What is a service business?

Service businesses are those that provide help to others. This can be anything from mowing the lawn to managing business accounts. The basis of a successful service business is one that supplies a need. In your area, it may take some research to discover the top service needs and then figure out which one you can provide.

Benefits of a home-based service business

There are several benefits to running a home-based service business. First of all, you can run the business from your home. Since you already pay a mortgage, utilities and car payments, the only thing you need spend money on now is the equipment for your business. And, running a service that began as a hobby means you already own most of the needed equipment.

Secondly, a home-based service business requires low overhead and startup costs. We alluded to the startup costs above and the low overhead means no employees but you. The key to keeping the overhead low is taking on only as many projects as you can safely and efficiently handle by yourself.

Home-based service business options

As we mentioned, you can usually run these service businesses out of your home. Establishing a website for selling your services lowers the overhead even more and maximizes your profit. With the Internet as your potential customer base, the opportunities are endless for marketing and finding clients. Here are some home-based service options.

Virtual assisting has taken off in a big way in the last ten years. Using a computer, fax machine, telephone, and Internet access, you can perform various administrative duties for large and small companies. You are paid for the work that you do so there is no extra charge for the company. Virtual assisting skills run from transcription to accounting to managing email and company websites.

Transcription by itself can be a profitable venture. Medical offices and businesspeople are always in need of someone to transcribe their audio or video files. It is far easier and less time consuming to record an interview or dictate a medical procedure. Your job will be to turn that file into a document for patient charts and online use by various businesses.

Ghostwriting is the process of writing articles, novels, eBooks and more for an individual or a company. Using your writing talent, you can make a lot of money creating literary works (print and electronic) for others who need them.

Getting started tips

There are considerations before beginning any type of business even a home-based one.

1. Check out the local laws for registering and zoning a home business. Most home businesses require no zoning issues unless you will be meeting clients in your home and posting signs in the yard.

2. Small business tax laws. Now that you are a business, you are subject to different tax exemptions, deductions and payments. Sites like www.irs.gov can give you the information you need.

3. Set up a separate work space at home. This could be as simple as using a spare bedroom or den with a door to keep your work separate. If you rely on the telephone a separate phone line can be added. When a workshop is needed, consider using a garage or purchasing a large outbuilding.

4. Use on and offline marketing methods to find clients. This includes: viral marketing, newspaper and Yellow Pages ads, flyers and direct mailings, email marketing, article marketing, setting up a website and etcetera.

5. Create a schedule to divide time between work and family. Balancing both is hard. Scheduling time and sticking to it means more gets done and no one is slighted.

A home-based service business is an alternative for people who want to know entrepreneurship without spending a lot in upfront costs. If you have a talent and can meet a need, consider a home-based business.

For even more tips to help you get your small business off the ground check out my Small Biz Guide.

Magnetic Look works with small to medium size businesses who are looking to improve their positioning on the market and increase their profits. Our programs and services are designed to strategically deliver the results you need in order to succeed. If you need help creating systems and strategies for your small business brand that are easy to implement and bring you desired results fast, we’d love to hear from you. Learn how we can help you and request your quote here.

Christmas is a time of giving and even though I keep giving throughout the year too, this time of the year is my absolute favorite.

Nine years ago, in December 2002, my nonprofit organization  JONA was born and 6 years ago, in November 2005, Mother’s Centre “The Sun” was officially opened, both in Slovakia, heart of Europe. If you’ve been in my space for a while you know that I’m very passionate about making difference in the lives of families.

With this year’s growth that we’ve experienced at Magnetic Look, I decided to give back to my small business community. Which means that I’m about to make a difference in your business and life. Next Thursday I’m hosting a free teleclass where I’ll take you BEYOND BUSINESS. I’ll share with you my top secrets how I keep going even in tough times and how I get things done in spite of all the circumstances.

Join me as I aim to inspire, motivate and put you on fire for the upcoming season. Even if date and time don’t work for you, register on the link below to get access to the recording.

I’ll be looking forward to create a change in your business.

Click here to learn more and register for this transformational teleclass.

It’s my gift to you, absolutely free!

Hugs,

Silvia

PS: I’ve never done a call like that before. But I know I can because you inspired me first. Click here to learn more and register.

Magnetic Look works with small to medium size businesses who are looking to improve their positioning on the market and increase their profits. Our programs and services are designed to strategically deliver the results you need in order to succeed. If you need help creating systems and strategies for your small business brand that are easy to implement and bring you desired results fast, we’d love to hear from you. Learn how we can help you and request your quote here.

There is a widespread of this category of business in a lot of countries although it usually depends on a specific economic scheme that a country has. An example of this would be convenience stores, shops like a bakery perhaps or delicatessen, guest houses, and restaurants. Private practitioners such as lawyers, hairdressers, accountants and photographers are also included in this genre. Another example would be online businesses similar to web designing and programming.

Businesses like this also have its fair share of advantages. Let’s take a look at these benefits before we move along.

• These businesses can actually be established at a very minimal cost and could be started as part-time.
• A lot of these businesses are in addition well suited for internet marketing since it can simply serve specific niches. Being able to adjust to transformation is very vital in this sort of business and since it’s not associated to a bureaucratic inertia, it becomes easier and faster to reply to the demands of the market. The tendency of the proprietors to have personal relationships with their consumers and clients can result in greater maturity and responsibility.
• Another benefit of having this sort of business is independence. When a survey was made with the owners, 38% of them said that the main reason why they resigned from their previous jobs was because they want to be the managers instead. They like this because it rewards them with the freedom to function by itself. Aside from that, most people want to have the capacity to formulate their own choices, seize risks on their own and be capable in acquiring the compensation for their efforts. These owners have the fulfillment of being able to put together their own decisions which is within the limitations required by the economy as well as other environmental issues.

In the United States alone, small businesses have contributed a lot to the economy. They account for almost half of the GDP as well as more than half of the employment rating. Small industries with less than 10 workers are currently the major job supplier while the ones with 10 to 20 workers come in second place. Companies that have more than 20 employees but less than 100 were able to acquire the third place. Recent study shows that firms that have less than 20 workers are accountable for 18% of the entire employment rating.

© 2011 Magnetic Look & Silvia Pencak

Magnetic Look simplifies your business and life as it helps you develop a personalized, effective and profitable strategy for your small business. Stop wasting your time and money and discover how to stand out in your industry and build a magnetic brand.

The first step is for you to choose goals that are useful and relevant. Many business owners tend to choose goals that are meaningless and pointless. This is actually just a waste of time and you will surely regret not being able to feel any sense of achievement. Keep in mind that the main idea of goal setting is to push us forward so that we can encourage positive change. In order for it to be relevant, keep in mind that your business goal should be profitable in any sense. It does not necessarily mean that your objective has to be measured through the monetary factor, it just needs to have a clear advantage and benefit for your business. If the goal simply lacks the transformational and motivating quality then don’t even think about it since you will just end up being disappointed.

Make sure that the goals that you set for business are achievable since its main purpose is to move our business forward. There will be no point for you to set a goal wherein you already know that you will never accomplish it. That is why we have to set the bar very carefully. Setting the bar too high might cause failure and disappointment. On the other hand setting the bar too low will not give us enough satisfaction and recognition from our accomplishments. Aside from that, your goals should be able to stretch your ability in some way. Otherwise  you will get bored and will definitely abandon it after a while.

Don’t make the same mistake that most people do and create a totally vague goals. Make your objective more specific. Set action plan to take you to the final result you set up for yourself or your project. It will help you see exactly what to do to make this goal happen. It will help if you use a goal setting formula so that your goal will have its own built-in action plan. With this, you should be able to start accomplishing more of your targeted objectives.

Next step is for you to completely dedicate yourself to accomplishing your objectives. Your first step should be to write your goals down. You probably heard the saying: “It’s hard to hit moving target. But it’s almost impossible to hit the invisible target.” Keep your goals in front of you and come back to them often to compare your actions with your action plan and your results with your goals.

You need to realize that accomplishing your goals can’t be done overnight. That’s exactly why you have to be in action in order to make your goals a reality. Remember to also set aside time to work on your goals. Planning your work is important, but only when it meets with working your plan is where you will see the desired results.

These are some of my goal-setting principles. What principles do you follow when planning your work?

© 2011 Magnetic Look & Silvia Pencak

Magnetic Look simplifies your business and life as it helps you develop a personalized, effective and profitable strategy for your small business. Stop wasting your time and money and discover how to stand out in your industry and build a magnetic brand.

So what exactly happened this year at Magnetic Look?

• First of all, we completely re-branded Magnetic Look, redesigned all the websites and our Magnetic Brand ezine.
• We started My Magnetic Blog to support small business owners in their branding endeavors.
• We held our first ever Stand Out and Thrive telesummit. …and we had a blast!
• We opened a YouTube account and started to shoot video clips.
• We offered brand new products and services to support you in building a successful brand at much shorter time than you ever could on your own.
• We started some strategic partnerships to bring even more value to solopreneurs and small business owners.

I know, I know… It’s all about work. So let’s move to the fun part. But you know (and I know too) that business is not only about work. It’s also about fun part. Results, achievements and recognition. So what results and achievements did we see at Magnetic Look in 2010 (recession or not)?

• Our brand new blog (started in January 2010) is now among top 5% blogs in the world.
• We now have over 9,000 followers on twitter and growing and our twitter grader is 100.
• We increased Magnetic Look brand recognition exponentially as we keep receiving more and more speaking invitations.
• Our brand new Facebook Page grew from 0 to over 200 since August 2010.
• We quadrupled our list.
• We doubled our revenue.

I couldn’t post this blog post without mentioning what caused our results this year. It wasn’t a miracle, it wasn’t a luck, and it also wasn’t unexpected. There are simple strategies we put in place that caused these results. And I want to share them with you today. So below are your…

Success strategies for your small business in 2011.

1. Simple, but specific strategy. I developed a strategy for my business for 2010 and I stick to it. Having a strategy in place is crucial for your success. It gives you a big picture to keep you focused even if you don’t feel like it. It helps you work less and achieve more by being strategic and consistent in your business. If you need help developing your long term brand strategy or short term strategy for 2011, we’ll be glad to help. Click here to get more information.

2. Have a coach and/or mastermind group. Yes, even coaches need coaching. Specifically, I worked with 5 coaches last year. I had 2 long term coaches and 3 short term coaches to help me with short-term projects. I was also part of 1 mastermind group. Having support and accountability is priceless. We believe it’s so crucial for your business that we created coaching and mastermind programs for our own clients. Click here to get more information.

3. Take action. Planning, goal setting and strategy are great, but if you don’t add action, there won’t be too much to look at couple months later. Even the best coach or mastermind group can’t help you move up if you don’t take action. So my best suggestion for you is to stop thinking about what to do next and start doing it.

4. Do NOT give up! There will be times when you will feel great and will do everything possible to make things happen. And there will be times when you will want to pack and leave. No matter where you are, my suggestion is to persevere. There are way too many people who give up one step before the break through. Don’t be that person…

If you’re ready to make 2011 your best year yet, we’ll be glad to be your guide on your way to success. Learn how you can work with us in 2011.

© 2011 Magnetic Look & Silvia Pencak

Magnetic Look simplifies your business and life as it helps you develop a personalized, effective and profitable strategy for your small business. Stop wasting your time and money and discover how to stand out in your industry and build a magnetic brand.

When you have a specific goal, then you will also have something that will allow you to incorporate a specific action plan which will outline the process on how you will achieve your goal. This will also give you a performance measure that will give you an advice on how to evaluate the same goal.

• The performance measure of your goal can oftentimes be a date or perhaps a certain length of time. However, it can also be any objective theory that you can utilize to determine if you were able to complete the goal that you’ve set for your business.

Now, before you even think about settings goals devised to boost your business accomplishment, you have to evaluate yourself first and know what you really mean by the word ‘success.’ For me, it is basically enjoying every moment of what you do and having the type of work that will energize and make you happy. In that case, what do you think business success means?

• Business success is being able to work fewer hours so that you can spend more time with your family. It’s having the right amount of energy to tackle a lot of task. It is also building up more confidence so that you will be able to sell your product successfully and maybe even try something new and different.

Being able to enjoy a great deal of success is not just about having more than enough to spend on your bank accounts. You have to consider other things that you want to accomplish and it doesn’t matter how peculiar it may look like, just make sure to set every objectives accordingly.

Your goal does not necessarily have to be extensively big. Keep in mind that even small goals are as important as the big ones and you should be working on it as well because despite the fact that may look insignificant, they can lead you to even bigger changes. By using the correct formula in setting specific goal in each of your business planning, you will definitely see a boost in the quantity of goals that you have already accomplished.

While goal setting may be the first step in achieving success, this is simply not enough. This process is just the initial step to reaching attainment. Always remember as well that by having goals for small businesses; you start being proactive and not just reactive to your own success. Goals need action. You need to have a goal setting strategy so that you can have something will help you through the course of accomplishing the goal that you have placed for your business. Without this strategy and by not having a list of actions that you will be using in working towards your goal, achieving whatever you want for your business is just a matter of blind chance and this is no way to run a booming business.

© 2010 Magnetic Look & Silvia Pencak

Magnetic Look simplifies your business and life as it helps you develop a personalized, effective and profitable strategy for your small business. Stop wasting your time and money and discover how to stand out in your industry and build a magnetic brand.

There’s a new trend out there. There are many people making big money online, living extraordinary lives and they all have something in common. People like Gary Vaynerchuk, Bernadette Doyle, Fabienne Frederickson, Yanik Silver, Carrie Wilkerson or Paul Evans have something in common. They all value personal growth, “me” time and their families. Even though they probably make more money than you right now, even though they live a different lifestyle than you do, they aren’t that much different from you. They love their close ones, value their friendships, they even have their bad days. So what makes them different?

I believe there are couple keys that can help you get more done, change your lifestyle and make your life easier. Let’s mention the most important ones to help you get started.

Mindset

If you’ve been in my space for a while you know that I am not a fan of  “law of attraction”. I am a strong believer in a law of taking action. But nevertheless I still believe that only you can change who you are or what you become in your life. I can spend years teaching you how to improve your outlook or behavior, but only you can really bring change to your life.

“Teacher opens the door, but you must enter yourself.”  (Chinese proverb)

So who do you want to be? What do you really want to achieve? How do you want to live your life? Dream big, paint your own picture, tweak it, come back to it often, take action on it and I strongly believe that you CAN make a difference in your life when doing so.

Priorities

You can’t expect living a happy life if you don’t have your priorities set up. One of my mentors Carrie Wilkerson constantly talks about having your “WHY”. Why are you doing what you do? Why do you work so hard? Why do you focus more than ever before? Why do you keep stretching yourself? Why are you so persistent? Why do you want to succeed? And money is not the answer! Don’t accept cheap answer! Spend some time on finding your “why”. It will save you lots of time lost by doing nothing or blaming others. It will help you focus, get things right, focus on solutions instead of the problems.

Make your “why” a priority. If your “why” is your kids, set aside time in your calendar for some family time. If it’s to support your aging parents, remember to devote some time to some quality time together. If it’s better health, make it a priority to take care of your body and health. Most of all, remember to take time off from your business and work regularly. Last thing you want is to bring a burnout…

The key to living an extraordinary lifestyle is to start now. Don’t wait till tomorrow. What can you do today to make your life better, brighter and nicer?

Be yourself

Copying what others DO is ok. But copying who others ARE is not! You are a unique creature, a unique personality with unique gifts and talents. Find out who you are, sharpen your tools, roll up your sleeves and bring your personality into all you do. Be yourself and it will remove lots of stress from what you’re doing and make your life easier. Does it mean that you should stay being who you are? Absolutely not! We all need to keep improving ourselves, keep learning and growing in our knowledge and personality, but the key is that you need to find out who you are, accept it and start growing yourself from that point on in order to see the results.

© 2010 MagneticLook.com

Author: Silvia Pencak

“Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it. ” Salvador Dali

I know, I know… Nothing is perfect, it’s just waste of my time, but what if I just can’t help it? What if I really CAN do everything better than anyone else, what if I just add couple more sentences… and maybe find another picture… If you can’t let go unfinished task, you can’t trust other people’s expertise and you can’t sleep at night because there’s still plenty of work waiting for you at your desk, in the kitchen or somewhere else, we need to “talk”.

Do not understand me wrong. I like job well done and I appreciate job well done, but striving for “perfect” will wear you down. Think for a minute. How much did you really get done today? And how about this week? This month? If you’re ready to get more done, check following 5 tips to help you move forward.

1. Plan your work and stick to your plan.

Set a deadline until when you want to have things done. Create an action plan – small steps that will help you achieve it. Set deadlines to each of your steps and keep working on them consistently. Avoid getting into overwhelm by spreading tasks as evenly as possible.

2. Set the timer.

This small tip improved my business and personal life unbelievably. Knowing you have limited amount of time helps you avoid distractions and focus on selected task. You get it done much faster. Make a decision after you run out of time whether the task is finished and you can close it or it needs more time and you need to come back to it.

3. Delegate.

Don’t even start telling me you can’t trust people and you can do it better yourself. You’re not a superwoman. Think about people in your life you already trust – bus driver, taxi driver or pilot will safely take you to your destination, postman will deliver your mail, lady in the bank will deposit money to your account and I don’t have to tell you about doctors, nurses and many others. So how about getting another person on your team? What can you delegate to save yourself time and get more work done?

4. Switch your focus from ‘having it perfect’ to ‘having it done’.

Don’t worry about how it looks, make sure you have it done in your time line. Make your to do list a priority. If certain task needs more attention have it planned for couple days rather than couple hours same day. It will help you to refocus, rethink whole concept instead of making it a painful experience where you sit in front of empty screen waiting for inspiration to come.

5. Get inspired.

Look at other people’s efforts. Compare what they’re doing and results they’re getting. You’ll probably find out that there’s no perfect website, no perfect newsletter, no perfect program. But you always tweak it as you go to make it work for you and your clients. And then you move to another project and another one and another one. Say good bye to perfect, say hi to fast and fabulous!

© 2010 MagneticLook.com

It’s been a couple of weeks since we moved into our new house. Challenging as the move can be, I must admit that I’m loving our new place. View from our master bedroom (see the picture) is gorgeous! I feel like I’m still dreaming when I open my eyes in the morning.

We always used to have small rooms, small space and it seems I became a master in making the most out of small spaces. But here I am in 4,000 sq. feet house with my kids telling their friends they must be princesses because they live in a real castle. Ha-ha. Next week we’ll be celebrating 4 years since coming to Canada and unbelievable as it seems we’re loving what we live.

Does it mean that we are where we want to be? Does it mean that we’ve achieved all we wanted? Of course not! But we certainly are on the way there. Having a plan in front of us, fulfilling our plan of action we sure are moving forward towards our dream life. And you know what? Knowing where we’re heading helps us enjoy the way. We no longer sweat the small stuff. To learn a bit more about creating your dream life make sure to read today’s Magnetic YOU ezine.

© 2010 MagneticLook.com

I don’t know about you, but here at my place we live Olympics. Late nights and early mornings mean lack of my beauty sleep and it’s starting to show on my face. My dark circles are getting even darker and I need 2 extra layers of concealer to look normal during a day. Uff! But you know what? Watching these men and women performing their best after 4 years of hard work reminds me that there’s time for hard work, but there’s always a reason for hard work. So what’s yours? What do you want to achieve? Where do you want to be in couple of years? How do you want to look? Who do you want to be? What is your reason why you’re doing what you’re doing? Once you figure it out, taking some “ME” time, taking care of your body and mind, working towards your goals won’t feel hard. You’ll start to see your problems as stepping stones. But remember, our lives can’t be just about working hard! There also needs to be a time to celebrate! Define smaller steps on your way to your dreams and take time to celebrate once you get there.

I’m not sure whether you watched yesterday’s hockey game Canada vs. Slovakia, but I did. Many of you know that Slovakia is my home country and I can’t help but I still like Slovak hockey team the best. And the game they played yesterday was amazing. Don’t worry, I’m not going to write about the game, but I want to share with you a lesson learned. Slovakia was losing game in the beginning of last period 3:0. There were many comments all over internet about Canada team being winners and Slovaks as losers without a chance to win. But you know what? Slovakia is a very interesting nation. We don’t give up easily. Slovaks gave 2 goals and last 7 minutes of the game looked like they’re ruling the game. They didn’t win, but for sure they showed Canadians they don’t give up easily.

Ok, so what’s the point? Why do I write about hockey here at My Magnetic Blog? It’s simple. Just think about it. How many times did you feel like you’re loosing the game? How many times did you feel like quitting? Everyone around you says or thinks you’re just a loser, you can’t make it, you can’t look good, you can’t loose 10 pounds, you can’t have a good life, you just can’t. But you know what? It’s not true! YOU CAN! You can take your life to your own hands and you CAN be in charge of your own life. You can disregard all the shame, guilt and lack of strong will and you CAN be the best you, reach your dreams and prove everyone else wrong. Why? Because whatever you can dream about you can achieve. If you want it bad enough.

Yes, you might need some tools and resources, yes, you might need support of other like-minded people. Yes, you might need to change the way you used to do things, but you definitely CAN make it happen for you!

And you know what? Sometimes you don’t win. But it’s ok. Because even if you don’t win, even if you don’t achieve your goal, you’ll be much closer to your goal than without even trying. One of my mentors, Mary Kay Ash once said: “Shoot for the moon and you’ll end up among stars.” Don’t give up, try and the change, the break through will come.

If you’ve had enough losing your game, if you’re ready to change your life, look better, feel better and become a better person, Magnetic Look is just the place for you. Our goal is to help you succeed in your life. Live your dream life. Overcome your giants. Become a person of great attitude and amazing achievements. We’re looking forward to support you in the game of your life. We’ll be glad to be on your side and welcome you to our Magnetic Look community.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Silvia