12 Mistakes that Cause Women to Fail in their Home Business - Part One

You usually read tips of what you CAN do to help you grow your business.  Well this week I'm putting a different spin on things. I'm going to share things NOT to do in your business, the top 12 mistakes that cause women to fail in their home businesses.  And hopefully, you will read with an open heart and learn from them:)

Each one of these mistakes are very common and about 99% of home business owners make at least one of them if not several. Once the mistakes are acknowledged, they can be easily reversed.  However, these mistakes, if not caught early on, can lead to the failure of your business and some discouragement.  And we want the majority of your days as a work at home mom to be happy and encouraging!  You will have bad days too, but avoiding these mistakes will help you eliminate quite a few of them!

Mistake #1:  Waiting for your enroller to call you and offer help

In this business it is crucial to make sure that you are connected to your enroller.  But don't wait for them to call you!  Your enroller is most likely leading a large team of people and focusing on the team members that are "in the game".  The proper course of action is to contact your enroller anytime YOU need help.  Your enroller does not know you are struggling unless you let them know.   They are not mind readers.  Call them, Instant Message them, Facebook them, let them know you are serious and "in the game" and that you have questions or need mentoring.   ALWAYS remember that your enroller wants to hear from you!!  That is what this business is all about!

Mistake #2:  Not being prepared for Dream Stealers

Without a doubt you will come across people, usually friends and loved ones, who might try to steal your dreams.  They may tell you, "You can't do one of those things, that work at home stuff doesn't work."  These people are called Dream Stealers. And most of them feel they are just trying to protect you.  Unfortunately most people are preprogrammed to believe that working a 40 hour a week job for 40 years is the only option and that a home based business is not going to work. And we know that's not true, that's why we're here.  We are among the elite 3% that know there is a better way and are willing to go for it!!  As for those dream stealers, there is a simple fix:  Don’t let them!  No one can steal YOUR dreams unless YOU let them!  And they will come around when you show them the money!

Mistake #3:  Not completing your training

An all too common mistake is when someone is just so excited to get into working their new business they skip the training steps.  This is a short and easy mistake to explain and avoid.  Simply, do your training, don’t skip any steps.  They are there because they are ALL very important to your success.  Remember, when you need help, contact your enroller.   They are there to help however, if you don’t let them know you need help, they can’t help.

Mistake #4: Spending too much time on "busy work"

Starting a new home business is VERY exciting!  There are a lot of things that you can do.  You can get your home office all set up, you can load up on office supplies.  You can spend hours designing marketing supplies. You can take time to write out a business plan.  You can spend weeks reading, training, listening to calls and watching videos online.  All of these things are very exciting and will certainly benefit your business in the long run.  However, your first goal is to make back your initial investment and get to the point where you are earning enough income to cover your overhead.  So it’s important to do just the basic necessities and then jump right into working your business.  Sometimes in the beginning people are afraid to get out and start talking to people.  It is new for them and it puts them outside their comfort zone.  This is normal and about 70% of people experience these feelings and that perfectly ok.  I know I did.  The mistake is made when these people "hide behind" the busy work mentioned above.  That keeps them from having to face their fears.  The way to avoid this mistake is know from the beginning that 15% of your time should be focused on the "busy work" and 85% on actively marketing and prospecting.

Mistake #5: Having unrealistic expectations with income

Most home business owners are looking to be a part of a legitimate business and not a "get rich quick scheme."  For most of us this statement should be true.  However, the mistake happens when people think, "Sure, I want a legitimate business, I don’t want a get rich quick scheme but I do want to make money real fast."  Well, there is a problem with this and don’t worry if this is you because about 90% of people feel this way.  There is an easy fix though.  We have to remember the first part, we want a real, legitimate business and those don't create tons of money overnight. Most new businesses are in business for 1-3 years before they even make a profit.  Fortunately for us it doesn’t take nearly that long.  In this industry, it's usually only 1-3 months maximum to start making a profit.  Of course that is up to each individual person, how driven and committed they are.  And it is very possible to make hundreds even thousands your first month, many of us have.  I encourage you to strive for your financial goals from the start, however I advise you to have realistic expectations.  "Rome wasn't built in a day."  But if you still feel like things are moving too slow, get with your enroller and they can advise you on how to get things moving quicker so you can start building those monthly residual checks we all love!

Mistake #6: Having unrealistic expectations with advertising and results

It takes time for advertising to work.  In most cases you won’t get tons and tons of replies from doing 1 or 2 forms of advertising only 1 or 2 times.  Those familiar with the advertising industry will tell you that it’s about repetition. Doing the advertising again and again is what creates true success.  They say that it takes a person three times of looking at something to actually SEE it.  Think of the work you do each day with advertising and marketing as planting seeds in your garden.  This has to be done in order to see the flowers.  It also takes some time for the seeds to start to grow.  The seeds are working and starting to grow under the soil, but you can’t see it yet even though it’s working or they're growing.  Then, after several weeks you start to see a little bit of green poke out of the soil.  You can actually now see some results of your planting seeds although still only very small results.  And, if you are patient, before long, you will see beautiful colorful flowers!  A big thing that will help here is for you to work your way up to having five forms of advertising or marketing going on at the very same time each and every week. This can take months to accomplish but make it your goal.  Those who master this have very successful businesses!   If you feel you are not getting anywhere with your advertising, get with your enroller and revamp what you currently have going on. That’s what they are there for and they can help!

Those are the first 6 mistakes that cause women to fail in their home businesses.  Are you making any or many of them??  Keep your eyes out for the next 6 mistakes that will be posted in a couple days.

Please share this post with all of your work at home mom friends and family.  Together we can help bring MANY moms home!!

Much love and success,