Are You Asking The Right Questions?
by Audrey Okaneko
One of the most common suggestions given to folks considering a home business opportunity is to ask questions. This is excellent advice, however knowing what questions to ask is equally important.
One of the most popular questions I am asked is “what company are you with?”.
This is my first example of a question possibly not being a “right” question.
Let’s say I tell you I “am with” Mary Kay, or Discovery Toys or Amway. What you now know is that I sell toys, cosmetics, or cleaning products. I’m not sure this is really the information you were after. In each of these 3 companies, I can find you high money earners, and I can find you low money earners. In each of these 3 companies, I can find you ethical sales representatives and I can find you unethical sales representatives.
What I too often see is someone turn down a company affiliation based on one or even two distributors experiences.
It is easy to fall into the trap of assuming that all business owners/reps/distributors with each of these companies conduct their businesses in the same way or employ the same marketing methods. This is especially a potential problem with older, well known companies, that have been around long enough, or become large enough, to have a degree of name recognition. In such cases, either a “good” or a “bad” association may have little bearing on the viability of the actual opportunity. All 3 companies mentioned above have high company sales volume, and even pay about the same in commissions.
There is a flip side to the above. If you’ve just recently heard on the news or read in the paper that a company is under investigation for illegal activity, then yes, company affiliation can be relevant.
The next question I’m often asked is “how much do you earn?”. I think most times the real question being asked is what the income potential for the asker is, and also what it will take to achieve personal monetary goals. There is nothing wrong with saying to someone, “I wish to earn $1000 per month, how can I do that?”. This is a very clear question that can be broken down and answered by someone talking to you about a business. Income claims is not what one should look for here. Understanding the volume needed to obtain the desired income should be the focus.
What are some other “right” questions? A great question to ask is “how will I market?” I have over the years heard an assortment of answers to this question. One answer is that you’ll create a list of family and friends and contact them. I personally don’t agree with this method, however many think this system works fine. If you feel this is a good starting system, then let’s think long term. Once you run out of family and friends, then how will you market? Sometimes picking a business that you like, say McDonalds, or Walmart, or Pepsi, can help you visualize yourself being that business owner. None of these businesses built their business relying on family and friends.
Another answer you might receive when asking about marketing will be one of automation. I’ve heard folks speak of elaborate autoresponder systems, and high tech automated websites. As you consider this option, put yourself in the shoes of the person being marketed to. How likely are you to do business with a machine? If you personally are not likely to do business with an automated system, then this might not be the right marketing system for you to use in your own business.
Along these lines, another great question to ask is what you personally will have to do consistently on a day to day or month to month basis to meet your business goals? Maybe your question is on a short term and long term business plan?
When I seek advice on any topic, whether business, parenting, or even gardening, I prefer to speak to those who have been around a while. I was most definitely new in business at one time, so I would defer a lot to my mentors. I think asking the business background and number of years in business of those you’ll be working with can give you some idea of who you’ll be working with. Working with someone new can be fun for both of you, however the question then becomes do the two of you have a mentor you can both rely on that has business knowledge?
Another question I feel is important, is “how is money made”?. Money in a business is earned through the legitimate sales of real products and services. If money is made through books, training’s, tapes or even recruiting others, this is cause for a red flag to go up. If you ask, “How is money made”, the answer should be “from the sales of products and/or services”.
Also, keep in mind that it’s not just the amount of money you earn, it’s how much you get to keep, and this is where expenses come in. Depending on the marketing approaches you use in your business plan, those expenses can be anywhere from virtually nothing to several hundred dollars per week/month. Keep in mind that the amount of expenses does not equate to success, but it can have a tremendous impact on your profitability as well as how effectively you can duplicate those methods within your network. With this in mind, asking “are there any monthly fees I’ll be required to pay” can shed quite a bit of useful information to aid you in making your decision.
By asking the right questions, it becomes easier to make a good business decision; one that can lead you into the future.
Audrey has worked from home since 1983. She is a Community Leader at both iVillage and AOL, and moderates an online community at Yahoo Groups. Through her involvement in these communities she tries to help others who are interested in learning the rewards and pitfalls of running a home business and who may benefit from the knowledge she has gained over many years of practical experience. She can be reached at ihavsnoopy@aol.com
© Terri Seymour
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