Organizing And Running A Successful Home-Based Business- KeepingYou Organized Podcast 046

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running a successful home-based business today on keeping you organized hello and welcome to keeping you organized and on today’s show we’re taking a little bit different angle we’re talking about organizing but we’re going to be talking about setting up and operating a successful home-based business whether it be multi-level marketing or whatever you run from your home but from an organizing perspective and success perspective and with us is Mary Dykstra who is with within reach dot biz is the name of your company well that’s the website oh that’s the website the owners name differently is within reach organizing service okay and where are you located Grand Rapids Michigan okay but I deal also nationally okay great and you also happen to be the president of the National Association of Professional organizers napal at this point I am very blessed to also be able to have that title as a volunteer leader yes great now how long have you been in the organizing business I’ve been a professional organizer for 14 years however I have a number of years before that in project management and marketing okay now we’re going to talk today about setting up operating being successful in a home-based business and a lot of professional organizers have offices and big staffs but a lot of them work from home too don’t they yeah so I mean this is going to apply to the other organizers that listen to this show but also there’s all kinds of opportunities in an economy like this you have multilevel marketing opportunities there are a lot of so kind of address how that whole opportunity is just arisen and how people have seized it well I think one of the things is that we’ve seen a huge increase of home-based businesses when the economy started going down and oh seven and oh eight there are a number of people who are downsized right-sized or let go and they still needed to have work and the one thing that they could do or that they had a passion around is they could sell something they believed in whether it was a Mary Kay makeup or some jewelry whether it was Amway Cutco knives there’s just there’s a myriad of things that are available supplements and they call that multi-level more and so they have some support from Home Office in terms of the products they sell but they might not have the business background in town in terms of housing how to run a business and also how to set up boundaries if they’re doing it from their home where they can set those things up and how they manage their time their resources their focus and the working of the business no some people look at multi-level marketing they say oh that’s a pyramid scheme or whatever and of course there are good ones and bad ones and we’re not getting into talking about specific businesses today but what the fact is is that most people that probably do that maybe have come from either a corporate background or maybe they’ve never even been in business before so how does someone like that start a business and I mean because they might be passionate about the product right or the service but how do they do this is a business it is it absolutely should be a business and so one of the things is that you’re thinking pyramid that’s not really what multi-level marketing is about the complication with multi-level marketing is is that you have a company that sells a product and they use you as a distributor but you also have the ability to be the retailer so it’s you would sell if you’re my end client I would sell you a product let’s say I sell you knives but if you’re really passionate about this and you would like to make some money then you’re also going to sell that product to somebody else so then all of a sudden my responsibility is to help you be successful in helping somebody else start that other business that they’re doing so that’s really where it comes down to time management and having to focus so some people create their own products and we have a number of organizers who create products but we also have people in the public who’ve been very good about creating products one of the first things that you have to do is figure out what is it that I want to do how much money do I think I need to make on it to be successful because it’s a marker that you need to have and how am I going to structure my space my time and my finances and resources around that and so when people bring me in they say well I’ve got these products I’ve got these flyers I’m ready to go and one of the first things come up is I don’t know where to advertise there’s an Expo that there’s an opportunity they told me I can get it for $100 and typically would be a $600 experience I think I’m gonna take this this is a great opportunity isn’t it Mary mmm and so I I sit back and I look at them with them and I say okay so one of the things we want to look at is if you’re gonna have this booth do you have anything that says what this booth is about and is it compelling enough that people are gonna stop and say Oh keeping you organized what’s this about I want to know more about it and if there’s only one person and you’ve got 50 people walking by you’ve lost 49 people even if you have a fishbowl that says I’m gonna give these two things away as gifts and I really like these things and I put my name in the fishbowl for a drawing later you’re getting all those names so that you can market them later but if you don’t have a way in a process to do follow up on that fishbowl what you’ve done is you’ve expended a hundred dollars you’ve probably had things printed you’ve spent your time and you’ve set yourself up for failure so it’s really looking at something holistically seems like follow up – I mean I’ve worked a different trade shows before it you get really excited that the moment of truth and you get all these cards and leads and then well then you get busy with something else so it’s a time management or the other side of it as you start calling those people and what’s the first thing they they say did I win the fish or whatever is in the fish bowl you know so what are some of the basic organizing things that will help someone with time management because that’s got it I mean you don’t you don’t you’re not really accountable you don’t really have a boss so what are some good systems that people can use to put time management into their home business so one of the things is is as you say because you’re not accountable to anybody it makes it difficult when you get an opportunity to do something that’s more fun or you feel like the laundry is tape that needs to take precedent in the moment or that the kids are home whatever it is and so it’s really saying if want this to be a business when am I going to carve out that time that it’s truly business and that my friends are my family doesn’t call saying well obviously you work for yourself so you can take time whenever you choose because many of us do not do well if we don’t have structured time especially if you’ve come from a corporate background you’re used to that and if you get too far afield you’re not going to be successful so the first thing is to block your time so set time aside to do the business and then understand what it is one of the big things that you’re going to need to do is identify people who will buy your product let’s go let’s step back to that blocking time I know what you’re saying but a lot of people don’t understand what that concept is get a little more in depth on how do you block time what does that mean so if you’re going to be selling something to the public are they going to be available to take your calls at two o’clock in the afternoon or are they at work because that’s the the market that you’re going after if they’re available in the evening or the morning that’s when you’re going to have to quote unquote black your time or say this is sacred time for my client development and that’s where you only focus on those things and you’re going to need to be flexible because sometimes it may be that you’re going to sell on the weekend so you’re going to do an expo so it’s finding out those prime times of when you can do what you need to do and if you need to do research on the Internet to look things up and you’re using the same computer for the kids to do their homework you don’t say that I’m not going to work on this now because I’ll do it later in the day and then find out that well your child has something that’s due tomorrow and so the time you’re going to spend in research is the time that the child is using the computer to do homework right and what about all those how do you recommend that people work with interruptions because you talked about the idea of the kids you know and I’ve heard the old story of you know the home based business someone sitting there and either you’re on the phone trying and the kids are pounding on the door they want a sandwich or whatever but just the interruptions you know how do you handle phone and email interruptions do you say I’m only going to do it a certain amount of time a day or a certain time I mean what would you recommend to someone as far because you don’t want to miss a call or miss an opportunity but those can also be in a they absolutely can so I would say for emails if you can batch those just like you would in a corporate setting that you’re looking at it you know three to four times a day at key times so that you have time to follow up but then when you need to be focused on things or you need to be out in the public and spending that face time with people that you do that I think that people have found smartphones a wonderful add these days because if they’re out in public and they need to meet three or four clients and they’re not having them in their homes or customers then they may be at you know a Panera a Starbucks or something so you’re going to need to have your device with you so that you can be doing research you can be really maximizing the value of your time so are there other challenges too time we talked about interruptions we talked about blocking time I’m how put for the tasks that you don’t necessarily like to do like for example I’m not a big one to do like accounting stuff for paying bills of course I don’t know anyone who likes paying bills but how do you put those into your schedule too because it’s kind of like that administrative work you simply have to schedule those and make sure that you take care of them so you are going to want to make a to-do list so that you can check that off and make sure that you’ve done done it and I think one of the interesting things and it’s not a multi-level marketing because I think some of that’s already taken care of but I even look at somebody like myself that I do the work and there’s some clients that I do invoicing you’d think that that would be the easy part to ask for the money and just get it out because you know getting the money through the door takes care of all the bills that’s one of the hardest things for me to do I have to force myself to sit down and do it and then I you know I tracked the time that I’ve expended and then I get that and I get that out to the clients so they say that on an average if you do the things that are hardest to do first the rest of the day is easy and you want to take care of those rocks those big things that you need to get taken care of because all the little stuff can go in around that but if you spend all your time on the little stuff you don’t get to the important things and that’s going to be tomorrow and then the next the next day so you’re not gonna have the success that you want to have your family’s gonna say you’re spending a lot of time on this where’s the money on and this is just a craft this isn’t a real business and you can get to the point where you say it can no longer it doesn’t support me I can no longer expend time on it and then go off and do something else how much do you think the mental game plays into having a home-based business where you know just what you’re talking about there that the you know your kids want you your spouse wants you know you know your friends want you you know but your business needs attention and everyone knows that especially a new business you have to put a lot of hours into it how do you help people strike that balance it comes down to again how much face time do you need and it also it’s a marketing question if you’re really good and you know how to have a conversation with the right people the sales are easy if you don’t and you’re wandering in the field then it’s going to take a lot more time so I think one of the things is definitely getting education and getting support on how one can network that can save you so much time so you want to put yourself with the decision makers or the influencers that can help you identify those populations or those people that would want to buy the product whether it’s something that you’ve made or something that somebody else is the and you’re simply selling it but if you can partner with good people and you can be good with your languaging skills about this is these are the features these are the benefits this is why this might be a great fit for you is this going to work for you if you can have those conversations to find out very quickly that this is or is not going to be a good fit or I can show you how it might be of greater benefit for you then I can close the sale but then comes the the follow up because you also want the sales that keep coming in right so that you have to have those touch points it’s about relationships when you have a small business that you’re trying to run it is definitely about the relationships you have to create time for your clients whether it’s an email touch or a phone call touch or a physical and personal touch sounds like more and more organizing to be done so we’re going to take a quick break and when we come back I want to pose to you a question about what happens when you get to that point where it’s maybe more than just you either have to add a person or maybe you just have too much to do and you need to delegate it so we’ll talk about that we’re talking about small business success at a home-based business and Worth Mary Dijkstra we’ll be right back now you see it now you don’t now you see it again smeet erasable fast tab hanging folders have a special erasable surface that makes it easy to reuse and revise the labels on your hanging file folders saving you time and money all you need is a permanent marker standard white eraser and speed erasable fast tab hanging folders use erasable fast have hanging folders with the built in reinforced tab that you can use again and again no more messing with tabs that fall off erasable fast tab hanging folders are stronger than standard hanging folders and come in a variety of colors for even more organizing possibilities erasable fast cab hanging folders and eco-friendly reusable innovation from speed keeping you organized we are back on keeping you organized and today we’re talking about small business success especially if being in a home-based business where you’re kind of on your own whether it be a multi-level marketing business or some enterprise you’re starting at home and you’re wearing all the hats and Mary dykes are your with us today to talk about your certified professional organizer with nape oh and also the nape Oh president and you have your own business in the Grand Rapids Michigan area so we’ve talked about before the break this idea what happens when this little business starts getting a little bit bigger or when you’re feeling overwhelmed and you know maybe you don’t want to do the invoicing when is the right time to expand or add people or resources right I think the one thing that you always want to do is find out your strengths and you want to work to your strengths and if invoicing or ordering is not your strength and you can delegate that to a virtual assistant or you can bring somebody in say a student or a mom who’s just looking for a couple of hours here there but she’s got good skills and is very well organized then that is a great time to offload even if it’s for two or three hours a week that you have somebody help you with those things because when you find out really what you need to do and what you’re good at that’s really where you want to spend the time if you need to have help in creating some brochures and you’re not good at that but you’ve got even a student who gets credit for it or could do it very inexpensively get them to do it because if you wait until you’re ready to do it and you have time to do it you’re already overwhelmed and you don’t know how to do it you’re not gonna start on it right how do you find those people I mean is there a way you go about finding either students or like you say a virtual assistant where do you find people like that well you can go to your local university in college because or junior college community college because they have resources built in that you call and say I’m looking for a student who can help me with ba ba ba ba sometimes just referrals asking friends and neighbors if you see that there’s some kids that are proficient and if they seem to have their act together especially with it digital some of these younger people are so bright and so smart they can take us from here to here in a heartbeat the other thing is is that you can go online and you can even get just a professional organizer I shouldn’t say just but for a lot of hours sometimes using a professional organizer who may not have some of those skill sets is not the best and highest use of your time but there’s a very vibrant community of virtual organ or virtual assistants that they can order things for you they can pick up the phone for you they can do a number of things and they know your business and you can buy them by the hour so you can even say I’m going to buy five hours or 10 hours black and then you shift things over to them as need be and then they can take some of those things off that are difficult for you to do mentally or emotionally well you touched on technology there what do you see in your practice how technology is helping the home-based business what kinds of either equipment or apps or things that are you seeing are like either must-haves or things that are really helping people get organized at home boy well when you’re getting organized a home that also means you’re getting organized out on the because if you’re doing visitations and you’re in the car then you want to get organized around that the smartphones have been phenomenal they allow you when you’re sitting in your car waiting to go in and meet with a potential client or a buyer to check your email to respond to things we’ve got applications and phones now that you can speak I have a phone that I don’t type anymore I just speak into it for my text messaging or for my emails and just by speaking it goes ahead and it translates it into the written word I look at it make the minor Corrections I need to do and I hit Send and if I’m trying to work on something and I’m thinking boy I’m not tracking my time very well I can simply ask my phone to say give me a five minute countdown and it’ll Bing me in five minutes and I know okay I need to shift my focus or I still need to finish these kinds of things so having apps so if you’re driving then and it’s part of the business you get to dip that mileage so there’s apps out there that say this is the start of the miles this is the end of the miles if you’re parking in places where there are a lot of cars and you’re focused on trying to get to the client you’re not good about remembering where your car is there’s apps to even tell you where you’ve parked and how to get back to them there’s all kinds of wonderful opportunities to have things note-taking on the iPhone now and the other you know Android other phone bases are very easy so it’s all captured right there you can have your to-do lists you can have your calendar come in so using that as a very helpful piece of technology has been great one of the things that I found for myself is I used to take handwritten notes and I was at somebody’s house the other day and I was a guest overnight and I needed to have access to the Internet and they had something that was about this long in terms of all the the letters and numbers and instead of writing each one down that I was going to have to transfer over later and I didn’t want her to lose her piece of paper I got my phone up I took us a quick snap I said thanks you can put that away now and when I’m ready to go on the internet I can simply look at the picture and then input the numbers so taking pictures of things even stupid things at the store if I’m going to vice thing I know that they don’t put the price on the products anymore so I’ll take the smartphone I’ll take a picture of it with what the prices up above it so when I get to the checkout if the counting person says oh well this is 1995 and I saw the sign that said it was 1295 I don’t have to go all the way back have somebody else do that or have them call me a liar I just from the picture of the phone and say this is the price they can adjust it immediately so just thinking if I can take an image of something and capture it I don’t have to write anything I don’t have to explain anything I can just show it I can also send it off in a text message I have clients for my organizing business that when we move things or pack things up or they have to have it temporarily moved I take images of all those things and I had a client while I was here she said did you take a picture of all the bookcases because I’ve got a number of carousels and I need to put them back now the paintings done and I can’t remember where they go I had it on my phone and I said can i text it to her you want it as an email she said texting is really great so I texted it she had it within 2 nanoseconds and she was able to do the one without me even being there so when you start using the technology to work to your advantage whether you’re selling potatoes or you’re doing organizing it’s terrific let’s go back to the home-based business and talked about maybe the top two or three challenges you know you deal with a lot of people what are the common high level challenges that most individuals have follow up follow okay so how do we how do we organize follow up then you have to have some way that as you said you did a show and you’ve got a number of cards and you’ve got a number of what you call warm – really hot leads so you need to be able to separate those out if you’re getting a car to the show at first of all can you write down what that was about and what you’re gonna you know reconnect with them later on so you’re not having try to remember through 500 cards that’s the first thing and then follow up is how am I going to follow up with them am I going to do a letter am I going to do a call do I have something that’s already taken care of I’ve had a number of clients that I go into and they say and I see all the cards and they say yeah but that that show was like two months ago and I should have followed up within a week it’s cold they’re not even gonna want to hear from me so then if let’s talk strategy what can we put out there what event can we put in front of you that says now is the reason I’m getting a hold of you I’m having a special you know we’ve got $5 off or whatever or it’s a season change so this is a terrific time to look at this product again so that they can step back into that conversation so the biggest thing is get somebody mentally to shift you’re either gonna let this go and get rid of it because it’s clutter at this point or you’re gonna say I’m going to try it and whether I need to do two or three times what’s your number that you let those go because they’re not real clients as you said they just want to know if they want a fish plate right right well we’re about out of time I want to give you the opportunity to promote your business a little bit tell people what you do and how they can get a hold of you perfect thanks so much so it’s Mary Dykstra Nova snow and my company is within reach organizing services and the website is within reach biz that’s b.i.g my phone number is area code six one six four five three two nine seven six and I work with a number of groups and I work with distributors are in very high levels also with their downline so that I can help them get organized and figure out what they’re selling how they’re selling it how they’re presenting it and be successful in that so thank you for having me well great and for those that missed it we’ll put that in the show notes and we do appreciate it so there you are if you have a home-based business now you know how to be a little more organized and Mary thanks again and we’ll hope to have you back on another show I would love it thanks so much right that’s it for today on keeping you organized you