Start & Run a Real Home-Based Business. Dan Furman
pond. Okay, that’s a silly analogy, because except for that creepy snakehead fish, I don’t see too many fish changing residences. But you know what I mean.
Here I am — I’ve had three websites made by two different designers in the last five years, and I didn’t meet either of them face to face … well, after my websites were done, Maryellen and I did meet Arizona residing Kelly and her husband on their NYC vacation, but dinner and (many) drinks were the agenda, not websites.
So if I could get websites made by people who live far away from me, what was stopping this little local web design firm from branching out? Nothing, except their mindset.
Why Does This Happen?
Businesses neglect to branch out, at least in my opinion, because “selling to the world” is still somewhat new. Okay, I don’t personally think it’s all that new (I’ve been doing it all decade), but for many businesses that were started in the ‘80s and ‘90s, well, it still is kind of new. This web design firm in question most likely started when, “Hey you, Mr. or Mrs. Local Businessperson — you need a website” was a valid marketing message (of course, so were the Budweiser frogs at the time … kinda see my point here)?
It’s old thinking — the world can be your customer, no matter what type of business you have (yes, even you, Mr. or Mrs. Plumber … I told you I’d get back to you).
How to Overcome This “Local Only” Thinking
It’s easy to overcome “local only” thinking … just sell something to someone outside of your local area.
If you have a business like a web design business (or any business I mentioned earlier), this is simple — change some wording on your website, buy some pay-per-click ads in other areas, make sure you can take PayPal, and away you go. It’s literally that simple.
Now, for you other types of businesses — you plumbers, you pet sitters — you’re going to have to think a little bit. Perhaps go re-read Chapter 10 on Niche Marketing and the Pizza Place marketing newsletter I mentioned. Heck, it doesn’t have to be that elaborate. I don’t care what your business is, you can put together a little “how-to” manual that you can sell for $5. If you’re a pet sitter, you can have a “How to start a pet sitting business” manual. Or, “Things every pet sitter should know.” You can sell it online as a downloadable PDF (again, shockingly easy … but if you don’t want to get into that, just print it and mail it).
In fact, you don’t even have to go this far to start out — you can even go to eBay and start by selling something from your closet and get a few dollars for it. Once you start getting money from “Betty in Timbuktu,” it opens all kinds of doors.
At least for entrepreneurs it does.
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