There’s an old Confucius saying that goes “If you chase two rabbits, you catch none.” This is especially true when forming new habits and trying to be more productive, but how many times do we do exactly the opposite?

We try to do as much as possible to grow, learn and better ourselves. We read books, blogs, and soak up all sorts of information on creating new habits. The fact is, a lot of this effort is in vain. Our attention is pulled in so many directions, that our energy is spread too thin.

It doesn’t help much that our lives have become increasingly complex. We have more ways to communicate than ever before: face-to-face, phone, email, instant messaging, twitter, blogging, etc. We have more tools to get work done, but our energy is diminished after being pulled in a million directions.

If we know that we need to focus, why don’t we use what we already know? If we supposedly know how to change, why don’t we change? If we know what’s wrong, why don’t we fix it?

I think the answer to this question is a little more complex than what can be looked at in a simple blog post. But in short, I think the answer is a matter of energy. It’s not a lack of confidence, but the lack of ability to make a serious commitment. Commitment isn’t just thinking about really wanting something. It’s not just reading something on a few different blogs and thinking “oh yeah, I’ve read that a few times, I know.” Reading or seeing something isn’t enough. You have to put your energy behind it enough to be able to move from point a to point z. If you’re trying to hit points c, s, q, y and t (which might represent other goals you have) you’ll get distracted. You lose focus and your energy fizzles.

If changing your habits and your life means only focusing on one thing at a time, how do you defend yourself from productivity ADD? Here are 10 tools to help you:

1. Deep focus instead of multi-tasking. We often kid ourselves thinking that we’re getting more done by multi-tasking, but we often end up just spending a lot of time spinning our wheels. Try to focus on one thing deeply, instead of spreading your attention across multiple tasks.
2. Wraps up tasks that are easily completed. Most of the time I’m having trouble staying focused is because there a bunch of little things on my mind that I know I need to do. Write down everything that can be completed in less than 10 minutes and finish everything on the list before you start on a project that requires more focus. This doesn’t mean that every time something comes up that would take less than ten minutes to do, you do it. You simply batch everything together that requires ten minutes of time or less.
3. Stay in the now. As much as you can, practice focusing your attention on the present moment. Constantly move your attention back to now. If you have trouble with this, you might want to get this watch.
4. Respond, don’t react. Our tendency to react to what seems “urgent” hurts us in the long run. I would rather write an amazing book in a year, sacrificing things like replying to email and having a super clean house. Block out time in your day for the things that are really important.
5. Feng shui your workspace. What’s the most important thing to you? What are you really passionate about? For me, this is writing and music. I feng shui my work area to speak those things. I have writing books on my shelves, I have musical instruments around me. I have a cork board that has my writing goals and inspirational quotes about writing that speak to me. Having these “attention reinforcements” helps you to stay focused on what is most important to you.
6. Give yourself a meaningful purpose. You’ll have a hard time staying focused if you feel the work you’re doing isn’t meaningful. If you’re having trouble staying focused at a job you’re not passionate about, it’s likely because you have no interest in the work you’re doing. There’s no motivation for you other than a paycheck. Find a career that has meaning and gives you a sense of purpose and your motivation and focus will naturally increase.
7. Distinguish between urgent and important. We often spend most of our time doing things that seem important, but really aren’t. They are just urgent. This doesn’t really make sense, because it would seem things that are important, should be urgent, right? If you want to do meaningful things, if you want to accomplish things that will have a long-term impact, focus on the important.
8. Visual how you want your day to evolve. If you don’t really know exactly how you want your day to go, how can you expect it to go the way you want it to? In order to combat random events and unknowns keeping you from doing what’s important, take time to visualize how you want your day to go. Pay attention when you visualize certain things to how they make you feel. Use positive visualization to control how you will react when certain events come up that detract you from keeping focused.
9. Practice single pointed focus. It’s hard to imagine staying focused when there are so many possibilities of things you could be doing. Sometimes priorities aren’t enough to keep you motivated, it’s just a matter of flexing your focusing muscles. Here’s a good meditation to get you started on flexing your single minded muscles: Close your eyes and imagine that you are sitting alone in a chair in a room (it doesn’t really matter where). Now imagine there’s an apple on the table in front of you. Try taking bites of that apple in your mind, and focusing on the taste and sensations of the apple. Look at how the different bites are taken out one at a time. Practicing this and other types of meditations will greatly enhance your ability to focus on one thing for long durations of time.
10. Practice mindfulness. This seems so simple, but it’s often the most difficult thing to do. How often when you’re eating, are you thinking about all sorts of different things, other than your food? How often when you you’re spending time with a friend, is your mind wandering on other things? You can’t expect to be focused if you’re not paying attention to what is going on around you. The next time you wash your hands, focus on the feeling of the water and the sensation of the towel when drying your hands. When you’re eating, focus on the taste and texture of the food in your mouth. You can’t expect to be focused in your work, if you constantly lack focus in every other area of your life. Practice focus in the normal everyday things you do, and it will start spilling over in to your work.

If you contemplate starting a home business, you might want to pick up a copy of Home-Based Business for Dummies by Paul Edwards, Sarah Edwards, and Peter Economy. The book does a solid job of introducing many aspects of running a business from your home.

So, what is a home-based business? Paul and Sarah Edwards and Peter Economy write: “A home-based business is, not surprisingly, a business based in your home. Whether you do all the work in your home or on customers’ or third-party premises; whether you run a franchise, a direct-sales operation, or a business opportunity…; if the center of your operations is based in your home, it’s a home based business.”

Home-Based Business for Dummies goes on to discuss direct selling opportunities, mentioning products offered by Amway Corporation (household products), Longaberger Company (baskets), and Mary Kay Cosmetics.

Appendix A (Promising Home Businesses to Start From Scratch) of Home-Based Business for Dummies lists 100 businesses you can start from home (unfortunately, you’ll need to consult Best Home Businesses for the 21st Century by Paul and Sarah Edwards to get a complete profile of each business.) These home businesses include:

* Aromatherapy
* Business-Plan Writing
* Feng Shui Consulting
* Real Estate Appraising
* Scopist Service
* Newsletter Publishing

Throughout Home-Based Business for Dummies, the authors tell us about real-life entrepreneurs who run home-based businesses. For example, there’s an interesting side-box about a home business called Sandy’s Finds, owned by a woman who generates $100,000 a year by selling software on eBay.com.

Sandy buys remaindered software that isn’t selling from various sources (local CompUSA, software wholesalers, etc.) at a steep discount to its retail price. Sandy then lists the software for sale on eBay.com. Prices are set by the eBay bidders and, occasionally, Sandy’s mark-up is 1000%.

In addition to helping people generate ideas for home businesses, Home-Based Business for Dummies provides solid advice about a wide range of topics affecting home-based business owners. The topics cover taxes (and reducing them), business structure, legal issues of running a home-based business (including zoning), insurance, and cash flow.

Other issues include dealing with kids, dogs, neighbors, and other complications of operating a business from your home. Some home business owners are especially vulnerable to the IRS Hobby Loss Rule.

Because the expenses of running a home-based business are tax deductible, some hobbyists decide that their passion for photography or other hobby isn’t really a hobby. It’s a home business! So, they can write off that cool video camera they bought! That saves them tax dollars as they try to pay for their hobby with pretax dollars. Well, the IRS is on to that idea.

To prevent hobbyists from claiming illegitimate tax deductions, Home-Based Business for Dummies explains that the IRS may disallow the tax-deductibility of your home business expenses if your business fails to show a profit in at least three of the preceding five years. The authors make a good point. What about larger businesses that are not home-based, such as amazon.com, which was founded in 1995 and hasn’t turned a profit yet? We don’t see the IRS declare the billion dollar amazon.com a hobby!

Home-Based Business for Dummies goes on to explain the nine factors which the IRS uses to determine if a business is really a business or just a hobby.

Paul and Sarah Edwards have sold a million home-business books. They also host their own talk show, “Working From Home,” on BusinessTalkRadio.net (hosted from their home, of course, with an occasional bark thrown in from their dog for good measure).

One criticism of Home-Based Business for Dummies is its list of ten useful websites for home business owners. I agree with them that google.com is a great search engine, but their list is somewhat general and some of the other sites are not that useful to home business owners. However, the book does list useful web sites and other references throughout.

I have listed 7 must-have traits that I consider to be the most important. Go through the list carefully. Truly think about whether or not you have the desired trait. If you find that there are some that don t describe you then decide how you are going to change in order to acquire it. Don t try and fool yourself into believing you already have all these traits, unless you truly do. Fooling yourself will also be cheating you out of achieving your home business goals.

1. Self Discipline

Working at home means that you don t have a boss or co-workers to keep you on task. When you are the boss it is easy to do something other than work. This is especially true in a home business where you have your personal life all around you. You must discipline yourself to do certain tasks at certain times every day. Do not let your home life interfere with your business just because you work at home.

2. Routine

You must avoid procrastination all costs! Once again you do not have a boss or other authority figure to keep you on task. A luxury of being your own boss is that you get to pick your working hours. Make sure you aren t putting off work until tomorrow or the next day. Doing this will squash your home business dreams faster than anything. You must establish a work-load to get done every day and do it.

3. Persistence

People are always starting this or that but hardly anyone ever finishes once it gets a little rough. Having a home business has a lot of benefits but first you have to get through all the hurdles in the beginning. There are few things harder than building a home business from the ground up. There are also few things more rewarding once you have succeeded. It will get tough at times so you must have persistence.

4. Desire

You can hope and wish to gain financial independence for the rest of your life but it will never happen until you desire it. You must determine exactly what you want for your financial future and then let it become your obsession. Do not leave any room for failure or you will do just that fail.

5. Purpose

In order to build a solid business you must have a central purpose. It s easy to try and do a hundred different things at one time but it gets you nowhere in the end. People that fail don t have a defined purpose or goal set for what they are trying to do. When you try to do too many things at once, without really knowing what you are doing it for, then you will quickly find that nothing is working. Many people just give up at this point.

6. Education

You don t have to have a college degree to work at home. In fact, starting a home business really doesn’t require you to have much of a formal education at all. However, you must educate yourself tremendously on your particular business topic. There is going to be a lot of things you need to know in your business. Most of it can be learned on the internet or with home study courses.

7. Enthusiasm

You must thoroughly enjoy what you do in order to succeed at it. There is an old saying that enthusiasm is contagious. With enthusiasm you will have much more success getting people to do business with you. The whole purpose of working at home is to do something you like, under your own terms, so pick something you are enthused about.

Now, go back and read the list again. Do you lack any of the desired traits? Do you possess any of the negative traits? Find someone who knows you very well and is comfortable giving you constructive criticism. Have them go over the list with you to give you an outside perspective on yourself. If you find anything you need to work on, get started immediately. This is no time to procrastinate. Your future is on the line!

Have you ever heard that only a small part (5%) of ‘all’ Home-Based Business entrepreneurs achieve success? Do an online research on your favorite Search Engine and you will understand what I mean.
(article continued below …)

In this article I’m going to show you the KEY to Home-Based Business entrepreneurs success; you’ll find out what makes an entrepreneur successful in the home-based business field.

Below are 5 TIPS for Home-Based Business Entrepreneurs:

1. It’s their mindset that brings success

Serious entrepreneurs have ‘programmed’ their mind to succeed no matter what. They don’t lack focus on their home-based business and let nobody stop their plans in achieving what they want.

They know what they want and they have the DESIRE to succeed. If you don’t know exactly what you want when it comes your home-based business, think about it again and re-consider your plans, what you want to achieve, a get-rick-quick or a profitable, long term business.

2. It’s their start-up plan that brings success

Smart entrepreneurs know that it takes time to set-up and grow a profitable home-based business. They plan to succeed. They have a start-up plan that might fail but they never give up and start again with a better plan.

Serious entrepreneurs know that it takes discipline and time to build a strong and solid home-based business, which delivers ongoing income through many years to come.

3. It’s their initial RESEARCH that brings success

Smart and serious entrepreneurs know the importance of market research. They know that in order, for a home-based business to succeed, they have to research their target market (their potential customers) and study their competitors.

Research your target market and study your competitors in order to have a long-term, profitable home-based business.

Know what your customers want and give it to them. Keep an eye on your competitors, study their offer(s) and make sure you come up with a better deal than them.

4. It’s their marketing strategy that brings success

Study each successful entrepreneur in your marketing field and you’ll notice how they market online / offline.

Each of them have their own ‘unique’ marketing strategy but they use the same basic principles.

Don’t re-invent the wheel. Use the main marketing concepts that are proven to work but try to improve and adjust them to your own situation. Make them work for your home-based business. Make your offer better and unique than your competitors if you want to WIN in this business, or simply quit (I know that’s no what you really want!)

5. It’s their investment that brings success

Smart entrepreneurs know that the KEY is to work SMART, not hard. If you don’t have the required skills to develop a NEW marketing tactic for your home-based business why not hire a consultant who knows his stuff?

If you have ‘enough’ money why not invest in someone who can help you grow your home-based business and give me something to work at too?

What is more valuable to you, your time or your money?

A serious entrepreneur is ready to invest (both time and money). He knows that he will build a long-term successful business for him and the one he loves (friends, family, children, etc.)

The final (or first?) STEP you need to take in order to succeed is to act (take ACTION!). Yes, put into practice what I have told you above (the 5 TIPS for Home-Based Business Entrepreneurs) and you’ll succeed, no matter what. Trust me!

Today I want to deliver some home business owner straight talk about overcoming the most important challenge that can make or break your business in the first 90 days.

The popularity of business opportunities and entrepreneurialism spike during a recession as those who thought they had job security realize that they in fact did not. When one desires to become a home business owner and selects a business opportunity or system, they then thirst for information, training and instruction. It is a natural desire to take instruction or copy those that promote the success we crave to attain. It is the response to that desire that I feel compelled to address.

That being said, I cannot stress enough how important it is to follow credible and responsible sources of instruction. Keep mindful, realizing that there are those that have become successful by preying on others who do not effectively make those character judgments. With an increasing number of instructors and coaches that desire to teach something that they in fact do not practice so that you can experience success that they themselves have not attained, navigating this minefield has never been more critical. It is one of the main contributors to the home business failure rate being 98%.

A myriad of business’s are doomed to failure when their owners are so desperate to follow someone else’s map to reach financial freedom and make money online that they sacrifice the very attributes that would have otherwise made them successful.

So ask yourself, have you become so busy trying to get what YOU want that you’ve forgotten to listen to potential prospects, which would allow you to effectively meet their needs? Achieving success is not about trying to sell a gimmick or give away a free worthless item to add email addresses to your list. True success is NOT about selling an opportunity to sell others into an opportunity that sells nothing.

No my friends, long term success is about delivering a product or service that provides real value toward satisfying or solving a need you’ve observed in the marketplace. This is the only path to establishing a strong foundation for your business. It is proven that one cannot realize long term business success unless they listen and provide a true needs based value proposition no matter what blogging, social media or video marketing they utilize.

Commit moving forward to be discerning who’s instruction you choose to follow, build a strong business foundation and be patient. Learn and observe diligently bearing in mind that when you reach your financial goals YOU will be the leader with results that those less experienced desire to mimic and learn from. So learn and become an expert in the business you’re in, play to your strengths – bring value and inspire someone.

Remote Employment features home based business opportunities and ways to earn an income with a work at home business. Millions of people across the UK are choosing a work life balance to suit their family requirements and still enjoying the satisfaction of running their own profitable home based business working from home.

Social Networking
In today’s modern social networking world, practically everything that people create and share online through sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, YouTube or blog posts, are fed into search results in Google. This builds a powerful reputation online and is crucial to enhancing your home business success.

Googling
People are Googling all the time and will find you through the network of social networking sites. It’s a phenomenon that’s guaranteed to impact on your home business. In an era of ‘socialising’ Google is the new reference check. With this in mind, you should be aware of top tips to build and maintain Google results to help expand your home based business.

Building Your Brand
Many businesses are actively using internet marketing to deliver a good return on investment during a tough economic climate, so you should apply the same mind-set and use online brand building to grow your home based business and gain advantage over your competitors.

Make money online working from home with a home based business Enhance your Home Business Brand
Here we give you some easy ways to enhance your online brand:

1. Write a blog – Lots of people have a blog these days so your home based business need one. A well-written blog focused on your area of expertise is a good addition to your marketing plan. When creating an online blog, always use your business name as your URL whenever possible to help bolster your search engine rankings.

2. Create an online presence – Find blogs in your area of expertise, subscribe to them, and comment frequently. Use Google Blog to search for blogs using relevant key words and ensure that all your articles are focused and relevant to your home based business.

3. Create a Networking Profile and start connecting. Ask and answer questions to increase your visibility. This is the new way to network. Instead of trudging along to the boring old breakfast meetings, join on-line networks and start recommending others, and ask them to recommend you. Look for ways to connect two people in your network to each other and get them to do the same for you.

4. Set up a free Google Alert to monitor any online discussion of your home based business on Google.

5. Try reviewing relevant books on the topic of your home based business at amazon.co.uk and other on-line bookstores and link back to your website or blog.

And finally … be careful what you’re sharing, make sure that you make your account on any social networks private so only your friends can access it. By building a positive online brand for your home based business, you can ensure that you influence what someone would find if they Googled your home business. Monitor your online home business brand and continue to update to keep one step ahead of the competition.

If you have already purchased one of our Easy Home Business packages, then at some stage you are going to have to prepare to sell your ‘wares’ to the local businesses in your area.

How to approach the business owner

Your first contact with the business owner should always have the purpose to gather more information.  They often have no sophisticated web presence to gather the information without personal interaction.   Although with experience you can vaguely assume their situation and potential need by knowing some basic information (industry, location, people, revenue).

Call the business owner, prove creditability of yourself, gather information about their situation, estimate need, create interest, build rapport and arrange an appointment for a personal visit.

You might discuss potential need over the phone, but never start selling on the first call!

Send the business owner an email or note by post to confirm the appointment and send him basic information how you can help him to generate more profit by reducing costs, increasing revenue, or saving time. Don‘t send powerpoint presentations or too much collateral, which are not going to be read or fully understood anyway.

At the meeting, build rapport and relationship right from the beginning.  A business owner buys YOU more than a big corporate does.  Adjust your presentation according his need.  Think local.  Think like a business owner. Establish their buying motive, potential upcoming objections, and the decision making process (suggest to discuss together in a group with mum, dad or any family member who might be influencing the decision).

Remember the wisdom of Like, Believe, Confidence and Trust. A potential client must first like you, before he believes your words, has confidence in you and finally trusts you. Without Like there will never be Trust. That is especially true for small business owners.

Dress appropriately. Don‘t wear your Armani suit when visiting a plumber. Dress business like without being overdressed. Mirror as much as possible.  Provide exceptional service, before, during and after a purchase. Be reachable all the time.  Don‘t avoid calls in case of complaints or problems.

Your best advertisement is what your customers tell their friends and other business owners behind your back.  Especially small business owners tend to give referrals or take referrals from a trusted source.   Again, they trust people they know and like.

You will experience true word-of-mouth advertisement, as they tend to tell others if your service has been great.  Beware, they tend to tell everyone and their dog, if your service didn’t deliver.

An increasing number of people are setting up a business in their own home, ranging from computer consultancy, teaching and counseling to physiotherapy, home typing, cleaning services, brokerages and gardening, new research has shown.  A survey of 1,400 adults by Lloyds TSB Business Insurance showed that 200 ran a home-based business, with a quarter being launched in the past year.

Home-based businesses have been on the increase for some time now due to a number of factors but the main ones being people who wish to opt out of the ‘rat race’, commuting to and from work involving sitting in traffic morning and night,  and those who wish to cut down on costs / overheads.

The freedom that working from home can give the individual can be quite life-changing in most cases, no more having to get up at 7.00am to get to the office for 9.00am, you have the freedom to work your own hours which suits you best, no more sitting in long traffic queues to and from work, no more costly fuel bills at the petrol station and the list goes on.

Working from home has potential benefits for employer and employee alike, with studies finding that it can boost productivity and reduce overheads as well allowing employees to fit work around their lives and avoid transport costs.

With the recession in full flow, having employees work from home could open up more job opportunities. “As technology advances, more and more companies will realise the huge cost benefits,” says Paula Wynne, co-founder of RemoteEmployment.com.

The self-employed will already be spending some, if not all, of their time working from home. This offers the welcome opportunity to avoid a long and stressful commute, saving time and money. However, working from home can incur extra costs which may take a chunk out of any transport savings. Kitting out an office space can be costly and household bills will shoot up, but the good news is that most of these costs can be deducted from your taxable income.

For more information on how you can cut down on TAX and even claim expenses when working from home, contact you local tax advisor.

So you have decided to work from home.  You have either packed in the day to day travelling to work and started a home based business, or perhaps this is your first venture into the business world.  Here are a few tips to help you on your way.

1. Setting up a functional workspace is critical to the success from a work from home employee. Try setting up your space so that it contains all of the necessary equipment that you need. You may decorate your workspace so that it is aesthetically appealing but try to keep distractions to a minimum.
2. Establishing a working schedule is also important. Having regularly scheduled hours when you work will help you to be more efficient during these times. Be sure to schedule work time as well as break times so that you will not become overwhelmed. One of the pitfalls that some work from home employees fall into is working too many hours. In an office there is a clear signal to the end of the day as other employees start to leave the office for the day but at home employees sometimes have difficulty ending their day.
3. Being able to motivate yourself is critical for the work at home employee. In an office situation, you have a supervisor and co-workers who motivate you to complete your work but when you are working at home, you only have yourself to push you to succeed.
4. Maintaining a professional attitude is also important for the work from home employee. If you have frequent client interactions, be careful to answer the phone or respond to their emails in a professional way. A home office may be an informal environment that affords you the luxury of dressing casually but client interactions should always follow certain decorum. Keeping your interactions businesslike will ensure that the client does not begin to doubt the amount or quality of work that is being put into their projects.
5. Considering hiring a day care provider is another tip for working from home. Those who have young children may find it difficult to attend to the needs of their children while fulfilling their job obligations. For this reason it may be worthwhile to have a day care provider care for your child during your working hours.
6. Avoid volunteering for too many activities. Many people will assume that because you work at home you are free to help them run errands, pick up their children from school or be an emergency babysitter if their child has a cold. While you may want to help your friends and family members, it is important to make it clear that your work is just as important as theirs and that you have obligations to take care of each day.