A FREE electronic magazine... April 24, 2002
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B I G B U C K S I N A B A T H R O B E
Make More Money & Have More Fun With Your Small Business!
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Publisher: Dave Balch, "The Stay-at-Home CEO"(tm)
(Scroll to end for subscribe / unsubscribe instructions)
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!
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that will help you "Make More Money and Have More Fun" with your
business are now available online with secure ordering. Take a
look now! Limited time... FREE T-SHIRT WITH ANY ORDER OVER $30!
http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com/boutique.htm
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I n T h i s I s s u e . . .
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1. A "Quickie" - Personal Observation
2. Feature: Article
"Ya Gotta Ask!"
3. Feature: "Ask Dave" - Can I help with a business problem?
"What kind of business?"
4. Feature: "Meanwhile, back at the ranch..."
"Daisy" trapped in the fence
5. About "Big Bucks in a Bathrobe" Newsletter
6. Who the Heck am I, Anyway?
7. How to Subscribe / Unsubscribe
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Copyright (c)2002, A Few Good People, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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11111 A "Quickie" - Personal Observation
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Do you have a toll-free number? If you do, do you EXCLUDE
local callers?
I really don't get it when I see a toll-free number listed
with a caveat that says that callers from the local area
must dial the regular number. For example, a local company
sells its widgets all over the USA, but callers from
Southern California cannot use the toll-free number.
HELLO??? Why exclude the local callers? Trying to save a
few cents? I think it's ridiculous to pay for the expensive
long distance calls and not for the cheap local calls. It
kind of defeats the original purpose for the number, which
should be to encourage customers to call and to show a
certain level of service. Besides, the 'local' call can
still cost some of the folks in the excluded area a toll
charge.
Am I missing something here?
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22222 A r t i c l e "Ya Gotta Ask!"
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By Dave Balch, the "Stay-at-Home CEO"(tm)
The e-mail came just yesterday. A friend had a friend that
had been trying for 20 years (that's not a typo... twenty
years!) to get Permanent Residency status but, due to INS
paperwork snafus and red tape, had been frustrated in his
efforts. The issue is not whether he qualifies; the issue
is the paperwork.
Can you imagine being that frustrated for that long?
Neither could my friend, so she sent an email to everyone in
her address book asking if anyone knew anyone that could
help. It sounds pretty unlikely, doesn't it? You'd think
there would be a better chance of winning the lottery than
fixing a government paperwork problem with an e-mail shot
out into the universe! Why bother even asking?
Guess what? A member of my motorcycle club works for the
INS, in the same office where the problem has been! What
are the odds??
There is a very important lesson in all of this, and here it
is: if you want something, no matter how unlikely it may
seem, ya gotta ask! My friend could have easily thought
that it was ridiculous to send out such a message because of
the overwhelming odds against getting results. But she did
it anyway. Ya gotta ask!
How does this affect your business? There are a million
ways; here are just a few. For one thing, it reminds us to
ask for the order, the single most common reason that sales
are lost; we don't ask them to buy from us! Ya gotta ask!
Do you know of any opportunities to partner with someone but
haven't asked because "they wouldn't be interested"? Ya
gotta ask! Have you spotted that perfect new salesperson
but haven't approached them because they seem happy in their
current job? Ya gotta ask!
Why don't we ask these things? Here are some reasons:
assumption (we think we already know the answer), fear of
appearing foolish or stupid, fear of rejection, and we just
don't think of it!
What can we do about this? First we have to adopt a new way
of thinking, and then we have to get into the habit of
thinking that way.
Let me introduce you to "Dave's Rule of Wrong". Simple yet
powerful, you can use this tool to determine whether asking
is a good idea. Ironically, the "Rule of Wrong" involves
asking yourself a question! "Which would be better? To
'ask' and be wrong or to 'not ask' and be wrong?"
Which would have been better? For my friend to ask for help
for her friend and been wrong (not gotten any help), or to
not ask for the help and been wrong (in this case, someone
did know someone that could help; had she not asked, she
would have been wrong because of the missed opportunity)?
It's pretty clear that there is no harm in asking and
getting no results, but harm in not asking and missing an
opportunity. Which would be better, to ask for the sale and
be wrong (get a 'no') or to not ask for the sale and be
wrong (they would've said 'yes' and you missed a sale)? Got
the idea?
Sorry, I had to ask!
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33333 "A s k D a v e"
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(Can I help you with a business problem? I will field
business questions in every issue. Send them to
mailto:DaveEZ@DaveBalch.com )
Ask whatever you'd like... all letters will remain anonymous.
Maybe my 2-cents'-worth will help you make "Big Bucks"!
(Maybe not!)
Today's question:
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I am looking for some type of legitimate home based work.
Due to an injury I am unable to go out into the work force.
I am not interested in any type of MLM or network marketing.
Do you know of any work that I can do at home where I can
just do the work that is needed and receive a paycheck
without having to sell something or be in someone's
downline? If you do, please let me know; it would be
greatly appreciated.
D.A.
Dear D.A.
I've got some bad news for you. No matter what you do,
you're going to have to sell SOMETHING; whether it's your
services or a product, it's got to be SOMETHING.
That said, your question mentioned home-based WORK, not
necessarily a business, so a way to minimize the selling
would be to find someone who would be willing to hire you
but allow you to work from home. That would only require
you to sell yourself and, once the 'sale' is made, no
more selling. You may have to go into the business
occasionally, but most of your time would be spent at
home.
For a business you should ask yourself two things: "What
do I enjoy doing?" and "What are my skills and
abilities?" If you are trained in accounting, for
example, and you enjoy doing that sort of thing and enjoy
using the computer, you could start a bookkeeping
business. Buy a copy of Quickbooks Pro, join the local
Chamber of Commerce", and go for it! And, with today's
internet technology, overnight services, faxes, etc. your
clients don't even have to be local!
Since it's usually a good idea to specialize, find
something you love to do and then focus on that market.
Suppose you love animals (gee, what do you suppose made
me think of THAT??): focus on accounting for
veterinarians, pet stores, animal welfare organizations,
etc. It will be much more fun if it's related to
something you enjoy, no matter what the tie-in.
Good luck!
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44444 "M e a n w h i l e, b a c k a t t h e r a n c h..."
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A glimpse into the life of this "Stay-at-Home CEO"
(Photos and short bios of the complete "cast of characters"
are posted at http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com/theranch.htm )
At 7:00am I took the dogs out and they were barking furiously.
Looking in the direction of their attention, I saw the profile of
a dog, standing perfectly still near the fence. Was it on our
side or the other side? I couldn't really tell because I was
looking into the sun, so I went to investigate. At first I
thought it was a statue of some sort leaning against the fence;
until it wagged its tail nervously at my approach.
When I got there, I found a medium-sized dog trapped between our
fence and the chainlink fence of the water company property on
the other side. There was, perhaps, 12 inches of clearance
between the fences and the poor thing couldn't move forward or
backward. She seemed like a very nice dog, so I tried to lift
her out, but there was no room to work and the angle was so bad
that she was just too heavy. I got a phone number from her tag
and called the owners, who had been frantically looking for her
all night.
Chris saw me running down the driveway (she later said "I
was alarmed because Dave never runs ANYwhere!") so she came
out of the house, learned of the situation, and stayed with
"Daisy" while I got some tools to cut our side of the fence.
As I was working on the fence, two things happened. First, the
owners arrived and there was a tearful reunion. Then we all
noticed that Daisy had a MAJOR cut on her left rear leg and that
there was blood everywhere. I guess I was so pre-occupied with
her dilemma that I didn't even notice it earlier. Poor Daisy!
She was trapped between the fences with a terrible injury,
couldn't move forward or backward or even lie down, and for
who-knows-how-long?
As it turns out, Chris had taken the dogs out at 3:00 am and they
were barking furiously then, but she didn't see or hear anything
so she figured that they were barking at shadows. They must have
been barking at Daisy, so now we know she was there AT LEAST 4
hours. It gives me shivers just thinking about her ordeal.
So here is the end of the story: Daisy was in the hospital all
day, got stitched-up, and is doing just fine. Chris promised our
dogs that she would always investigate more thoroughly when they
bark. We have closed off the entrance to this one-way dead-end
between the fences. And I got a new subscriber to this
newsletter! (Refer to the article above about 'asking'... I
asked Daisy's owners if they owned a small business and, well,
you know the rest!)
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55555 A b o u t "Big Bucks in a Bathrobe" N e w s l e t t e r
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66666 W h o t h e H e c k a m I, A n y w a y ?
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I've generated over $5 million (so far!) from my own home-based
software business and I have a lot to share with you about how I
did it and what I learned along the way. Now, as a professional
speaker, I offer programs that will help you and your employees
"Make More Money and Have More Fun" with your small or home-based
business!
Visit me at http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com for descriptions of
the programs and educational resources that I offer.
The "Big Bucks Boutique" offers resources and materials that will
help you "Make More Money and Have More Fun" with your business.
Take a look at http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com/boutique.htm
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77777 H o w to S u b s c r i b e / U n s u b s c r i b e
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