Kids Entrepreneurs Running the Family Homeschooling Biz By Rebekah Callihan, 20 years old Looking back over the past year and nine months, the events I#146;ve had the opportunity to be involved in are starting to fit like pieces of a puzzle in a way I#146;ve never experienced before. An entrepreneur was never something I saw myself becoming. Sure, I guess selling rabbits with a big sign on the side of the road outside of our house would be considered a (very) small business. Beyond this, however, starting and building a business was not on the top of my #147;to do#148; list. My older brother, Jeremiah, younger sister, Katie, and I have been involved since the beginning in the production of the book written by our parents ( The Guidance Manual for the Christian Homeschool: A Parent#146;s Guide to Preparing Home School Students for College or Career , Career Press, 2000-2002). As the publisher#146;s deadline got closer, Mom and Dad didn#146;t feel they#146;d ever be able to finish the book with all the daily chores of life they normally took on. After a brief family meeting, Jeremiah, Katie and I each assigned ourselves to take over the cooking, cleaning the house, and home schooling our two younger brothers, Josiah and Wesley. Even though our names aren#146;t on the cover of the published book, Mom often reminds us of the contribution we gave to make it come together. Early in the spring of 2001, my parents were getting ready to make their rounds as second-year authors and speakers to the home schooling community. It was time to think over the different products they would provide for the homeschool market. They always prefer to make available as many of the different curricula and reference materials they themselves have come to rely on from their experience as home schooling parents. However, this year they realized that they were just not in a place to fund the distribution of all their favorite resources. While discussing the different options for the upcoming events we#145;d be attending, it came up that Jeremiah, Katie, and I, through working at our local Christian bookstore, probably had more extra money to invest into the business than Mom and Dad did at the moment. As the discussion deepened and thoughts churned, the idea surfaced that we could invest in the family business ourselves. Mom and Dad offered a proposal to us for buying the book distribution portion of the business. We would take over all the sales and bills for the rest of the homeschool conventions that we#146;d be traveling to over the Spring/Summer season. Once we had a break in all the travel, we would evaluate and see how to continue. Since Mom and Dad were already booked to be speakers at each of the conventions we#146;d be attending, we had free marketing right off the bat. It was at this point that my eyes began to open to see the chain of events that came together to provide for this opportunity. Jeremiah, at this time, was finishing up his freshman year at college as a business major. For him, building a business would be an excellent experience, and for us, having him with some business knowledge would offer insight in different areas of the pursuit. Katie and I were working full time at our local Christian bookstore (Jeremiah was also working weekends there). And though it was very fulfilling to be serving the Christian community through my job, it wasn#146;t always as enjoyable as I had expected. Now, however, the numerous hours I had spent at Sacred Melody Bookstore began to have a clear purpose in my life. Working full time at the store was the provision for the capital that opened the door to this opportunity. But not only that, the experience and knowledge in areas of product information, marketing schemes, customer service and accounting responsibilities (that a business in book sales cannot survive without), was provided to each of us through this period. I would have the chance to use what I#146;d learned recently at the store, be traveling with my family (giving me the chance to build my relationships with them), and offer resources and insight to home schoolers in many different areas across North America. Now, I must confess, this new pursuit was definitely not without distraction and discouragement. Trials came up for me personally with work schedules, other commitments, fear of failure, etc. I know Katie and Jeremiah also had similar doubts of ever succeeding, but I believe by pressing through these roadblocks we all defined our faith and developed our determination. Though discouragement arose, I never failed to see that this was a true vision that would lead to prosperity. Our convention season has quieted down, and we are at the moment on a break from the road. The options for continuing keep pouring in however. The business is growing, and provides for my family and me in many ways. Yes, I am talking monetarily, but I consider myself to have gained an abundance of riches from the blessing we#146;ve been able to give to and receive from others. ### Bio: Rebekah Callihan is the daughter of David and Laurie Callihan, authors of The Guidance Manual for the Christian Homeschool: A Parent#146;s Guide to Preparing Home School Students for College or Career , and the Christian Homeschool Student Planner and Parent#146;s Guide . She is one of five siblings, Katie, 18; Jeremiah, 21; Josiah, 17; and Wesley, 15. Rebekah graduated from home school in 2000, and all five kids were homeschooled from birth. They, however, did attend a private Christian school for a couple of years where Laurie served as one of their teachers. Rebekah is now a junior nursing student at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, NY. Though not official, her love for children has led her to focus on the area of pediatric nursing. Rebekah hopes to one day be able to serve in the mission field as a nurse. The Callihan#146;s homeschooling resources are found at www.davidandlaurie.com ; the Callihan children#146;s business arm of David and Laurie#146;s homeschooling business is Home Education Learning Products and Services (H.E.L.P.S.) , a name that the children themselves thought up. When the opportunity arose for Jeremiah, Rebekah, and me to buy my parents business, I was, at first, purely skeptical. Was I really prepared to sustain another project, another responsibility, another risk at this point in my life? In the days following, I met with my siblings, and we estimated the ramifications. All things considered, the positives exceeded the negatives. Even if we lost all material assets the very idea of being of service to our parents was incentive to press forward. As we proceeded, my doubts were proven deficient. Through this adventure I was able to spend simple valuable moments conversing #147;business#148; matters with my siblings and working out "glitches" with my parents. -- By Katie Callihan, 18 years old My parents had to have faith that homeschooling was how God wanted them to educate their children, and that He would help them in the process. They had to have courage to go against the norm of society by not sending their children to the normal institutional schools. They also had to have a vision. We have been struggling to start our family business for the last seven years. We would have quit six years ago had it not been for that vision and the faith and courage that go with it. We are now being given an opportunity to take ownership of the sacrifices our parents have made for us. We children have been given the awesome opportunity to exercise that same faith, courage, and vision as we work with the homeschooling community. -- By Jeremiah Callihan, 21 years old More >>

Freelance Writing 101 by Leslie Godwin, MFCC www.LeslieGodwin.com Would you love to earn a living as a writer, but don't know how to take the first steps toward getting paid to write? Do you see yourself typing away at the kitchen table after your kids are off to school writing something that engages your imagination and lets you touch others with your stories? Many of us who enjoy writing have at one time or another fantasized aboutgetting published. But most people who write for the love of it never getpaid for their efforts. And in many cases, it's not due to a lack oftalent. There are two main reasons that many good writers don't get paid to write.The first is they don't understand the business side of writing. The other is they get discouraged by the first few rejection letters, and give up before they sell their first article or book. So how can an amateur writer overcome these obstacles and make the leap tobeing a published writer? The Business of Writing It's a Catch-22, explains Susan Carrier, a freelance writer for more than a decade. You can't get published until you get published. So anything you can do to get published is a good place to get started. One place to start might be pitching one or more topics of local interest to the editor of your community newspaper. Susan didn't have any writing credits when she decided to quit the job she'd held as a marketing manager for Pacific Bell for a dozen years to become a full-time mom. When her daughter was four years-old, she wanted to work part-time from home and thought that freelance writing might be the perfect solution, since it would provide a lot of flexibility, didn't require a capital investment, and she thought it would be more personally satisfying than some of the other business ideas she'd considered. Plus, Susan didn't have to replace an existing income right away, since she had been a full-time mom and wife for the last four years."I had sent out dozens of query letters the first year I decided to become a freelance writer, and the only response I got were rejections. I thought, what if I write a whole essay? That way the editor can see more of my work. So I wrote 'Grandmother's Garden,' a story about how I recreated my grandmother's garden in my backyard. I sent it to the Los Angeles Times with a picture of my daughter in the garden and the editor loved it." Now that she was published, Susan a had a copy of the article, or clip, to include with future query letters. Clips prove that an editor thought her writing was good enough to publish and this makes her less of a risk to other editors considering her work. Write What You Know for a Publication You Know Your niche can be an area of professional experience. If you are abookkeeper, you might write a series of money management articles for yourlocal newspaper. If you don't have a professional background, considerwriting about an experience that others would find interesting or helpful. A woman I met in a writing class was working on a book about her experience as a young German girl living through WWII. She described bombing raids that caused her family to evacuate their Berlin apartment, as well as her confusion caused by praying during the war as a child for the Germans to win, only to find out later about Nazi atrocities which made her thankful her country was defeated. She had a compelling story and told it in a suspenseful way. What experiences have you had that would touch others? What publicationsfit your idea for an article? Or would you like to write a book about your area of expertise? Susan decided early on that she wanted to write for Sunset magazine. She had read Sunset for years, and was very familiar with the tone of the magazine and the kind of articles they published. If you want to increase your chances of getting published, take notes as you brainstorm so you'll have more than one idea to follow up with if you get a rejection at first. Persistence Pays Off "I got a form rejection letter the first time I sent them a query. The next one resulted in a more personalized rejection letter. By the third or fourth pitch, I was getting hand-written notes saying we're not doing this now, but keep trying. I didn't wait long after getting a rejection letter before I sent my next pitch." Most novice writers think that better writers are going to beat them out for the next writing job. Actually, the writer with the smallest ego and the most persistence is most likely to win that job. Yes, you have to have writing skills. It's also important to hone your skills by taking classes, getting lots of feedback, and simply writing. But the good writer who keeps sending out query letters will get more jobs than the great writer who doesn't. Karen E. Klein, freelance writer for the Los Angeles Times ,businessweek.com, and both Newsday and newsday.com, started freelancewriting 15 years ago. She typed up articles on her DOS-based computerbefore modems and cell phones existed so she could stay home with her newbaby. Karen's advice to new writers is to... be persistent. Keeppitching. Rejections don't mean your writing stinks. It's critical not to take rejections personally. You might have simply pitched something that publication ran three months ago. Karen recommends reading a publication for six months to really get to know it. Karen advises, "If you're unknown, go to the front of the magazine andnotice the brief blurbs. They're about 150 to 300 words. Come up with anidea for one of those short pieces. In some magazines, there are pieceslike that in the back, too." A magazine I've been studying, Family Circle , has short pieces in the front called Circle This. And the last page is an essay called Full Circle. I can see they use freelancers because each article includes a brief bio of the author in italics. RESOURCES FOR FREELANCE WRITERS San Marino Public Library www.Sanmarinopl.org offers free access to the archives of the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today and the Christian Science Monitor. Writers Market Lists contacts for many publications, as well as informationabout whether they use freelance writers, if new writers should submitqueries, and other helpful tips. IWOSC Provides service and support for professional, self-employed writersand those wishing to become freelance writers. The Web site has anexcellent reference list of resources for writers: www.iwosc.org Writers Guild of America A national organization for writers: www.wga.org Writers Weekly www.writersweekly.com Karen Klein's website www.kareneklein.com Take the First Step You may need to keep your day job a while, or if you're a stay-at-home mom, you may need to be frugal a little longer. In either case, commit tospending a certain amount of time, like an hour three times a week, writing drafts and doing research. Join, or start, a writer's group. Take a writing class. Then, focus on one or two publications, get to know themwell, and keep generating ideas that you consistently form into queryletters. You'll eventually be in the right place at the right time. Andonce you have one clip, you'll have credibility that will help you in yournext pitch. Leslie Godwin, MFCC, is a Career Life-Transition Coach specializing inhelping people put their families, faith, and principles first when makingcareer and life choices. Leslie is the author of the new book, "From Burned Out to Fired Up: A Woman's Guide to Rekindling the Passion and Meaning in Work and Life" published by Health Communications, Inc.. For more information, go to www.LeslieGodwin.com . Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com. More >>

22 Ways to Earn an Extra Million By Robert G. Allen Mark Victor Hansen S Invest $1 a day at 5% for 100 years. T Invest $1 a day at 10% for 56 years. O Invest 1$ a day at 15% for 40 years. C Invest $1 a day at 20% for 32 years. K Invest $10 a day (about $300 per month) at 20% for 20 years. S Invest about $850 a month at 20% for 10 years. P Flip one house a year for 35K Profit and invest the money at 20% for 10 years. R Buy and rent out ONE house a year for 15 years. (Assuming 15-year mtg. 5% Apprec.) O Buy and rent out TEN houses in one year and hold for ten years. (15-year mtg. 5% app.) P Buy one million-dollar apartment building a year for 7 to ten years. E Flip one million-dollar property a year for $200,000 profit for 5 years in a row. R Buy 5 million-dollar apartment buildings and hold for 2-3 years. T Buy one 5 million-dollar building and hold for 2-3 years. Y Buy one very large building and flip it for a million dollars in one year. B Market a widget and net $100,000 a year for ten years. U Market a widget and net $200,000 a year for 5 years. S Market a widget and net $500,000 a year for 2 years. I Market one million widgets for $1 profit. N Market 100,000 widgets for a 10$ profit. E Market 10,000 widgets for $100 profit. S Market 1,000 widgets for $1,000 profit. S Market 100 widgets for $10,000 profit. copy; 2001 Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen. Contact Robert G. Allen at boballen@robertallen.com or visit his website at www.robertallen.com . Permission granted for this excerpt from the forthcoming blockbuster, The One Minute Millionaire with Mark Victor Hansen, for use on DrLaura.com. More >>

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The Five Characteristics of the Ideal Multiple Stream of Income by Robert G. Allen Mark Victor Hansen Ideal Multiple Sources of Income have these five characteristics: 1. Zero cash Zero cash is required. Not necessarily no cash, just not your cash. As you read in Robert Allen's classic book, 'Nothing Down' there are dozens of techniques for buying real estate with little or no money down. Business masters in all ages have been masters of the "creative non-use of cash." The great billionaire, Andrew Carnegie, bought many of his major businesses with nothing down. Even America was a nothing down deal. Columbus borrowed the money he needed from the King and Queen of Spain. You can learn how to do the same. 2. Zero risk If you don't have a lot of your own money in the deal, you dramatically lower your risk. The more successful you become the more risk adverse you will become. You will cover your assets. You will learn to use corporations, LLC's and other legal entities to lower your liability. The goal is to be risk free. 3. Zero time Zero time does not mean that you invest 'no time', it merely means that once your project is up and running, it should operate on automatic pilot. Like writing a book; your goal is to write it, market it and get it to automatic pilot as quickly as possible. Then you can concentrate on the next project or task. You focus your thinking and creative energy to design a self-perpetuating system. The ultimate goal is ongoing massive, passive cash-flow with little or no investment of your time. 4. Zero management Management is an endless 'to-do' list that absorbs your time. The objective is to outsource and delegate your work effort. Operate from your highest and best thinking. Simulate yourself as the President of the United States complete with all the resources, talent, connections and money that you could possibly use to realize your desires. 5. Zero energy Life is energy. Your invested energy is your life. You want the greatest possible returns per unit of energy invested. When your life is over will you feel rewarded or regretful? Energy well invested will give you a great return on your investment. You want high profits for your high thinking and high service. It's available. Rare is the person who thinks through these critical concepts with regard to his or her own future and fortune. Every business giant has done this 'rare' thinking and that's why we recommend the reading of business biographies and autobiographies. Learn to "zero out" your life. Contact Robert G. Allen at boballen@robertallen .com or visit his website at www.robertallen.com . Permission granted for this excerpt from the forthcoming blockbuster, One Minute Millionaire with Mark Victor Hansen, for use on DrLaura.com. More >>

Could You Be a Virtual Assistant? By Glory Borgeson Do people think of you as #147;Ms. Organization?#148; Do you have excellent grammar and spelling skills? Are you a good communicator? Are you technically-savvy when it comes to using the Internet, e-mail, programs such as Word, Excel, and Outlook? If so, you may be the right person to be a Virtual Assistant. Virtual Assistants (VAs) work from their home office for their clients. They may meet with their clients briefly, such as when a client drops off information at their home office, or they may never meet some clients in person at all. VAs do a variety of administrative tasks for clients. Because of this, a person who wants to be a VA must be organized. They need to be able to juggle several clients and the particular work their clients give them to do, keep track of the time worked for each client, and account for billings. Since a VA does a lot of writing and phone work for her clients, she needs to be highly skilled in grammar, spelling, and communication. There are tools to help with this, such as grammar reference books and spell-check in word processing programs. Also, being well-read is helpful. Still, it is best to already be proficient in these skills before deciding to be a VA. Having #147;technical know-how#148; is a big plus when deciding to become a VA. If you want to increase your skills in this area, consider taking a course (perhaps at an intermediate or advanced level) that will take you through Windows Explorer, My Computer, and Control Panel to get very familiar with how to use these areas to best organize your work and keep your PC in top working condition. If you have been out the workplace for a while and/or have not used certain types of software for months, consider enrolling in classes to get your skills current (or even to an advanced level). Examples of classes you might want to take are MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Also, some advanced VAs do a little work on client#146;s websites and know some html code, using software such as Dreamweaver. Your PC also needs to be up-to-date before venturing into this field. Check the versions of the software you are running. You may need to upgrade the software to a current version. Does your PC have enough free space on the hard drive? (Note: To check how much space is used and how much is free, open Windows Explorer. On the left panel, click the #147;C#148; drive once, so that it is highlighted. At the menu bar, click #147;File#148;; click #147;Properties#148;. In the Properties box on the General tab, you will see information about #147;Used space#148; and #147;Free space#148;, in bytes, gigabytes, and in a pie chart. The pie chart is especially useful at a glance to tell you how much space is available.) Does your PC have enough random access memory (RAM)? Extra RAM is inexpensive to purchase and easy to install. What are you using to access the Internet? Is your online service fast or slow? If you become a VA and set up a business, your online service will be a business expense. Consider getting broadband (cable) or DSL (digital subscriber line) Internet service for the fastest, most reliable service. So, your action steps to take when you are deciding whether you would like to be a VA are to review your organization skills, your grammar, spelling, and communications skills, your software and PC skills, and the ability of your PC to handle the workload. Next: What else goes into creating the business of a Virtual Assistant? What steps should you take to get your VA business up and running? See my next article, #147;How to Create a #145;Virtual Assistant#146; Business#148; for more information! Glory Borgeson is a small business consultant and coach who loves to work with clients by phone from her Chicago-area home office. Please contact her at 630-653-0992 for more information about your home-based business. More >>

Isn#146;t There More to Life Than Money? Can we talk? Let#146;s agree together that only fools think that money is everything. For us, it#146;s not even in the top three#151;miles behind friends, family, health or spiritual values. But neither is money unimportant. There are a lot of #147;good#148; people who dismiss the concept of financial success as an #147;unworthy#148; goal#151;perhaps even morally suspect. And with a title like, #147;The One Minute Millionaire,#148; we#146;re certain to raise a few eyebrows. Still, we believe that many of life#146;s greatest enjoyments and more than a few of life#146;s greatest disappointments stem from our decisions about money. Whether we experience great peace of mind or constant anxiety can depend on getting our finances under control. Relationships can be greatly affected#151;according to one study, 88% of all divorces in our society result from disagreements about money. Understanding money--how to make it and keep it#151; is important to our life, to our relationships, to our happiness, to our future. That#146;s why we wrote this book. Still, we realize that most people are simply not very good with money. Frankly, it#146;s not all that important to them. Being a loyal employee, earning a steady living and taking care of their families is all the financial success they seek. And that#146;s OK. We believe that with just a few extra minutes a week, a little more effort and a few extra dollars invested in the proper places#151;anyone and everyone can become financially successful. Even if you earn small amounts of money, you can become a millionaire on as little as a dollar a day#151;a minute at a time. We believe it#146;s worth the effort. We believe that you#146;ll be a better employee, a better family member, a better friend, a better member of society#133;if you will learn the skills of financial success. #147;One of the first ways to help the poor is to determine not to become one of them.#148; Mark Victor Hansen Then, there are those#151;about 15% of us#151;who are motivated by money. These are the entrepreneurs in our society who love to launch businesses, start companies, market products and, yes#151;make money. Lots of it. They are the bumblebees of our society. In the process of hunting for nectar#151;buzzing about from flower to flower#151;a wonderful thing happens. The entire garden gets pollinated. Bees don#146;t intend to pollinate the garden#151;but that#146;s what happens. If you#146;re one of those bumblebees, we applaud you. Whichever you are, the important thing is to be the best you can be. Money can help you get there. It can help you fulfill your purpose#151;your destiny. Just like a flower naturally strains upward to reach the sun, we too yearn to reach our full potential. Just as the butterfly breaks free from the dark cocoon, you, too, can release yourself from the things that are holding you back#151;bad habits, unrealistic fears, blind spots, laziness, perfectionism. Just like an acorn has no choice but to duplicate the exact genetic code of a perfect oak tree, we too, contain the literal, genetic blueprint of a child of God. You can learn to unleash your latent potential#151;to break free toward the true you, the real you#151; the YOU of destiny. Are you ready? copy; 2001 Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen Contact Robert G. Allen at boballen@robertallen.com or visit his website at www.robertallen.com Permission granted for this excerpt from the forthcoming blockbuster, One Minute Millionaire with Mark Victor Hansen for use on DrLaura.com. More >>

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Child's Play www.smiles-all-around.com My name is Christina Durboraw and the reason I started a home-based business was based on two basic ideas--I wanted to keep myself somehow active, but I would NOT leave my 1-year-old son under another person's care. A secondary reason was that my husband works on movie sets, so his schedule is unpredictable and irregular. Together, we agreed that whatever it took, we would make a business venture work.At the same time, my mother, who had been a stay-at-home mom while my brothers and I were growing up, was working in a full-time corporate job becoming more and more frustrated at having to limit the time she could spend with her first grandson. So I worked on a scheme that just might be the solution for both my family and my mom. I began by asking myself these questions: What could I do that could be incorporated into my every day life? What did I have enough passion for that I could deal with it everyday? Was there something in particular that would benefit my life? And the answer came to me--TOYS! Not only do I love to buy toys for my son, but also I truly find them, well, just plain fun to play with! So the idea took shape. I already had a business license from a small venture I made years ago; I knew lots of people with young children who bought lots of toys. My mom and I could partner and be a perfect match--she likes the detail work and I know the market! But how could I, a little fish in a big ocean, compete with the big stores? We needed an edge, and here's what we came up with. Toys are not a "necessity" to some people, but if there is one thing I know, it's that most moms would rather wear the same pair of pants every day if it means they can get that one special doll or action figure that their child is dreaming of. So the plan was to carry a few of the more poplar lines of children's toys and to offer them at prices that beat retail stores. And--offer the best customer service we possibly can. We contacted a few select manufacturers, ordered toys that we believed would be popular, and began to sell to our groups of mothers and grandmothers.As a home-based business, we kept our overhead low, making it possible to grow the business steadily. Customers began referring other customers to us, and our network of contacts grew quickly, especially once we were entered the holiday season. It was simply doing what we do during any normal day--talk to our friends--and word of mouth from satisfied customers that took us far beyond our expectations. Now, a year later, we opened our business to the world through our new Web site with an impressive clientele base to help it get started. The best part of our venture was that we didn#146;t have to mortgage our homes or take out big loans. The idea was small and we let it grow on it#146;s own. Now, our inventory is bigger than we ever could have dreamed of last year, and we are blessed with the opportunity to hire other stay at home moms to help us out. Like us, these moms are able to earn enough to give their child ballet lessons or sports equipment without compromising the time they spend with their children. As our Internet sales grow, it#146;s our goal to have mothers (and grandmothers!) across the nation working with us.In our business, as in our lives, we hold to strong morals and priorities; the rest we put into God#146;s hands. The best part is I am my kid's mom. I believe in what I sell and I love working with my mom. My son has an amazing relationship with his Grandma, and soon my husband will be working with us.Everyone has come out a winner! Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com More >>

Work-At-Home Sales: The New Contact Sport Homebodies By Cheryl Gochnauer Cheryl@homebodies.org It was fundraising time at my daughter's school. Competition wasfierce for buyers of magazine subscriptions, which translated intoprizes for the kids. Heaven help any adult with a checkbook!Fortunately, the yearly promotion only lasted a couple of weeks, then itwas safe to sit on my front porch again. Just as teens are driven to achieve with their fundraising programs,parents with in-home businesses are motivated to succeed. Without thatincome, many at-home parents would have to go back to work. It's no secret that the bulk of work-at-home opportunities involveselling. Cosmetics, children's toys, kitchen gadgets, householdcleaners - the conscientious work-at-home parent has a wide variety oflegitimate products to pitch. The wrinkle is in finding prospectivecustomers in a legitimate way. "One of the moms from my son's preschool called to set up a play date ather house," said Linda. "I've been struggling to make new friends, andwas feeling so isolated. I was looking forward to visiting and talkingwith her. "In between conversation about the kids, she began telling me about thebusiness she and her husband started a couple of months ago - they offerfinancial services - it's a big company - etc., etc., etc. "So the real reason for the visit wasn't the play date, I guess," Lindafrowned. "I don't even have any money to invest!" Linda ended up disappointed, and I suspect the other woman was, too. Presentation is everything, and deceit will kill the deal every time.So what are some steps work-at-home salespeople can take to keep theirpotential customers happy? Don't disguise a sales pitch as a social event. Choose appropriate settings. For instance, most people attendchurch to worship, not shop. Know your customer. Financially-challenged at-home moms should notbe trying to sell expensive gadgets to other financially-challengedat-home moms. Make your presentation as low-key as possible, allowing people tocontact you if they're interested. No response means no. Following upis overrated, and often resented. Support other work-at-home parents by occasionally purchasing theirproducts or services. Resist turning every conversation into a sales pitch. "Did Johnnyleave his backpack at your house?" "Yes, he did, right here next to mycatalogs. I'll just slip one into his backpack and drop it bypersonally. Is 3 p.m. good for you?" Don't spam in cyberspace or in person. Today, I've received 15emails, 2 phone calls, 6 pieces of mail and 1 knock at the door - allfrom people I don't know, pitching me products I never asked for. Canyou guess how likely I am to buy their stuff? Once a prospect agrees to hear your presentation, value their time.For example, Debi was too rushed to listen to a salesperson on thephone, so she asked him to email the info. He did, then called to makesure she had received the email and to explain it. Click! Don't ask questions with an ulterior motive. Build relationships,not databases. Only represent products you enjoy yourself. That way, you'resharing a blessing, not simply selling something. When you encountercustomers who enjoy the product, too, it's a win-win situation. You might want to consider Cheryl's latestbook, "Stay-at-Home Handbook: Advice on Parenting, Finances, Career,Surviving Each Day More" (InterVarsity Press, 2002) as a gift. Visit http://www.homebodies.org/bookstore/orderSAHH.htm or write Cheryl@homebodies.org. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com More >>