Most small business ideas are born out of inspiration, frustration, circumstances or almost any reason other than well thought-out logic and plenty of pre-planning. How about your small home based business idea?As a result, the ever cycling phases of plan, finance, start, run, grow, sell are random and chaotic. Each phase is dealt with, if at all, in a reactive mode rather than a responsive mode. This pattern seems to work as long as you see your small home based business as a source of wages versus a business entity responsible for making a profit with your “wages” being paid as part of the business’s employee overheadA few small business owners eventually break out of this mode and into a true business ownership role where they begin to, as Michael Geber described in his classic book “The E-Myth”, work on their business rather than in their business. This transition can be difficult for many because it requires some forward thinking and functional discipline. In other words, you’ve got to think about the future not just react to it. You need to focus on the basic business functions and how to apply them to your business at every phase of the business cycle.A simple way to begin your move into the role of true small business owner is to become familiar with six phases of the small business cycle and the eight business basics you’ll need to apply in different ways at each of the six phases.Small Business PhasesThe six business phases are plan, finance, start, run, grow and sell. Typically, small home based business owners attack the phases of business development in order of their own strengthens or the greatest source of pressure. It takes a strong sense of discipline to move through each phase in logical order. It’s not a matter of slowing your small business down, but, rather, accelerating its success and profitability by not skipping a step and moving from one to the next.Small Business BasicsIn different ways in each of the phases you always be dealing with each of the eight business basics of objectives, management, finance, personnel, marketing, operations, production and resources. Each small business basic is a point of education and implementation for new small home based business owners. Think of each basic as a function to learn about and a section in your business plan. Learn about each basic and then take your own current or projected data and move it into your small business plan.It takes time and discipline to cycle through each of the business phases and master all of the business basics but the rewards for most small business owners are success and profitability. Your small business idea is too important to penalize yourself by not earning those rewards. Start right now by assessing what phase your small home based business is in and what basic needs your immediate attention.

Estimating your assets value:

Typically, one of the first questions a business owner will ask me is, “how much will the assets bring at an auction”. After taking the time to review the assets, the auctioneer should give the client a conservative estimate of the sale based upon his experience and the current market trends. It is important that the company give realistic expectations so the seller can make informed decisions based on their best interest.

Compensation and Expenses:

Is the company you are considering working for you or against you? The agreement you decide may determine this.

A business owner should carefully consider how the auction company is compensated. The most common commission structures include: straight commission, outright purchase of assets, guaranteed base with a split above to both auctioneer and seller, guaranteed base with anything above going to auctioneer or a flat fee structure.

In a straight commission structure, the company is paid an agreed upon percentage of the total sale.

In an outright purchase agreement, the auctioneer simply becomes your end buyer. The company purchases your assets and relocates them. While this can be an option in some unique situations, keep in mind that they will want to purchase your assets at a very reduced price to make a profit at a later date.

In a minimum base guarantee, the auction company guarantees the seller that the auction will generate a minimum amount of sales. Anything above that amount either goes to the auction company or split with the seller. While a seller might feel more comfortable doing an auction knowing that he is guaranteed a minimum amount for his sale, keep in mind that it is the best interest of the auction company to secure a minimum base price as low as possible in order reduce their financial liability to the seller and secure higher compensation for the sale.

In a flat fee structure, the auctioneer agrees to show up for the sale and call the auction. There is no incentive for the auctioneer to get the best prices for your assets. The auction company is compensated regardless of the outcome of your sale.

What is the best option for business owners? In my experience, an agreed upon straight commission structure. This puts the responsibility on the auction company to offer the best outcome for everyone involved. There is an incentive for the auction company to work hard for both parties, set up and run a professional sale, get the highest bid and sell every item on the inventory. Successful auctions translate to a higher bottom line for both the seller and the auction company.

Auction Expenses:

In most auction agreements the expenses to conduct an auction are passed to the seller. If the auction company pays for the expenses, it is simply absorbed in higher commission rates.

All expenses should be agreed upon in advance in a written contract. Typical expenses will include the costs of advertising, labor, legal fees, travel, equipment rentals, security, postage and printing. A reputable auction company will be able to estimate all expenses based upon their experience in previous auctions. An agreement should be actual costs charged as expenses, not an estimated amount.

Advertising is typically the highest cost in conducting an auction. The auction company needs to set up an advertising campaign that will promote the sale to its best advantage and not overspend to simply advertise the auction company.

Once the auction is complete, the auction company should provide a complete breakdown of all expenses to the seller, including copies of receipts within the auction summary report.

Buyer’s Premium:

What is a buyer’s premium? If you attend auctions regularly, you are very familiar with this term. The auction company charges a fee to the buyer when they buy an item at auction.

The buyer’s premium has been around since the 1980′s and is standard auction practice. It was first used by auction houses to help offset costs of running brick and mortar permanent auction facilities. Since then, it has spread to all aspects of the auction industry. It is prominent in online auctions and allows auction companies to cover added expenses incurred from online sales.

It is the responsibility of the auction company to provide clear disclosure of the buyer’s premium to both the buyers and the sellers. Those not familiar with auctions are often taken back by the buyer’s premium. They looked upon it as an under handed way for the auction company to make more money. Reputable auction companies will provide full disclosure within the auction contract, advertisement and bidder registration.

Typically, an auction company will charge online buyers a higher buyer’s premium percentage than those attending an auction in person. Extra fees are incurred with online bidding and are charged accordingly to online buyers. This provides the seller a level playing field for both online buyers and those attending the auction in person. Without the buyer’s premium, there is no way to do this.

Pre-Sales:

We’ve all been there. We’re looking forward to attending an auction only to find that some items were sold prior to the auction date.

As an auctioneer with over thirty-six years of experience, I can honestly state that pre-sales will hurt an auction. When a company decides to liquidate their assets, it is easy to sell off high-end pieces of equipment through online sources, equipment vendors or to other businesses. The seller receives instant cash and avoids paying a commission to an auction company.

Auctioneer’s find themselves appearing to acting in a self-serving capacity when potential clients say they are planning to sell off parts of their inventory prior to an auction. It’s hard not to consider the auctioneer’s commission when they warn you not to pre-sell anything. Yes, the auctioneer wants to earn a commission on those sales but it is more important that the auctioneer protect the sale from potential negative backlash that comes from pre-selling. The buying public knows when an auction has been “cherry picked” prior to the sale and it reflects in their bidding. It becomes a sale of “leftovers” and that impacts prices.

A buyer who purchases prior to the auction usually does not attend the sale. They already bought equipment at a good price with no competition. If they do attend the auction, they tend to let others know of their great pre-sale purchases which again, impacts prices and the overall excitement of the sale.

It is important to understand that auctions work best with a complete inventory. You want competition on your higher end equipment. The easy to sell items make it possible to gain respectable prices for hard to sell items.

When a business owner decides to liquidate their equipment assets, there is only one opportunity to do it right. Hiring a reputable auction company will assist you with a professional, orderly and timely liquidation.

Free home based business leads. Every online marketer knows you gotta have them, particularly when you’re just getting started and especially if you don’t have an endless supply of money for marketing your home based business. But what’s the best way to find them? Ah…that’s the question every online affiliate or mlm business owner desires the answer to. Do you have the answer to that question? If not, or you just want to pick up some extra tips, than this article is for you.

In reality, there are quite a few effective methods for generating free home based business leads at the time of this writing, so I’m going to share a few with you here. But keep in mind, when it comes to attracting home based business leads on the internet, the rules of the mlm lead generation game are always changing, and sometimes they change fast. That’s just the nature of the internet…constantly new and better methods being developed all the time.

That leads me to your mlm lead generation system that you are currently using. You are using one, right? Your best bet for being able to stay in the game until you create that incredible mlm income is to use a system that instructs you on how to consistently generate free home based business leads that come to you, how to turn those targeted leads into prospects, how to monetize those prospects with your system’s funded proposals, and then lastly, how to get a percentage of those prospects to ask you about your online mlm business.

As I previously mentioned, things change quickly on the internet, so mlm lead generation strategies that work really well today may not be as effective a few months from now because so many people are using them. That’s why it’s so very critical that the mlm lead generation system you use constantly provides you with training on the newest cutting edge strategies to keep your free home based business leads coming in on an ever increasing basis.

Keeping that in mind, here are some of those strategies to begin generating home based business leads right away. You’re most likely familiar with some, if not all of these techniques, because a lot of folks are successfully using them. However, there are “tricks” and techniques you can use that will provide you with an advantage, but I’m afraid that would involve a lot more room than we have here right now. So here are the basics of a few of those strategies.

Blogging. Blogging has been around for quite a while now, but done right, it is a great way to develop your reputation as an authority on your niche so that people will be drawn to you. The system you use should provide you with step by step instructions on how to get started with your own blog, how to incorporate your system’s funded proposals into it, and how to effectively promote it. This is not the fastest way to start generating free home based business leads, but using it with and promoting it with additional lead generating techniques is a great way to brand yourself as a leader (which people are attracted to) and is great for the long haul too. Google loves good content blogs! Just make sure you are providing lots of valuable niche specific, keyword optimized info on your blog and not creating a huge blatant sales page.
Article Marketing. Article marketing is a terrific way to generate lots of free highly targeted leads. The more keyword optimized articles you write on your best niche topics, the more exposure you will enjoy. If you create articles that provide valuable content for your readers and use the author bio to point them back to your content-rich blog, you can generate lots of free home based business leads for years to come.
Social Media Sites. Social media sites like Twitter, MySpace and Facebook provide a fabulous way to connect with millions of people online. However, there is a correct way and an incorrect way to use them. The mlm lead generation system you use should provide training on how to effectively use these sites to build relationships and network with other like minded people. This is an excellent free resource for generating home based business leads that everyone should be using.
Video Marketing. Video marketing is an extremely valuable asset to add to your mlm lead generation arsenal. It’s simple and yet highly effective, and is a method that can generate free home based business leads very rapidly. Your system should provide training on the most effective ways to use video marketing to promote your blog, your articles, and well, simply put, You. If you’re not making use of video in your marketing, you may be losing out on the 6 out of every 10 people online that are watching video!
Pay-Per Click Advertising. PPC is probably one of the most effective mlm lead generation strategies on the entire internet at present, but I left it for last because you must have a marketing budget that will last several months to truly use this effectively. Most people starting out in internet marketing don’t have the money for this. However, once your funded proposals start generating some consistent income, I would highly endorse utilizing this method. Your system should provide training on how to use PPC the right way, and when you do, it can literally begin generating free home based business leads in a matter of hours of writing your ads!
Now this is in no way a comprehensive list for generating home based business leads, but it offers an excellent place to start. Forum posting, niche-related blog posting, etc. are a couple more ways you can get backlinks to your blog and increase your search engine ranking. The list goes on…

Bottom line, there are several effective mlm lead generation strategies you can make use of to attract targeted free home based business leads to your site or lead capture page and put you on the fast track to the mlm income you’re dreaming of. Of course, how you process your leads after you get them is a whole different story that we’ll have to save for another time. Until then, keep it real, and keep taking action!