Forced into Self-Employment: A mock career counseling session

Unsuccessful in the workplace, a person feels she must start her own business. My PsychologyToday.com article presents a mock career counseling session that amalgamates many elements from my real-world clients who have contemplated or actually started a small business.

A Workover: "I Want to Work at Home"

On PsychologyToday.com, I've been posting edited transcripts of calls to my radio show in which I help solve the caller's work problem.  

Today's is about someone who's looking for a legitimate work-at-home opportunity. 

Eight Questions You Must Ask Before Buying a Business Opportunity

Here's an advance look at the guts of the keynote address I'll be giving at the Work-at-Home Business Expo at the San Mateo County Event Center (pictured above) on Aug. 21 at 2:30 pm. (Update: It's been postponed to Apr. 29, 2 pm.)

The Eight Questions You Must Ask Regarding a Home Business

A. Questions you must ask of yourself

1. Am I a self-starter, not a procrastinator? That's critical in all self-employment but especially in a home-based business.

2. Am I resourceful? able to come up with solutions to the frequent problems that come up in running any business. And when I'm stuck, will I be able to usually find free and low-cost help?

3. Am I good around money? Do I have a good sense of whether an item is really worth buying? Do I have the ability to buy things inexpensively?

4. Am I a good salesperson? able to, in a low-key but persistent way, close deals?

5. Am I resilient when the inevitable setbacks occur?

B .Questions you must ask of the seller of the business opportunity

6. Would you show me the spreadsheet showing, for each franchisee, their annual net profit, ideally going back a couple of years? Be wary if all they want to share is "The average profit per franchisee is...," let alone, "We project that the average franchisee will earn..."

7. What are the common denominators among your successful franchisees, other than the obvious: being smart, hard working and resilient? For example, previous experience as a salesperson.

8. Would you give me a complete, unedited list of all the franchisees? That will enable you to call some at random rather than ones cherry-picked for you by the franchisor. After speaking with a half dozen by-phone, visit, at their home-based worksite, the two who seem most like you.

My father's story (inspirational)

Self-Employment Idea: Personal Geek

Most people have technology they'd like to use more fully: their SmartPhone, DV-R, computer, etc. But they don't know how.

For example, their computer has slowed down, they're using only the basics of Microsoft Office, LinkedIn, or Facebook, and they're paying too much for phone service, Internet access, or web hosting.

Then there's the stuff people are afraid of buying because they're not sure how to set it up: big-screen TV, home security system, surround-sound audio system, home computer network, etc.

Plus there's technology the people don't even know about but could make their life better.

Enter the personal geek, who makes house calls: does an audit of the person's needs, buys the stuff cheap on the Internet, installs it, trains the person on their new and existing techno-items, and provides ongoing support, as needed.

I think it's a self-employment idea that, in the right hands, has a high probability of success.

My Favorite Home-Based Businesses

Here's my current list of favorite home businesses. They require small investment, are offshore- and recession-resistant, and offer a good risk/reward ratio. 

• Agent for job seekers. So many job seekers feel unable to write a resume and cover letter, let alone cold-call potential employers. Just as actors and musicians hire agents to land them  auditions, you can help job seekers to land job interviews. 
• Marketing consultant. For example, help small business owners to market their business. Specialize, for example, in mom 'n' pop restaurants, or help owners of vacation homes and time shares to get their places rented.
  
• Consulting writer or editor. Solicit small businesses to hire you to write or edit a newsletter,  ads, catalog copy, even business letters. 
• Counselor to college-bound students. You'll have an edge if you can also advise on how to find money for college.
  
• Personal, career, life-transitions, money, or dating coach. 
• Accountant or bookkeeper. Especially as electronic records become ubiquitous even in small businesses, this is a business you can run from home.
• Create small-scale architectural models for developers, realtors, municipalities, architects, and landscape architects.
• Tutor. You can charge surprisingly high rates, especially if you specialize. Examples: math for girls, autistic kids, organic chemistry.

Alas, the idea is only 10% of success. The rest?

• Practical intelligence. That means the ability to buy cost-effectively, price at market value, and quickly solve the myriad problems that arise in running a business. You can't always ask a consultant or friend to help you.
  
• Drive. Procrastinators, you're probably better off working for someone else.
• Willingness to sweat the details. You're at risk of failing if you think you can get away with being big-picture. You must be willing to to discipline yourself to take care of the details.

Can you think of any other home-based businesses that you think should be added to my list?

A Low-Risk, Fast-Start E-Business

1. Visit Google Trends to see which search terms are being searched much more than they were yesterday. Today's #1 is "John Phillip Law," an actor who died today. (I wouldn't choose that one because it's unlikely to stay hot for more than a couple of days.)

2. Create an e-commerce site, for example, using Yahoo Small Business E-Commerce Solutions. Get a domain name as close to the term as possible. In our example, you'd try to get something as close to JohnPhillipLaw.com as possible.

3. Sign up to be an Amazon Associate--that gets you 5% of revenue clicked through from your site.

4. Search Amazon.com for books, videos, and other products related to your selected search term (In our example: John Phillip Law.) For each product you think is good (in part, based on the reviews on Amazon,) paste its image and URL (which has your Amazon Associate number embedded) onto your site's home page.

4. On the home page, mention the search term perhaps a half-dozen times. But don't just repeat the word one after the other. Use the term so it logically makes sense within the text.

5. Watch the money roll in.

6. Keep repeating the above process with other hot Google Trends terms that are likely to stay hot for at least a couple of weeks.

7. When one of your sites starts to make less money than the cost of maintaining it, drop it.

Making Money While You Sleep

Clients often ask me, "Can you actually make a living with an e-business and make money while you sleep?"

Possibly, if you execute well. Here's my current favorite approach:

1. Identify a specific type of business--for example, financial planning or solar energy installation-- that you have true expertise in or that you could acquire by reading and by interviewing a number of successful people in that business. You might even be able to convince (or hire) them to write an article on the highly specific information needed to succeed in that business.

2. Create a hierarchy of truly value-added products:
a. A free content-rich article or teleconference.
b. A $15-$40 product such as an e-book.
c. A $200-$300 complete kit with e-books, CDs, workbooks, etc.
d. A one-day, weekend, and/or five-day intensive/bootcamp for $200 to $2000.
e. Ongoing coaching at $100 to $300 an hour.

3. Market those products and services through trade publications, Google adwords, teleseminars, and continually providing new, valuable free articles on your site so the site's Google rankings are high.

Dan Janal sent this example along to me: "Rory Fatt, who owns Restaurant Marketing Systems has more than 100 restaurant owners each paying $10,000.00 yearly to be in his top-level coaching program; nearly 4,000 buying and using his advertising, marketing, and business kits - information products ranging in price from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, and subscribing to his newsletter; nearly 500 attend his annual multi-day conference; and he also provides pre-fab websites, a loyalty points program (like a frequent flyer program), new mover mailings done for them, and other products and services. These products are sold using print ads in trade journals, direct mail, websites and email, and teleseminars. It is a multimillion-dollar a year business built from scratch in about five years. Rory has only two employees, and he rarely visits his office, takes a lot of time off to be with his family, and takes at least two extend ed vacations a year. And maybe what's most significant is this: Rory has never owned, operated, or managed a restaurant."

I am not an expert in online business, so if this post piques your interest, do not simply follow its advice. Start by reviewing these blogs: Moneymaker and How to Make Money Online for Beginners.