How would you like to run a business that is anchored on your religious beliefs? Some people are quite hesitant to start a business that is reflective of their religious practices and beliefs. This might be because they feel uncomfortable getting to earn money from what is supposedly a spiritual facet of their life. Others are hesitant because there might not be a lot of people who would patronize the products or avail of the services that your business would offer.However, there are currently a lot of businesses that run on their beliefs. They do not aim to desensitize the issue of religion. In fact, some of these businesses are started and are being run by actual practicing members of their religion. Their aim is to help co-members to practice their religion in a better way and to enhance the people’s desire to act on their faith.If you are a Christian, you can very well do the same, even from the comforts of your home. But if you do decide to start and run your own Christian home-based business, then you have to always remember to follow some of the recommended ways in running it to help you achieve success in your venture.Here are some of those:1. Offer products and services that focus on enhancing people’s faith and belief. There are Christian home-based businesses that offer supplementary posts and articles that will help people do their devotions with utmost sincerity over and love for their faith. You can put up a blog about devotions, Bible phrases, and stories about faith. Also, you can set a website that sells Christian records and other products relevant to the practice of the religion. Running a Christian home-based business would be more successful if you do this because people would be able to relate well with your products and services. Although, you have to keep in mind that what you are running is a supplementary business and not an entire religion in itself. Therefore, you should not try to make people or impose on them to base their beliefs on what you sell them. Allow them to explore their faith with only the help of your products.2. Be Christian in your business philosophies. How do you make your business philosophies become more Christian? There is never a right and exact answer. But being Christian speaks of all good things. This means that in running a Christian home-based business, you have to ensure that you are doing your best to deliver to your clients just exactly what they need. Be fair and honest in all your transactions not just so your customers will keep coming back but also because it is simply the right thing to do. Also, be accommodating in dealing with other people whether they are suppliers or clients or affiliates. Never forget that you are not running an ordinary business. You are running a Christian home-based business, so the expectations of you are really high. Love your business and all the good things it can do-and watch this love translate to a successful venture.3. Strategize the marketing campaign of your brand. Definitely, home-based businesses have to be marketed well so they can generate more clients and eventually become more successful. With a Christian home-based business, you have to strategize well because your audience is rather more specified. The ones you will be tapping are people who practice the Christian religion. But aside from marketing your product to them, you should also make them feel good enough to recommend your business to other Christians. Marketing your products and services should also be within a defined set of rules set by business leagues.A Christian home-based business should not be that difficult because it is practically like any other type of business. The only difference is that with this kind of business, entrepreneurs will be asked to reserve more judgment in terms of making decisions regarding the clients and their purchases. Make decisions that would be beneficial not only for your business but also for the entire brand or company. This would help the clients know that the company is doing its best to uphold the teachings of the Church.
How to Start a Home Base Business?
Millions of people, all over the country, dream of starting their own business from home, but this process is a long and trying one, and there is no guarantee that it will work out at the end of the day. So, where to begin learning about how to start a home base business? You begin by determining what kind of skills you have that would enable you to make profits from them. Do you have special qualifications such as accounting certifications, or do you simply want to sell products online? Do you want to become a freelance writer, or would you like to make a living visiting patients as a physiotherapist? Once you have determined what it is you are going to do, you can then move on to the finer points of starting a home based business.
Researching your New Business
Before you can quit your job and begin working from home, you will need to make sure that you know exactly what type of business you will be running and what you will need to do to run it properly. You can start out with the location of the business; is it a viable option to run the business from home? Do you have enough space to set up an office and will you need to accommodate clients in your home office? If there is not enough space within your home, you might want to consider hiring a separate office that will meet all of your business-related needs.
The next factor that you will need to consider is what you are going to be selling. Selling services, instead of products, means that you will not need storage space, and you might not need to invest a lot of capital into the startup.
Saving the Capital to start your own Business
Starting your own business from home can be a very exciting prospect, but you should not convince yourself that you will be making tons of money within the first few days; in fact, it might take up to six months to be able to support yourself on the profits of a new business, and you will need to make sure that you have enough capital to get through the leaner months. During the first six months, you will not only need to have enough capital to pay your personal bills; you will also need enough capital to run your business during this time, and this will take some planning.
Advertising and Expanding your Business
It is important not to get over excited once your business starts bringing in profits, especially when you begin thinking about advertising and expanding your business. Many startup businesses fail because they spend too much, too quickly on expanding and advertising their business. Although these are integral aspects to consider, especially if you want to grow your business and increase your profits, but you need to make sure that you take a sufficient amount of time to determine whether it is the right time to widen the marketing budget and expand only when your company is ready to take on the extra expense of this process.
Learning how to start a home base business is not difficult; you simply need to be prepared for the task ahead, and this comes with a lot of research, sufficient capital and the dedication to work long and hard to make your dreams come true.
Five Tips for Selling at Live Auctions
Ah, the old-fashioned country auction! The idea of a country auction conjures up certain images for people. The image of a fast-talking auctioneer offering up an antique table or chair is a popular example.
People who are buying household goods or collectibles are looking to get their items at the lowest price possible. However, the people who are selling their items at auction are hoping for the highest price!
Unless a person is in the business of buying and selling antiques or other items, not a lot of thought goes into how goods are prepared for sale via the auction process. However, if you are one of the growing number of people using auction venues to sell your collectibles or other inventory, there are a few things to learn first about how to sell at auction before you bring a truckload of stuff over to the next event.
Tip 1: Make sure the things you want to sell are a good “fit” for the auction house you’ll be using.
Never bring a load to an auction house without actually having been to one of the previous auctions. It’s important to get a feel for the type of goods that the house sells. For example, at one very rural country auction it was common for the owners to sell live chickens, pots and pans, car parts, and farm equipment.
After close investigation, this would not be the right venue for selling your daughter’s “Hello Kitty” collection. On the other hand, the spare John Deere parts that you bought at last week’s yard sale might be just the right thing for the buying crowd at this auction.
Tip 2: Be sure you clearly understand the terms and policies of the auction house.
Visit with the auctioneer ahead of time. Call to find out what the best days and times are to visit. One of the worst possible times to drop in for an informational visit with an auctioneer is the day of the auction. Call ahead and ask. While you’re at it, find out what are the best days and times to drop your stuff off.
Once you have a little time with the auctioneer, you’ll be able to find out what type of commission he or she takes from consigners (which is you), and what type of paperwork might be needed. Some auction houses send out Form 1099 tax forms at the end of the year. An auctioneer may need to see your identification and have you fill out a W-9. Be prepared.
Find out what happens to your items if they don’t sell. For example, some auctioneers may have a minimum starting bid. If, for some reason, one of your items does not sell, it may be grouped with another one of your pieces. Know the auctioneer’s strategy beforehand so that you aren’t surprised on pay day.
Tip 3: Make sure the auctioneer knows what you’re selling.
It might be perfectly obvious to you that the signed print you are consigning is a rare and valuable piece of art. However, the auctioneer may not know this particular artist. Make a note of anything particularly special about your items, and leave the note with the piece. Be sure to tell the auctioneer about it as well. He or she might determine that this is something to highlight on the company website or in the newspaper listing.
Tip 4: Present your items neatly.
No one likes to have to dig through a box full of grimy and greasy car parts to see what treasures might be in there. Separate the parts and lay them out on a flat, or use more than one box to de-clutter the lot.
There is no need to buy fancy display boxes. It’s easy enough to go to the local convenience store or supermarket and ask if you can have the emptied boxes or flats that they are discarding.
While it’s good to present clean items, take care not to ruin the value of anything by over cleaning. For example, if you find some old cast iron cookware, clean the obvious dirt and grime, but don’t scrub it to its original finish. For many people, this ruins the value of the item. So, clean and tidy and organized is the key here.
Tip 5: Don’t complain to the auctioneer if your stuff doesn’t sell for as much as you’d like.
The phrase to remember here is, “You win some; you lose some.” That’s just the way it is. There are some days where an auction house is loaded with people who all seem to want what you’re selling. There will be other days where the crowd is sparse, and the bidding is simply not competitive.
Remember that it’s in the auctioneer’s best interest to sell your things for the highest possible hammer price. But sometimes, it’s just not going to be a stellar sale. The auctioneer is only human, and is also disappointed if a sale doesn’t go as well as planned.
If you notice that every time you bring a bunch of goods to sell that you’re not realizing as much as you think you honestly should, try another auction venue and compare apples to apples. That is, bring the same types of items to the new auctioneer and compare the results.
Unless the auctioneer is particularly disagreeable or inconsiderate to you or buyers, there is no reason to confront him or her about a sale. If you find you just don’t care for an auctioneer’s style or methods, find another one. Believe me, there are plenty of them out there!
The primary thing to remember as you learn how to sell at auction is that the business is unpredictable at best. You will have good days, some not-so-good days, some great days. The more you sell, the more experience you will gain, and the more enjoyable the business will be.