Starting a Home Business? The One Piece of Advice You Can’t Ignore
If you’re like most home business owners or future home business owners, you’ve done your homework. You’ve probably been hanging around here for a while and you’ve probably read a lot of the posts and comments. Maybe you read Entrepreneur magazine. Maybe you have a Delicious profile full of resources and home business tips. You have researched and planned yourself to death.
Just to overwhelm you, I’d like to add one more piece of advice. This is probably the most valuable advice I could ever offer anyone in your spot.
First, some background. When I started offering the IttyBitty package, one of my first customers was Selene Bowlby from iDesign Studios. She’s does custom website design, and she’s pretty damn good at it. But in addition to being a highly cool web designer, she is also possibly the most prepared home business owner I have ever worked with. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone so set to succeed.
We started talking in January. She was working in a day job that allowed her to work from home. She was running her home business at night. And she had a two year old. Her plan was to quit her day job the following January.
Selene (and I hope she doesn’t mind me writing this, although there’s piss all she can do about it now, isn’t there?) was scared. Prepared, but scared. She knew she had a rock solid service and she had received nothing but good feedback from her customers. She had a medium sized salary she had to be able to replace, and her calculations brought her to the realization that it would take her about a year to transition to full time self-employment.
She hoped she’d be able to do it a month early and quit just in time for Christmas.
When we started working together I was blown away by both her designs and her business savvy. Yes, I was her marketing coach, but I also really identified with her as an individual. We became friends and have supported each other. My support usually consisted of emails that read, “You have fuck all to be afraid of.” (Because I’m supportive like that.)
Three weeks ago, I got an email from Selene that was similar to many emails I’ve received in my home business marketing career. It’s my favorite kind of email to receive but it was especially wonderful from someone who has become my friend.
Tomorrow is Selene’s last day at work.
Seven months ahead of schedule, Selene’s going out on her own.
If you become friends with Selene, you’ll realize she can teach you a lot. She can teach you about dedication and hard work. She can probably teach you about design. (Check out her web design portfolio for that.) She can teach you about staying calm in a crisis and keeping some balance and dealing with toddlers and home business. I would argue that those are important, but not the most important. Here’s the most important lesson you can learn from her.
Do not get sidelined by fear.
Not once did she let fear stand in her way. She charges more than some designers because she’s worth it. She did not let her fear that people wouldn’t pay her stand in her way. She didn’t let her fear that everyone wanted free templates stand in her way. She didn’t let her fear of losing a steady paycheck stand in her way. She was scared shitless and went full steam ahead.
Friends of IttyBiz will know that I’m releasing my first ebook on Monday. Very close friends will know that I’m terrified.
I’m scared that I don’t have a sales funnel. (For non-marketing types, creating a sales funnel is what internet marketers do to get you to pay ever increasing prices for ever expanding products by selling you on something free first and then upselling you later.) I didn’t release a free ebook first. I don’t have an email list other than my subscriber base. I haven’t gone all Stompernet and sent out sexy videos. I have not created fear based sales copy saying that if you don’t buy, the puppy gets it. (I don’t even have a puppy.)
I’m scared that people won’t pay for something they think they could get for free. Recent comments on this blog have indicated that there are people who believe that in the age of the internet, nobody should have to pay for anything, ever. (Does this include food? Rent?) I’m afraid that all two thousand or so people reading this blog have all the time in the world to do the research and read everything there is to know and won’t need what I’m selling.
I’m scared that I’m going to let my family down. I believe that what I’m offering is insanely useful and pretty damn inexpensive. I believe that it will help the people who have emailed me saying “I wish I could afford you but I’m not making any money yet!” I believe it will take months off the home business learning curve. But what if other people don’t agree? Jamie and Jack rely on the income from this website, and I’m terrified I’ll let them down.
Cue big ass red text.
But I will not let that stop me.
I will continue to be terrified, but I will release my ebook anyway and let the chips fall where they may. I will tell myself what I tell my clients — your product is good, your price is good, you have a great group of people who trust you. I will channel balls and go for it. (Then I’ll write some crazy link bait post with my sales figures in the title and get rich.)
Anyway, that’s all. That’s my advice. Don’t be afraid of being afraid. Be afraid, but get on with it.
Next Post: SEO School is Now In Session
Great post, great examples.
Regardless of what you’ll charge for your ebook,
regardless that others can collect and condense all this great info into a book,
regardless that your site and biz cover your nut so the ebook income will be gravy —
NO ONE CAN TELL IT THE WAY YOU CAN.
It’s your POV, your experiences, your choices and your voice that’ll sell your ebook — not just the topic, or the ease of having it all in order for us, or the delight in our getting to support a gal who gives us so much gratis.
Fear if you must, if it helps you get out smart and useful posts like this one. And congrats on your client’s early start-up — isn’t that a telling example of your value to IttyBizzes right there? But what you’re doing is working, so keep it up baby, keep it up!
Well…I am currently paralyzed by fear and need help to move forward. Email me, woman!
Naomi, wow – you seriously ROCK! :)
Thank you for such a glowing write up! This really did make my day (my last day before my last day at work, lol).
As I mentioned when we spoke last week – I have no doubt that your ebook will do amazingly well. I think you have such a great following here that everyone’s going to want to jump at any advice you are offering. Look at the IttyBitty package… I’m sure you had tons of people sign right up for it (myself included, LOL).
I wish you the best of luck with your ebook release on Monday, but I have a feeling you don’t need any luck at all. ;)
I can’t predict how well your ebook will sell or not, but I do know you are awesome. If you could just sell some of that awesomeness in a package, you’d be all set! I wish you the best of luck!
And best of luck Selene too. The times are rough. I admire her braveness!
This is a fantastic post.
PS – if you need any help w/ your ebook, let me know.
Thanks, guys. You are the coolest. Definitely a scary day at IBHQ, but it’s really fucking awesome that you guys are here and being nice.
I really, really appreciate it.
First, I *love* Selene and she designed my whole website, too. I am so incredibly happy for her that tomorrow is her last day that words can’t describe! I’ve been cheering her on for a long time and am not surprised in the least that she was able to go out on her own way ahead of schedule Good luck, Selene!!!
And, now, about your eBook. I am confident it will far surpass all of your dreams. Yes, we can research some things but you know how long that takes? I, for one, am sure I’ll buy your eBook and I have a google-a-holic and have already retained your services. So there! Good luck on your eBook, too!
Wow, I am working on something that I think will generate a LOT of sales right now and this post really fired me up! I wish you the best and I’m sure your ebook is going to be insanely successful.
Naomi,
Good luck with the ebook! I think you will totally surprise yourself. It’s funny how everyone is their own worst critic. Assuming you aren’t pricing it at $1999.00 I’ll buy it. :)
Also, I agree Selene rocks!!! She’s first, second and third on my list for when I am ready to pay for a web designer. I’ve been doing a count down till her old job is over all week!
Nice job Naomi, but I can’t imagine you being too scared, esp when there are people like me who still do need services like yours and are willing to pay.
I have an e-mail coming your way, too.
Woohoo! Ebook on the way :) Very much looking forward to it, and it will be worth every penny, no matter how many pennies you ask for.
But like Rose said, I hope it’s not 199,900 pennies that you’re asking? It’d be worth it, but I’d have to wait until Santa brought it for Christmas…along with my new blog design ;) And speaking of design:
@Selene Congrats!! Going to go look at your website now…
*Letting your family down* – that’s the biggest fear I have. Although my 2 boys are too young to understand, there’s still my wife and both of our extended families. People understand that a business takes work, but they also expect a happy reply to “How’s the business going?” . It’s tough to come up with responses sometimes that don’t sound like you’ve been watching old episodes of Seinfeld all day long! :)
Naomi said:
I believe that it will help the people who have emailed me saying “I wish I could afford you but I’m not making any money yet!” I believe it will take months off the home business learning curve.
I said:
SOLD.
Ya had me at “will take months off the…”
:-)
~C
Her designs are pretty, but she really should be coding in CSS and XHTML in this day and age. No offense intended, but I occasionally outsource design work, and I wouldn’t hire someone who coded up sites in tables.
Selene, if you read this and you want to learn CSS layout and positioning etc, give me a shout and I’ll point you in the right direction.
Again, this isn’t meant to be dis-heartening, just advice from someone a little further down the line. :)
Oh, and by the way, I’ve huge respect for what you’ve done personally with that business. That takes guts. Kudos!
Thanks for the great comments, everyone!
Just to defend myself a little, LOL – Pete, I do design in valid, standards compliant tableless XHTML / CSS. If you view the source code on the main web site you will find this. Not to get too technical for the non web designers, lol, but the blog is also tableless XHTML / CSS (though because of some of the ad codes or elements not all pages validate – the base theme files do validate though).
The shopping cart (services section) unfortunately does use tables, but that’s a limitation of the particular eCommerce software that I’m using (trust me, I spent hours trying to work around that, LOL).
If you take a look in the portfolio, all of the recent sites are tableless XHTML / CSS as well. The older web sites do have tables (but the clients haven’t wanted to upgrade since the sites work well for them as-is).
Anyway, just had to clear my name on that one. ;)
@Selene: All of us here at IttyBiz say we hope your new life is all you hoped it would be. Including Jack, but when he says it it sounds more like “Mummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Pft!”
Naomi, I know that fear very well. Bravery is not a lack of fear (that is foolishness), it is action despite the fear.
I feared that when I started my blog consulting business, that no one would buy a thing. And then I feared they wouldn’t when I raised my prices.
Now, I fear nobody will buy a membership in Gateway Blogging.
I fear letting my family down, when heating oil prices are going to be so high in New England this winter that people are going to die. I fear asking for my full-time job back (even though I know I would get it–that’s not the point).
None of my fears have panned out, so far. I’ve read the prospectus carefully before investing, and past performance is no indicator of future results. But like I said, so far, none of my fears have panned out.
Here’s to hope.
Add me to the fearful list – maybe it would be shorter if we just asked who isn’t scared?
I don’t know about sales funnels, but I know that Ittybiz has provided a lot of valuable information for free which has won my trust and respect. Not just airy fairy stuff but real, practical guidance – like the USP post, the recent mega-resource post and much more. And I bet there’s a lot more in the tank.
I’ve also been mulling over hiring IttyBiz… but have been telling myself it would be better to do that when I’m more ‘ready’ so I can make the most of your advice. Maybe I’m just afraid that, in the harsh light of your professional assessment, I’ll find my business dreams completely lacking in substance. Urg, obviously that is stupid logic (not even logic at all) but that fear is a sneaky beast.
The point is (yeah I’m getting there), on the basis of the great advice on the site, I am absolutely ready to buy your ebook. And no doubt get over my fear of contacting you for further help as well.
Jamie and Jack – thank you! :D
Rebecca – if you have the chance I say hire Naomi sooner rather than later… I wasn’t quite ready yet either when I first hired her (until she had the special on the IttyBitty package, LOL).
Anyway, I honestly can’t say enough how motivational my first call with Naomi was! Ok, they’re all good, of course – but Naomi gave me so many amazing ideas that really set me on the right track. I’m positive that I wouldn’t be this far ahead in the game if I hadn’t spoken to Naomi for the first time.
Seriously – I’m not just saying this because she wrote the world’s greatest post about me :P – if you want to really push your business forward, I highly recommend Itty Biz… if nothing else, your chat will give you some ideas, but if it was anything like my experience, it’ll set you in a whole new direction and give you such a motivational push to reach your business dreams!
@ Selene: Congratulations on your last day! I wish you much success!
@ Naomi: I am a normally lurker here who looks forward to your posts. They are the real deal – and that’s what I need having jumped into business for myself. I appreciate how you speak about the fear factor of it all – it’s soooo real! I especially like the way you tell readers it’s okay to be scared, but you also let us know it’s not okay to allow fear to keep us from taking the risk. Thank you!
My commentators rule. I love you guys.
Late to the party, as always, but add me to the “waiting to hire IttyBiz until I feel more ‘ready’” list. My husband just quit his job a couple of weeks ago so we can focus on our business, and it’s scary, scary stuff! I want help, and I want it now! I’ve been going through the Marketing School posts, and doing my homework, and I’m reading as many of the other posts as I can. I’m following almost every link, and I intend to buy the book when it comes out — unless, of course, it’s $1999.00! — but how can I pay for help when I can’t even answer basic questions about our business, like “how much do you charge?” Ack!!!
And then there are people like Selene, who do such beautiful work that I’m completely and totally intimidated — great site, btw! and congrats on quitting the day job! — and I wonder what business I have even messing around in this game….
To those who think they’re not ready for Naomi:
Is anybody ever “ready” for parenting?
Ready for surprise?
Ready for serious questions and self-surgery answers and facing the mirror in the morning light without your sunglasses on?
You’ll never feel ready. But you’ll be WAY MORE ready after that first call to Naomi.
You’ll see you knew a lot more than you knew you knew, but you’ll get a great new way to think of things you’d never know to think of. You’ll have a few “Doh!” moments but if you don’t slap your forehead too hard, you’ll get down all the good riffs that you can take real action steps on. It’s not just hand-holding: it’s power tools and the new muscles to lift them (and the exercises you need to build those muscles!) A call with Naomi is like your on personalize blog post that turbo-charges the rest of your life — even if you don’t think you’re ready. You’re here. You’re ready.
It’s far most costly to put off calling her.
Start small — she won’t judge. Save your fancy coffee money for a week and leave your debit card in the drawer those same days and you can afford a call that will — I kid you not — change your life. You don’t need to know which of her clients I am. You only need to know that you will never have all the answers, you don’t need to know all the questions, you will never feel “ready.” You only need to (ahem) just do it. While you can. While you’re scared. While she’s still taking on new clients.
Your business is your baby. Be scared, fine, but gestation’s over. Birth it already. Naomi’s the best mid-wife around, no epidural required. JUST PUSH!
Shit GirlPie, that’s some compelling call to action you got going on!!
@ Selene – Fair play :) And again, congratulations on all you’ve achieved!
I’ve been meaning to write a post on my personal blog about the work at home fears, but this post rocks so much I’d look really lame. (Lamer than usual)
Everything you said Naomi is spot on! The only thing I’d add, because I have friends out there “sitting” in their new business (just waiting for it to happen), is that if you aren’t afraid you aren’t pushing enough. If you are comfortable then you need to find a way to push yourself out of that comfort zone…it will make your business rock all the more!
Afraid is how I tell myself I should feel everytime I try something new and different for my biz…if it isn’t new and exciting what is the point?
You are going to do great with your book. Heck..maybe it will end up at Barnes and Noble in hardcover!
Holy crap, “no epidural required, just push”–I think Naomi has her tag line for life.
When I think about going on my own, I talk to my sister, who recently left a kickass job, one that she actually loved and woke up happy to go to, in order to move to LA to pursue even bigger dreams.
I tell her I’m afraid my venture will be a waste of my life, that I’ll be unsuccessful and will have to crawl back to my old life.
She says, “Isn’t what you’re already doing a waste of your life?”
The truth hurts, don’t it?
Awesome advice! Entrepreneurship and fear basically go hand in hand. I always tell my clients that if they’re not being pushed out of their comfort zone, they are also not growing and/or learning anything new.
Good luck with your ebook!!!!
Blessings,
Andrea
[...] post without linking to the great article that Naomi just published yesterday with some amazing advice on starting a home business. THANK YOU, Naomi! You made my day with your post, and to be honest I even welled up reading it. [...]
I have this theory:
Smart people are aware of what success takes. Foolish people just run blindly into things.
Maybe that’s why they you aren’t dumb enough to be fearless.
Just think, a month from now you’ll be wondering what the hell was I afraid of ? You’ll be basking and glowing….betcha. :))
Love the show of strength here, everybody. Good going. Saving coffee bucks now, Girlpie.
Hi Naomi,
Your is the first ebook I will/have ever bought. Not only because I like you and you’re a good writer, but because I know you will make me laugh and there will be a lot of good stuff in it.
Have to get you Jamie and Jack out of the apartment and into a nice little house. Somewhere away from the hood and those wacky panhandlers.
E
[...] Biz had me at hello. Any coach that tells her clients “you have fuck all to be afraid of” gains my instant admiration. More than just work from home tips to keep you sane, Naomi’s [...]
[...] that we’ve formed, Naomi also wrote a post on her blog featuring me as one of her success stories. I have received quite a bit of traffic from this post, and have received several inquiries as a [...]
[...] Starting a Home Business? The One Piece of Advice You Can’t Ignore by Naomi Dunford (Itty Biz) Categories Categories [...]
[...] Starting a Home Business? The One Piece of Advice You Can’t Ignore [...]
[...] I hired Naomi myself – you can read more on my Taking the Freelance Plunge post, as well as on this home business success story over on Itty [...]
[...] Starting a Home Business? The One Piece of Advice You Can’t Ignore [...]