined to succeed, you have to be
willing to hit some walls and get up and look for a road around the
wall. I have a good friend of mine who would have been wonderful at
the business she joined, and from the start her husband told
her "you are incapable of attaining anything or going anywhere, so
why waste your time and mine?" Not very nice, huh? So she gave up
without even trying- Will you be able to get over those humps if they
come up?

Why are these steps important in the business? First, they will allow
you to determine what questions to ask, and to set smaller goals to
attain.

Some people think that because they joined a home business they will
be making oodles of money in a month. When that doesn't happen, they get frustrated and quit. We have to be realistic, and to help us in
that SET SMALL GOALS FIRST.

Once you have the information of what and how you want to work your business, set small goals that will help you get to the bigger goal.
This will help you do do things in an organized way, and will take a
lot of the frustration away. Again, days that are for "paperwork and
planning" are as productive (or even more) than days that you are
making sales and sharing the business with others.

So you know why you joined and what you want to do- GREAT! 

Your goals might look something like this- 

Week one - get organized, collect information, ask questions, set goals 
Week two- place first order according to my personal situation and business situation (biz cards, catalogs, samples) then, stop, READ AND LEARN!
Week three- Start advertising the site and your business- talk to friends you run into ,
Week four - call some friends and see if they would hold a
party/catalog party for you- if not- get a referral or show them the
catalog for them to look at the products/purchase- 

And the last important step- LEAVE ROOM FOR ERROR- This is VERY
important to avoid getting frustrated and burned out! So you couldn't
work today because you were overwhelmed by other things? That's ok! You'll catch up! NO ONE responded to your ad today - well, now you know that that subject line is not successful- you didn't fail, you LEARNED!
None of your friends wanted a party? That's ok- bring them a sample with a catalog, they might just buy something.

You WILL find bumps on the way- it DOESN'T mean you failed- it just
meant that the particular approach did not work for you or was not good at that particular time of the year