Work At Home Requires Professionalism

Many people move into work at home businesses because they reached the ceiling at their place of employment. Others start a home based business because they are not suited to the artificial environment of an office, including the politics, stress, smog, and even intangibles such as road rage.

The last group of people start a work at home business because they are locked out of the corporate world. They may have learned all their skills 'in house.' They may have the ability to run the office, but not the education or references to land a job. They are stuck running errands, doing the manager's job, and waiting until the manager returns from a meeting to tell them what new projects they are in charge of, but they will never earn the salary.

These people have the skills, but they are lacking two things. One, the communication style associated with the job. Two, the finesse needed to land the job. This is why they start their own business, and run into the same problems.

Communication Style

Each industry has its own communication style. This is like a secret language, a code, that lets the professionals know who is real and who is a wannabe. Reading books, industry magazines, and learning the catch phrases will help you 'talk the talk.'

Many companies are starting out online - and staying online. Even large book publishing houses are working 100% on line with 'elements' in three or four countries. There are many companies working from offices in major cities that are nothing more than PO Boxes. The 'staff' are located around the world.

This makes it easier for small 'outsourcing' and 'customer service' businesses to get started by working for the bigger companies. The number of home-based businesses is growing exponentially. A decade a go people were happy to work 40 hours a week and make $10 000 a year. Now some are easily making hundreds of thousands. Some are still earning $10 000. The reason is often found in their communication style and their level of professionalism.

Stepping out of the office does not mean that you can leave the business world behind. When applying on craigslist.com to 'outsource' a company's bookkeeping, administrative, PR, Training, or legal issues, it is still important to apply for the job in the same manner as you'd apply to the personnel office at a corporate office.

Presentations, portfolios, Resumes, CVs, cover letters, follow up calls and demonstrations are still the norm. The professional recruiter in the office may waver between hiring a small life coach firm to train new employees, or hire an in house, university trained, personnel rep. They will compare the resumes and presentations before making a choice.

Unfortunately, too many small businesses send vague messages:

"Visit my web page."
"Look at the samples I did on this URL."
"Subscribe to my newsletter and see what people say to me."
"Read my guest book."
"We have sold XXXX items this month. We can sell your product" (and offering other claims that cannot be proven)

One strong method of winning a bid is to offer the option of sending a print copy of the presentation 'over night.'

Learning to Finesse and Bid

Bidding is the Internet equivalent to selling or applying for a job. It can take a while to sell your small business. Never give up too fast.

Business owners in the brick-and-mortar world learn to 'finesse' and sell by networking, and working with other professionals. It is hard because there are no fixed rules. Following up the next week and pushing for a meeting is normal in one industry but in another it is rude and harassment in another industry.

Professionalism

When leaving the office, remember to take your professionalism along with you. Remember how management did things in the office and emulate it in the small business world and you'll succeed.