Good evening (here at least), I just joined this forum today and I am still in the stages of researching telecommuting and work at home/start my own business opportunities. I am very glad that I stumbled upon this forum. I spent a good number of hours today reading through threads and even found over a page of leads and ideas. I started checking out some of the leads but for one reason or another ended up crossing most of them off of my list. Disappointing but I would rather cross them off now than after putting money or time into something that will not work out for me in the end. They say money isn't everything.... even though I do believe that, I also believe in being able to at least pay my bills. That being said, I am finding it VERY difficult to find an actual telecommuting job working as an employee making at least what I do now. So this is starting to lead me towards a way to make an income for myself as most of the people in this forum do. I see a good number of people in this forum who were able to replace their "go to" jobs with working at home through hard work and determination... and I applaud those people. As my title states however finding what is right for me right now is difficult with the information overload I am currently experiencing. I know that person to person I do not think I would make it in sales. Online, who knows? Does one need to have a "sales" personality to make it in online marketing? What would be the best way to determine an online career for someone? Thank you for reading. CKC
Consider your past experience. That is a good starting point to determine an online career for someone. There are many, many work at home forums including this one. Some forums will have work at home job listings. Many I see are customer service related. Writing is also something that a lot of people do from home. If you decide to work for yourself, generating an income online can take time. Many people do it part time, around their current job and grow it into something bigger. There are also freelancing opportunities available on various sites like Odesk.
Good point, In my experience, most people hate to be sold, and hate selling even more. LOL I know many who are making money online whereby they barely made a living in sales in traditional sense, so yes, it is much easier to sell online than face to face. I stumbled into sales early on, I had started career as a technical person, but knowing the answers to all aspects, often many sales and product related, not just technical, I was prompted to go into sales as I also had the best customer relations in technical end of business. So you never know what you may be good at unless you try it. I am glad I did for I have made tons more than those of my peers who stayed in technical side of business, in fact, most have all lost their positions over the years as technology has advanced, while selling remains a more profitable business to be in, and one that will always exist for the most part, even with advances in automated selling websites we see more and more of in recent years. Many sites are interactive with live sales help now, so like everything, times change, and you have to change with the times as I had and am still learning. I always look to advance my knowledge in sales, and as most will tell you, sales is where the real money is earned, not services which is where I started out. When you find the right marketing tools which increase your sales, only then will you understand the power of the internet. The economic mess the country is in demands that you research starting your own business from home, and no better place to start than reading forums like this to learn from others who made similar transitions in their careers. I owned traditional businesses before going online, and would never consider going back to brick and mortar business. Low overhead means more profits, so no better time than now to start your home business for the traditional job market is shrinking every day. Success to all,
The skills and techniques that are required to be successful in person-to-person sales are essentially the same as those needed for online marketing. The difference is in the mode of delivery. Instead of physical, it's digital. The "sales" personality, tactics and strategies that would be evident in a face-to-face situation are simply transferred to digital format. They take the form of online ads, squeeze pages, free offers, email sequences, sales pages and other marketing materials... your digital representatives. In person you can quickly establish a mutual area of interest and establish a bond of sorts as you "warm up" the prospect. You can look her in the eye, observe her body language, tone of voice, and adjust your strategy accordingly, in real time. You have a greater degree of control. The downside is that you are limited to the number of people you can see in a day, and you get to feel the disappointment and rejection every time you fail to make a sale. This can impact your attitude... if you let it. Online you have to rely on your sales pieces to warm up the prospect, establish trust and close the sale. So your digital representatives must be finely tuned. Each piece must complete its job before handing your prospect off to the next piece in the sequence. You can reach an unlimited number of people around the clock, thanks to automation, and the rejections don't have the same emotional sting because they are statistical. The prospect has control of the mouse and can easily click away from your page if the message is not sufficiently compelling or isn't addressing her problem. I would suggest starting with something you know a thing or two about; something you have experience with or are highly skilled at; something you can do better than most people you know and that you would do even if you weren't getting paid for it. That's as good a starting place as any. By the way, welcome to the forum! Hermas
Thank you for all of your replies! My feeling through reading through the threads the other day was that the people on this forum care about others... and I was right! I will definitely take a lot of the advice you gave me and see what I can come up with. I saw some threads the other day that mentioned to pick one thing and stick to it. That made a lot of sense to me and so I believe that is the way I will go..... now to pick something.
First of all, I want to welcome you to the forums, CKC! And that's a good question you posted there. I will try to help you out, okay? Did you know that most successful online business owners don't have masteral on sales nor marketing? They just focused on one goal - TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE. And they did everything just to reach that goal. They invested in themselves by buying ebooks and tutorials, talking to professionals, researching online, etc. It's understandable why you suffer from information overload because non in the offline world prepares us for the online world. My advice - decide on what you really want to do. One reason for not having success in making money online is that people don't spend enough time learning to do one thing well before moving to other things. If you want to have an online job, search for online jobs. Do not distract yourself by looking at marketing and sales strategies. If you want to do Internet marketing, pick one method you want to use. Social media marketing? Blogging? PayPerClick advertising? Article marketing? Email marketing? It doesn't matter what you choose. The key is to pick one method and master it. Most importantly, don't rush things. You will not get what you want in just one day. You have to be patient. The truth is no one can do all the things well. It takes commitment and focus to stick long enough to acquire the knowledge and skills you need to succeed online.
Sales and network marketing are very different. The biggest difference is that network marketing is about connecting with people and building relationships. People don’t like it when others try to sell to them, especially on the internet. Business online is a completely different ball game to business offline. I have had a lot of success online but to be honest i struggled offline. The best advise anyone can give you is to spend time watching videos, listening to audio books and learning whenever you can! It takes time and effort but it's definitely worth it! Self-Development is the key!
Money isn't everything but it ranks up there with oxygen. Money is important to have. When you have money and are debt free and you have a very nice income coming in, there are a lot of things you can do with that money. Between rich and poor, I will take RICH any day. You don't need to be a sales person to make money online. You just need a good offer and then invest money on ads. Most of these opportunities will do the selling for you. Here are some steps for you to follow. 1. Find a product that can earn you RESIDUAL INCOME. 2. That same product MUST also allow you to earn from other people's efforts. 3. That same product MUST also allow you to earn from UPSELLS. So the product after someone joins for the small fee of let's say $20, they are followed up with more products that can bank you anywhere between $100-$5,000. 4. Once you have the above, you then MUST learn how to market online. Forget about FREE marketing. For fast results, focus on PAID ads and track everything to see what works best for you.
Money isn't everything, but it is a necessity in life. First figure out things you absolutely hate and stay away from those things. Otherwise, you're lining yourself up for disappointment. Second come up with a list of things you like. Third come up with a list of things you can learn to do. That will give you personal information to help you find the right starting point for your future success.
About the sales skills thing online, you don't need to have them yourself in order to make sales. You can hire a good copy writer and pay them to write your material, while you focus on driving traffic to it. For example, they write your sales page and ads, while you place those ads in front of your prospects.
It's all about having fun while working from home! Find the company that's right for you based on their VALUES! You want to stand behind the company's motto and share the values with poeple who have the similar views and having the heart at the right place is half the battle! The company I partnered with we promote HAPPINESS around the world and came out recently with magazine "Live Happy", we also about Making People Better! Because you attract what you become, so personal development is Everything! Please, feel free to connect with me, I will help you in any way I can. To you Happiness & Abundance, Tatsiana
Florbags, just visited your website like some of your articles and your comment here - learn each stage thoroughly. CKC, I do wonder how quickly you have to be earning, as Internet marketing does take time to build your list of prospective customers and regular earnings. If you could learn IM alongside paid work that would be best. I love what I am doing and learning daily. I think selling is believing in your product, being passionate about it and caring about your customers, finding out what's best for them and offering a good "fit". I have been in a variety of sales positions about 40 years and love it. Follow my advice selling is then easy, you are not pushy but giving them what they want. Best wishes in whatever you choose, visit my website for ideas, but Internet Marketing does take time to build a following.
Funny reading some comments whereby people say money isn't everything. I agree, but I have said this for years in life, money isn't everything, but it is everything else, and wow, is this ever more true than ever. Without money, you can't do the good things for others you want to, never mind having a less stressful life due to financial concerns. Sure, you can still help others without money, but wow, is it ever easier when you don't have to count every penney. Success to all,
I come from a background in door to door and cold approaching sales. I find that i have great use of my past experiences in sales especially when it comes to the fact that you need to have the right mindset to succeed. Most people have the wrong mindset. They are lazy, and thinks about making a living online as something easy. That's why the shiny objects sell the most
Hi John I have 35 years sales background or more, 15 of which was selling double glazing on commission only, however I am sot a pushy sales person, the reason I did well was not because I sat there till they succumbed, just that I care about people. I found out exactly what they wanted and if I could offer it at the price they could afford I had a sale. With internet marketing there is no face to face selling just a case of learning some techniques, being serious about your product knowing it is good value, and helping people choose it if it's what they are looking for. Persistence, determination, and giving people what they want to achieve what you want! Read the1 Minute sales person by Spencer Johnson & Larry Wilson, also 1 minute manager.
