Home Based Business - Learn The Cons And Prevention

If, like many of us, you're a home based business owner, you know that there are many hooks and crooks out there. If you're new at it or still thinking about opening a home based business then hear this! Con artists do exist in business and they will take your money if they can. So does that mean it's safer to not run a home based business? SAFER?

Are you looking for something safer? If you don't take chances you're not going to win. Abolutely not! You stand to make much better money working for yourself and you're sure to be much happier being your own boss. Like anything in this World, you just need to be aware of what's really going on in your business arrangements. Don't be naive and think that everybody is a nice person.

This is BUSINESS! The rules are *almost* 'there are no rules'. Most businesses are dependable and trustworthy. They value your long term opinion of them because they are fully aware of your potential ability to bring (or prevent) business for them in the future. A saying in business goes 'if you'll only do business with people that you trust then don't bother trying to do business'. Here are a few tips to help keep your eyes open.

1. Partners - business partners can range anywhere from your best friend to a financial supporter to a franchise business. When it comes to partnership arrangements in business, NEVER accept a word of mouth arrangement. Even if your partner is your very best friend, make sure that written legal agreements are drawn up that specify in detail the ownership, compensation and responsibilities of each party in the agreement. Make sure the agreement is signed in the presence of witnesses who could be called into court and properly notarized. Also, be wary of payment in stocks or stock options when you don't have control over company stock splits and dilutions.

2. Marketers - new businesses start up by the thousands on an ongoing basis. Marketers know this and some prey on new businesses. They'll show you in graphs and statistics and eloquent words how you can make mega-bucks by using their strategies. Far too often, it is the marketers who make the money, not the businesses they're marketing. They know you won't come back and they don't care.

Even legitimate businesses can accidentally trap you. Take for example, Google AdWords. Open your Internet browser and go to www.google.com and search for any popular search words like say, 'scuba diving trips'. Notice on the right hand side 'sponsored links'. These are companies who pay Google each time a user, like you, clicks their link. Watch the 'sponsored links' for a given set of keywords (ie. 'scuba diving trips') for 3 months or longer. See if the ads (companies) don't frequently change. If they do, Google made money, not the business who placed the ad.

Otherwise, their link would stay there. Don't misunderstand, Google AdWords can make you a lot of money if *you* know how to work the ads. Another example is email SPAM. How many times have you purchased something from an email advertisement? So, who do you think makes money from the endless onslaught of email SPAM? Usually, it's the companies doing the SPAMming and not the companies who they are supposedly trying to sell products for. In general, if you see *one* given company using the same advertising over and over, it's working. Otherwise, it's probably not. Of course a business that does no marketing is doomed to a dismal failure. However, don't be duped by fast talking advertisers. Quite often, they make the money, not you.

3. Lawsuits - it is a bad practice to enter contractual arrangements thinking that other parties will not violate the agreement just to keep from getting sued. Take a trip to your local County Records department (or look it up on the Internet) and see how many judgements are still outstanding after 10 years or more. You may be shocked to find that a judge's ruling that somebody owes you money does NOT guarantee that you will get it. A person can just disappear and the government will not give you privileged information to help you find them.

A corporation can withdraw all their money, file for bankruptcy, close their doors and reopen as a different corporation. Also, quite often you'll find that it may be more expensive to sue someone than to count your losses and walk away. Business dealers know this and use it. If I illegally conned you out of $150.00 would you sue me for it? Even if you could it probably wouldn't be to your advantage. Or what if a business offered a '30 Day Money Back Guarantee' and then didn't make good on it? That con is a classic. When making business deals don't count exclusively on legalities to keep you out of trouble. Make sure the other parties in the deal have genuine motives to stick to the agreement.

Being in business for yourself can be very liberating and quite lucrative. But business is about making money. Most of us believe that we can do better for ourselves by engaging in genuine commerce. That is, we provide a genuine product or service for a price at or near the monetary market value of the product or service that we provide. That's what we call a 'win win' situation. Both the provider and the purchaser end up pleased with the outcome of the deal.

However, there are business dealers who deem it entirely ethical to take whatever they can from you, whether legally or illegally as long as they don't get hurt. Always be wary of business dealings like this. Try to work, within reason, with people who have already proven their trustworthiness and always try to foresee every potential outcome of any business deal you intend to engage.



Home Business - Con Prevention; Learn the Cons

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10 Tips How To Have Success In Your Home Based Business

With the cost of living quickly surpassing the wages (we make) necessary to maintain an “average” lifestyle, more and more employees are beginning to seriously consider the option of working from home.

Being your own boss, setting and keeping your own hours, keeping all (or most of the proceeds for yourself), saving on travel time and gas, allowing for as much vacation time as “necessary”, it all has its perks. It certainly seems that way, especially for many woman who may not want to stop working or can’t afford to, but also want to stay home with the kids or be home when they get back from school.

But, this growing trend, even with all its apparent benefits has many experts cautioning stay-at-home workers and warning them about the potential perils of home-based businesses due to common human error.

Some of the most common (and most damaging) include:
· Going In Blind: Sure you need confidence, guts and faith to start your own business, but you also need to know what your getting into, and that means diving FIRST into doing the necessary research about the type of business you are interested in starting. Experts suggest finding out as much as you can about your potential venture and about its potential for success in your area. Find out about your competition, note how much they are charging and pinpoint your target market. Rely on books, trade shows, conferences and the net to gather your materials and information.

· Becoming A Lone Venturer: Keep in mind that starting ANY business is difficult, especially in its initial stages. This is the most crucial time for you and your venture and you’ll need all the love and support you can get. One of the biggest mistakes, say experts that new entrepreneurs make is not getting the necessary support from spouse of family. Besides maybe helping with the housework or kids, he or she may also want to lend a hand in your business or at least lend support and encouragement as to work to get things going.

· Leaping Without A (Financial) Safety Net: Most of us are use to bringing home a specific amount of income (give or take) each week, an idea of having a “comfort” zone that most new business owners need to give up say experts. According to professionals, most new business owners won’t see a profit for several months. In fact, they suggest having at least six months (monetary) reserves on hand.

· Spreading Yourself Too Thin: While you certainly want to please the consumer and build your client base, it’s important to remember, that you won’t be able to please all of the people all of the time. They suggest not spreading yourself too thin by creating a mission statement for your business defining your purpose and your goals. Include what your business involves, what makes it stand out, and where you see yourself a few months to a year down the line. And, they add that you should make it a point to check your statement periodically and make all the necessary adjustments.

· Getting Too Comfortable: It’s easy to take advantage of being at home, especially when you don’t have to punch or Watch the clock. But, according to experts, sticking to a regular work schedule is imperative. Keep your schedule flexible (that’s what working from home is all about) but set limits and boundaries that will allow you to focus without any interruptions and be productive.

· Not Having A Space Of Your Own: For some a private office may not be feasible, especially if you’re a stay-at-home parent. But, according to experts, it’s imperative that you designate a specific space to conduct business. It is also important that you have all the necessary office essential to properly conduct your business. Sharing space and sometimes supplies is necessary, but you really should have your own for maximum efficiency.

· Selling Yourself Short: Want to beat your competition (price-wise) is a smart move, but seriously underbidding yourself and your worth may not be. Know what the competition is charging and make reasonable adjustments remaining firm and confident in what your product and ability…and always leave a little room for “play”.

· Putting Off The Paperwork: While most of us don’t enjoy the paper trail that often goes along with owning a business, it’s an essential part of operations, especially when it comes to keeping track of inventory and finances. Make sure to do all you shipping and receiving and related filing promptly, as well as sending out timely invoices. Keep in mind that most consumers take up to 90 days to pay, so you’ll need to bill them as soon as possible. And also, don’t forget to keep track of your own expenses to know what is coming in and what is going out.

· All Work And No Play: Just because you work from home doesn’t mean you never leave the house again. In fact, a very important part of any business is networking. So, think about maintaining your professional appearance and joining some professional organizations that can put you in touch with all the right people….and even though chat boards and blogs can offer you the same, making a personal appearance is ALWAYS a nice touch.

· Expecting Too Much: Considering working from home as anything but “work”. While you may have the freedom to make lots of your own decisions, you’ll also have a lot more responsibility, and that means learning how to manage your time (between work and career) like never before.




Bronzi Home Based Business Tips


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Choose To Be Successful In Your Home Based Business

Running a home based business is convenient and costs less but requires a great deal of time and energy to make it successful. When you make a decision to earn income from a home based business you will need to follow some basic steps and guidelines to be successful.

A business operated from home starts and ends with self-discipline. It is easy to give in to all the temptations that are present at home. Be it staying in bed longer on a cold morning, watching television, or surfing the web if you do not commit yourself to your home based enterprise, it will fail before it begins. No wonder 96% of the population that begins a home based business fails within the first few months. Self-discipline also applies to the basic day to day operation of your home business. As a home business owner if you do not see to record keeping, book keeping, marketing and other duties then your home business will eventually fail.

Another thing that can either make or break your home business is your attitude. Treat your home business like a business. This is critical whether you are working part-time or full-time. Always have a full-time attitude even when you are working part-time. Do not treat your home business like a hobby. Hobby attitude will produce hobby income. Have a business attitude and you will earn business income. Most people who decide to work from home end up working in their "spare time" and the business fails within few months if not days.

When operating a business from home make sure to create a space that you call your own, free from distractions for your scheduled time. Make sure to have a comfortable chair, an organized desk, and stationary supplies (pens, highlighters, stapler, hole puncher, sticky tape, note book(s), a simple filing system, manilla folders, etc.....). If your home business is an Internet business then consider the value of a broadband connection. Your time is valuable and a broadband connection will allow you to get more done in a given time frame.

Scheduling is the backbone of a home business. Develop a schedule that works for you, your family and business. Only work for your home business during the time you have scheduled for it. Do not do business work during the time you have alloted for other activities (family time, reading, exercise, leisure time, etc.) Your schedule is your "boss." Are you committed to your home business success? What will be your choice in situations, for example, when people calling you or dropping around unexpectedly or maybe out-of-town visitors may want to catch up with you? You are the person who decides what is important to you. Decide wisely.

Confindently and concisely describing your business in a few sentences is extremely powerful. Work on creating a short description which can easily be remembered by others so they can tell their family and friends about it. Remember word of mouth is very powerful.

Know your product or service "from the back of your hand" before you decide to market or sell it. Customers are interested in purchasing a quality product or service. Provide quality information about your product or service and you will definitely become a preferred supplier. Remember the product or service that you are marketing or selling may not be something you use yourself, it just needs to be something you believe in and know intimately. For example, women may choose to sell men's products (and vice versa) and still know the benefits and features to satisfy customers.

Be a good record keeper early on as you begin your home business. You will be glad in the long run and will sleep better too. You may need a tax advisor to consult about the best way to set up your financial records. Your advisor can also point out what records are important to keep. Also, you may obtain an advice on the best arrangement for your bank accounts. You should and will be advices to create a seperate bank account for your home business. If your home business is an Internet based business you may want to check out www.treepad.com and www.roboform.com to help you keep track of your logins, usernames and passwords. Both of these tools are very handy and can save you a lot of time.

Also, when operating a home business that is Internet based it is extremely important that you protect your computer and the data that is stored therein. You must invest in software(s) that provide virus protection, personal firewall, anti-spyware, anti-adware, and preferably an e-mail scanner.
Some recommendations are:

AVG Anti-Virus: http://www.grisoft.com
Spybot S&D: http://www.safer-networking.org
Microsoft Anti-Spyware: www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
Adaware: http://www.lavasoft.com/
Mailwasher Email Scanner: http://www.mailwasher.net.

Along with working hard it is important to work smart. Follow the advice above and you will surely succeed. "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose."




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How To Cope With Your Home Based Business And Your Daily Tasks

If you’re hearing the song that Bachman-Turner-Overdrive made famous in the 60s, that’s exactly what I want! I’m not talking about “business” in a strictly financial sense, but “business” with the idea that whatever you’re shooting for success-wise, you complete your tasks.

Once you have a course plotted for success, there are going to be a million things that will vie for your attention and time. It’s not that these things haven’t been there before now, and it’s not even that the world is plotting against you succeeding. It’s just that now you have a focus and you’ll begin to notice things that seem like they shouldn’t be on your radar screen.

It doesn’t mean that you don’t do the little pesky things that are buzzing and want to be taken care of (especially if it relates to your job), just that you must not let those things pull you off-track.

So how do you stay on-task? The best way I’ve found, bar none, is to keep a log of tasks that must be accomplished as you move towards your goal. Remember to break the big tasks in to a series of small ones and to give yourself a reward-system as you do it. I use check-marks; others use stickers (sounds silly, but if it works for you, who cares?), still others use tangible rewards as they accomplish “x” number of small or large tasks.

Whatever motivates you is your key—keep it simple and keep it attainable. If the carrot is too far out in front of the horse, the horse will give up. If it’s just close enough to smell and see but just out of reach, that horse will keep moving towards the incentive.

Let’s say your goal is to lose 60 pounds. That’s quite a chunk of weight and can take a long time to accomplish. Let’s also say that you need a new wardrobe. Should you wait until all the weight is gone to buy those new clothes? Probably not—your current closet full of clothes will look awfully loose and ill-fitting if you do.

But let’s talk about small, incremental rewards that help move you towards your goal. If you lose 10 pounds, your current clothes won’t look baggy on you, but you will notice a difference in your waistband that might bother you. Don’t chuck the pants or go buy a new pair—take the current ones to a seamstress or tailor to be taken in.

It’s a small reward and saves you the money of buying new pants that you will continue to shrink out of. It also keeps you motivated. For the next 5 or 10 pounds, think about some new cosmetics or a new hairstyle—small things that will make you feel better, inside and out.

Takin’ care of business and staying on task. Now that’s the way to chart yourself to success!


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How To End Clutter And Make Your Home Based Business Organization Easier

So, your asking yourself what does home organization has to do with your home based business right?

Well, over the years I've spoken to quite a few people who say they have very nice clothes they love but they don't wear them anymore because they have their home based business and they don't go out as much as they use to.

But my question is this (and I am getting straight to the point): If you value something so much...then don't you think you should be wearing it?

The reality is we are a society who likes to accumulate and, dating back to the Great Depression, we tend to keep everything we believe has monetary value when, in reality, it really doesn't.

For example, a pretty dress or a nice suit you bought ten years ago went for what can be considered a lot of money.

And the problem is you haven't touched it in nine years because, as most clothes do, it went out of style.

Could it come back in style someday? Maybe. Styles do often return.

But this is not a reason to hold onto things you don't use..."just in case."

You feel like, because you spent "good" money on it, you are throwing money away. But ask yourself this... is it putting money in your pocket sitting there in the back of your closet with dust on the shoulders?

Is it giving you anything? Do you benefit at all from keeping outdated outfits?

Now ask yourself one more question... will you gain anything by getting rid of it and donating it to charity?

Of course you will!

The benefits?

More space to be able to keep the clothes you are going to wear (we only wear 50% of the clothes we own, by the way.)

I might even suggest buying a new outfit for every three to five you get rid of.

The purpose?

Because new clothes make people feel good. I don't recommend buying new clothes for the sake of buying new clothes and throwing away your money. But you've got to admit putting on a new pair of pants that make us look better is a nice, uplifting feeling.

The thing is the items taking up space, yes, you paid for them.

But by keeping something you no longer wear or use you are not getting anything in return but more clutter and a lack of storage space you could be using for something else for your home based business.

Here is something you should do right now with items (they don't have to be clothes) you are holding onto because you paid good money for them.

1. Go find ten items you own for one reason and one reason only... because you paid for it.
2. Grab a piece of paper and make three columns.
3. Write the items you are having trouble getting rid of in the left column. In the middle column, write "why I am keeping this item" and in the third column write "what will I gain by getting rid of this item."

My guess is you will have a lot more in the right column than you will in the middle.

Be specific with both.

If you can honestly fill up the middle column with more reasons of why you should keep it, and they are good, legitimate reasons, then maybe you shouldn't get rid of it.

But I'm willing to bet that won't be the case.

I've just finished doing this my own self and what a difference it makes having the space back again. Not to mention how much better it looks.



Bronzi Home Based Business Tips

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How To Expan Your Home Base Business

Home-based businesses that become successful may end up having to leave the home eventually for expansion. This can be a very hard decision to make for the owner. The idea of now spending more money to expand can be scary. One does not have many of the money sucking problems as the business owners of yesteryears. The really long leases, huge security deposits, renovations, and equipment costs are not that bad anymore.

There are many options today for the home business owner to get affordable and flexible space with out costing too much and having to sign a long-term agreement. When you go to a business center you will get that office with a desk but also can expect to have Internet and many other perks. So what are some of the benefits of a business office center?

* Convenient location in a high traffic areas
* Fully furnished offices and suites
* Individual Offices and/or Team Rooms
* Conference Rooms with services provided
* Business identity services or virtual offices
* Receptionist services
* Incredible phone and voice mail systems
* High speed Internet services
* Computer and networking support
* Copy, scanner, and fax systems
* LCD projectors
* Digital Camera
* Complementary coffee and water
* Convenient agreements that can range from 3 months to 5 years

There are top companies that specialize in these office centers all over the country. Corporations such as HQ Global Work Place, Corporate Suites, and SOS America offer these great services to those home business owners so they can broaden their horizons but not have to invest in more equipment or dismantle their home office space. This gives the owner the option of hiring others and still remaining at home if he or she so desires.

There are even some companies that offer rental by the day or hour. Depending on what type of office space and the amenities you want you are looking at anywhere from a few hundred to few thousand per month. It truly depends on the location, services, and the office size you need.

The majority of these companies also offer virtual space as well. This is a low cost method of being able to provide a more business like atmosphere to your home office. You would be able to meet clients in a space a few times per week instead of in your living room. This gives your business a more professional look with out spending lots of money on an office space. There are mail programs offered that provide you with an address so you can receive and deliver business packages and mail.

These virtual spaces also provide private offices and conference rooms. This will allow you to work from home primarily but meet with clients and get your mail at a business address to keep your home information private. Programs like this start at about $70 per month, which is extremely reasonable.

There are also the virtual office packages that give you the same perks as the mail program but also give you a phone number, voice mail, live receptionist during business hours plus call-screening, forwarding, and patching. This type of offer starts at about $190 per month and you get your business name listed in the lobby for free. This is great for small home business owners who want to keep their personal information private.



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How To Be Successful In Life - 3 Things You Can Do To Help Yourself

Do you define success as having a lot of money? Or do you define success as being able to live your life the way you want too? Either way, they are both good things to strive for. We all know not everyone can be successful as there are checks and balances for winners and losers.

I truly feel most people want to be in on the winning side. However, we always run into people that remain in the same place in life. Do you feel you are you one of those people? Obviously if you’re a person looking and trying to better your life you want to be on the winning side.

Being successful can mean many things. My definition of being successful is accomplishing what you intend to do. For example, I always intended to have a family and I now have a great family. I consider myself very successful.

Success does not mean to look better than the people around you. I believe it comes from within and how you perceive yourself and your life. Success is something that you do not have to show on a daily basis. Success is how you live your life.

Here are three tips on being successful:

Create a Vision of Yourself

Having a vision is the first and most critical step of any successful plan. Create a vision of what you intend to do. Write down how you want to see yourself 1 year from now. Think about how your life will look. Having a vision will help you focus on what you want to achieve.

Take up Good Habits and Break Unproductive Habits

Always read and learn about the world around you. Think an opportunity through and do not be impulsive when an opportunity presents itself. Eat well and exercise. After all everything you do starts from within. Be in good health and don’t take your good health for granted. Add fitness to your life. Learn to handle distractions as there will plenty of distractions to address. Don’t use distractions as an excuse to fail.

Enjoy the Chase

Enjoy your road to success. The path will be filled with adversity. Keep your sense of humor because you may experience very tough challenges along the way. Be responsible, try and control your time by being as effective as possible.

Remember success is not free and it does take sacrifice. The price you pay is time and effort. Success is hard but rewarding (even during the chase for success). To be successful you have to work hard, educate yourself and maybe have a little luck on your side.




Image: graur codrin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


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Best Way to Make Money Online - What It Takes

How do I make money online? That depends on what you want to do. No matter what you do though, the most important thing you need to do is advertise. How do I do that online? This will require you to really do your research...

When you are thinking of ways to make money online, you likely want to know immediately what the best way to make money online is. The truth is that the answer to that varies from person to person.  Everyone is different and what one person can make money on may not be easy for another person to make money on. Therefore, it is important to assess what you know and what you have in order to figure out what the best way to make money online is. Use these assessment tips to help you get started and on your way to making money online.

Your Product or Services
The first thing you need to assess is what you are trying to “sell” online. If you have a physical product to sell, you will need to figure out the best way it would be to sell that product. For instance, you need to determine if you should sell that product alone, or if it works best in groups. For instance, if you are selling pictures, you will need to determine if you want to offer them with frames or without. The way in which you present your product can have a great impact on the way it is received by your potential customers.

If you are dealing with a service, such as consulting or writing, you need to figure out how you will present your services. Perhaps you could create “packages” of services in which you would need to set prices for. Customers typically will purchase more confidently when you have everything laid out simply for them.

Avenues to Use
In addition to figuring out how you plan to market your products, you will also need to know how you plan to get them out there to the public. For instance, some people choose to use their own website and advertising to sell their products. This can be a very effective way to sell your products or services.

If you really want to catapult your business online, use Google Adwords. With Google Adwords, you don't need to worry about getting your website on the front page by making sure your use keywords correctly, getting tons on incoming links to your site, or all the other things associated with search engine optimization. It is really simple to use as long as you read the how to on Google. If you’re not careful, you could really blow all your money using wrong keywords, not setting your advertising budget, and not paying attention to your click through rate. Click through rate is all figured out for you in your Google account, so you really do not need to worry about it. Just make sure you have a click through rate of 1% or more.

One of the best ways to know if your advertising is right on is by this rate! Let's say your advertisement received 200 clicks out of 2000 page impressions and 2 of those clicks resulted in sales. There’s your one percent! There are many eBooks on Google Adwords to help you learn how to use Google Adwords effectively; I personally think you will learn all you need to know in Google’s help files. Just be sure to be using methods that bring traffic to your site so you will have customers. Google Adwords has the potential of bringing millions of potential customers to your advertisement in just minutes.

If you don’t want to worry with setting up your own home page, advertising, and website, you can always choose an alternative method of selling such as advertising your services on a blog which can be free by using Google Blogger, a message board, or an online auction site. All of these avenues can be very profitable.

As you can see, finding out what the best way to make money online is not as easy as you would think. With a little research, using the internet will help you; you can actually build yourself a highly profitable business. In fact, you need to figure that out for yourself by thinking about what your talents are and what you have to offer. Then think about what the best means for marketing and offering your products and services are. Keep playing around with ideas until you find something that works! Once you find what works for you, work it, work it, and then work it some more.




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A Short List Of Points Before Starting A Home Based Small Business

Home Based Small Business - An Alternative Career

Starting a home based small business is like living an American dream where money making and living a desired lifestyle is the best of anything.

A small home business does not mean something totally new. We have been doing this job since childhood. Our small jobs included babysitting, delivering newspaper, tutoring, etc. But once we become adults, our aspirations change, dreams change, demands multiply, hence, we have to strategically plan a right kind of home based small business.

We have all been brought up with great corporate dreams. That way we are conditioned and educated - to live a life with corporate benefit packages. Recently, there has been a shift from corporate dreams to having one’s own, may be a small business. Because, freedom of work is as important as the monetary benefits.

Today, we prefer to a proprietor being self-employed. Late hours, official compulsions and job dissatisfactions leads many of us to something on our own. Besides personal difficulties, as adults we have to oblige our family also. We need to be with our spouse, kids, other members of our family, and friends.

Home business industry is booming fast at the rate of 27% annual growth. But, it is not free from scams as majority of home based small businesses run via internet. It is prone to be abused. Recently, safety and security of the online home based businesses are strengthened by various affiliate programs and laws.

Things to Consider before Starting a Small Home Based Business

• Type of Business: Thousand are the ways of life. Which one would you choose? Really difficult. Jot down your likes, dislikes, experience and assets. Rough plan the possible number of small businesses.

• Time Factor: Your own home business definitely provides your flexible timings which is not possible in working in a corporate office. Still you are in the difficulty in choosing one from full-time and part time home businesses.  You can schedule your work hours after considering all your household activities and business requirements.

• The Budget: Well, you are going to start a small home based business. But, how small, or for that matter how big is your small business? Nature of your home business and the amount of capital you have, determine your future course. As per your standing, you will plan startup costs, obtain loan or invite a partner.

• Research: Reading this piece of literature shows that you are interested in home businesses, and you have some idea regarding the your kind of business. But the first to investigate and research different home based businesses. You can definitely search internet for that purpose.

• The Plan: Planning is the final sketch. It might consist of the course of actions, description of the service/product, and the volume of business as per your qualification and capabilities.

• Putting into Action: After you have completed your plan. Activating the plan  and its success is dependent on foundation of plan. In case you might not act properly, solid plan will save you from potential losses and/or setbacks.



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Top 15 Ways to Build Your Subscriber List For Your Home Business

Email marketing can be profitable for any business, no matter what kind of product or service you offer. It is significantly cheaper than other advertising methods and, if done right, helps build loyalty and trust with customers. As a result, you generate more sales and more profits!

The foundation for successful email marketing is a targeted, permission-based email list. Marketers call contact lists their 'goldmine' because it can generate much of their sales revenue. If you've built up a list of opt-in subscribers that are qualified and interested in what you have to offer, then you've completed the first step and are on your way. Now it's time to 'mine' for gold!

Below you'll find several list-building and retention ideas that will help you get the best results from all your email marketing activities:

1. Provide useful, relevant content. Your visitors will not give you their email addresses just because they can subscribe to your newsletter free of charge. You have to provide unique and valuable information that will be of interest or use to them.


2. Add a subscription form to every page on your website. Make sure it stands out so it is easy to find. If it doesn't look cluttered, you may want to include more than one on some pages. For instance, if your opt-in form always appears in the top-left corner of your site, you may want to add one at the end of your most popular articles.


3. Add subscription forms to your social media pages. Make sure that you don't waste this valuable source of revenue opportunities. Integrate your sign-up forms with Facebook and more!


4. Make it easy for readers to sign up. The more information you request, the fewer people will opt-in. In most cases, a name and an email address should suffice. If it's not necessary, don't include it here. You can always survey them once they're customers! We do recommend that you provide a link to your Privacy Policy however.


5. Publish a Privacy Policy. Let your readers know that they can be confident you will not share their information with others. The easiest way to do this is to set up a Privacy Policy web page and provide the link to it below your opt-in form. (Note: If you don't have one, put the words 'privacy policy generator' into a search engine and you should be able to find a suitable form to use.)


6. Provide samples of your newsletters and Ezines. This lets potential subscribers review your materials before they sign up to determine if it's something they'd be interested in.


7. Archive past newsletters and articles. An online library of past newsletters and articles is both appealing and useful to visitors and builds your credibility as an authority. In addition, if your articles are written with good SEO techniques in mind, they can increase traffic to your website through enhanced search engine positioning.


8. Give gifts subscribers can actually use. Offer an opt-in bonus for joining your subscriber list! Write an ebook or provide a PDF business report, or even hire a programmer to create downloadable or web-based software. But don't limit yourself to offering gifts to opt-ins. Give them out when your readers fill out a survey, provide a testimonial, success story, or a great product idea. Let them know when they can expect the next gift offer. Everyone likes to get something for free! And if you pass out 'goodies' throughout the year, your subscribers will feel truly appreciated − and that's good for business!


9. Ask your subscribers to pass it on. Word of mouth is a powerful viral technique that works great with email marketing. If your subscribers find your content interesting, amusing or informative, they'll probably share it with their friends. This can be a great source of new customers, so make sure to remind them to 'pass it on'.
10. Let others reprint your newsletter as long as the content is not modified. If you're happy to share your content with the universe, then why not! Many webmasters and newsletter publishers are actively looking for high-quality content and, if they reprint your newsletter, you'll get new subscribers, and more traffic and links pointing to your site.
11. Include a 'Sign Up' button in your newsletter. If you're using plain text instead of HTML, be sure to provide a text link to your subscription page. You may feel that this is not required because the subscriber is already on your list, but remember that readers will forward your newsletters to others, or reprint them online. Make it easy for them to subscribe!
12. Add a squeeze page. A squeeze page has one goal − to acquire opt-ins and build your list. Think of it as a mini-sales letter to go along with your subscription or opt-in gift. It should feature a strong headline and a couple of powerful benefits that should make subscribers salivate to sign up! Once created, use a service such as WordTracker to find hundreds of targeted keywords, and promote your offer using pay-per-click advertising from Google, MSN and Yahoo. Now that should make a splash!
13. Include testimonials on your squeeze page. This is crucial. Put one or two strong testimonials from satisfied customers on your squeeze page. This can be in any format, but you may find that multimedia (audio or video) is more 'believable' and inspires more people to action. To further enhance believability, get permission to use actual customer names, locations and/or urls (Don't use 'Bob K, FL'). Add a note inviting others to participate. After all, it's free publicity!
14. Blog religiously. Blogging is a great way to communicate with prospects and potential customers, and creates a nice synergy with your email marketing. Be sure to include your newsletter sign-up form on each page of your blog. You can start a free blog at Blogger or WordPress.
15. Post on other blogs. Post thoughtful comments and information on similar blogs with a link to your squeeze or opt-in pages. Also comment on others' blogs through trackbacks. In most cases, your comments will be posted on their blogs with a link back to your site. This is an easy way to generate new traffic and subscribers, and get your brand out there!

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Avoiding Home Business Scams - Tips and Tricks

Now maybe the reason you’re interested in setting up a home business is because you’ve seen an ad somewhere, or you’ve been approached by someone. It was all about a great work-from-home money-making opportunity, and you’re excited. Finally, you can quit your job!

If you’re thinking of working from home by someone else’s rules, though, you have to realise that at least 99% of the offers out there are scams – after all, if it was that easy to pay a few dollars and make thousands, wouldn’t everyone be doing it by now?

Here are the biggest scams out there, how to recognise them, and how to avoid them.

Location, Location, Location.

Where did you see that work from home offer? If you got it in the post, or by email, or saw it on a poster taped around a telephone pole, then I can guarantee you right now that it’s not a legitimate offer. If you saw the ad in a newspaper, in a jobs magazine or on a jobs website, then it’s a little more likely to be legit – but not much. Always check out any offer, and assume it’s a scam until you have iron-clad proof to the contrary.

Envelope Stuffing.

This is the most established work-from-home scam, and it’s been going for decades now. Basically, once you pay your money and sign up to work from home, you’re sent a set of envelopes and ads just like the one you responded to. You might make some money if someone responds to your ad, but eventually there just won’t be a market for it any more. Anyway, work from home offers like this are illegal pyramid schemes.

You won’t make any money putting letters in envelopes – get over it.

Charging for Supplies.

The practice of charging for supplies is hard to pin down to any one scam – it’s the way almost all work-at-home scams work (including the envelope stuffing, above). You’ll be asked to make a small ‘investment’ for whatever materials would be needed to do the work – and then you’ll be sent very shoddy materials that aren’t worth anything like what you paid, and you’ll find that there’s no market for the work anyway.

If anyone asks for money upfront, run. A real company should be willing to deduct any ‘fees’ from your first paycheque – if they won’t do that for you, then that’s because they don’t ever plan to pay you.

Working for Free.

This variation on the scam is common with crafts. You might be asked to work at home making clothes, ornaments or toys. Everything seems legitimate – you’ve got the materials without paying out any money, and you’re doing the work. Unfortunately for you, when you send the work back, the company will tell you that it didn’t meet their ‘quality standards’, and will refuse to pay you. Then they’ll sell on what you made at a profit, and move on to the next sucker.

Never do craft work from home unless you’re selling the items yourself. Note that you don’t need to be selling to consumers (you could be selling to wholesalers), but you still need to be the one deciding what you make and getting the money.

Home Typing, Medical Billing, and More.
There are lots of work-from-home scams that involve persuading you that some industry has more work than it can handle, and so has to outsource to people working from home. For example, you might be told that you’d be typing legal documents, or entering medical bills into an electronic database. These scams have one thing in common: they all say that all you need is your computer and they all then go on to say that you need to buy some ‘special software’.

This software might appear to be from a completely unrelated company, but don’t be fooled – the whole reason the ‘work-from-home’ ad was there to begin with was simply as cynical marketing for the software.

As you can see, running a ‘home business’ that just involves ‘working’ for one company is a bad idea. You don’t know who you’re dealing with. Here’s the clincher, though: even with entirely legal work-at-home offers that do pay you for your work, you still won’t make anywhere near as much as you can with your very own home business. So why bother with them at all?





Photo by Jean-Etienne Minh-Duy Poirrier

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Four Tips for At-Home-Business Call Success for Mom Entrepreneurs

The kids are racing through the house screaming and the business phone rings, what do you do? Don’t panic! There are some simple ways to handle your at-home business calls.

You know it’s happened to you. Your phone rings and it’s the important business call you’ve been waiting for. As you look at your children wildly circling you, you ask yourself, “Do I take the call?”

It leaves you wondering how other Mom Entrepreneurs handle at-home-business calls.

Here are four quick tips:

1. Don’t apologize.
On the days my son, Ulyssis (age four) is with me, there ARE times he talks or is noisy when I’m on a business call. (That is I use to have this problem, but he's thirty now. Soon to be thirty one.) I used to say, “I’m sorry, my son is here…” But thankfully, I’ve changed. I’m grateful to Ponn Sabra, author of Empowering Women to Power Network for setting me straight. She told me to be proud my son is with me. And she is right. Now when I proudly state, “My son is with me today,” I find callers are gracious. Most reply with, “Oh, that’s wonderful! Enjoy your time with him.”

2. Be prepared for the unexpected.
As a mom, you wear many hats. When on the phone, always smile and project a good attitude. But be prepared to deal with unexpected situations. If children are disruptive during a call, remain calm. This is the time to have a sense of humor and make light of the situation. If the caller hears the background cries and you’re unable to quickly control the situation, offer to call back at a later time. “Would ten minutes or a half hour be better for you?”

3. Give “silent hellos or goodbyes”.
Laurie Hurley of Home Tutoring Business developed a “silent hello” (or goodbye) she uses when on the phone and her girls walk in or out. Laurie wears a headset to free her hands for a big hug and a quiet kiss. Her girls are trained to be quiet and they understand she can’t hang up just because they’ve arrived. The girls compete to see who can be the quietest, and Laurie doesn’t have to hang up on a client!

4. Leave your children “reminders”.
Melody Spier of Ballyhoo Virtual Services purchased a small stop sign for her office door. It serves as a visual reminder for her kids to stop and listen so they don’t burst in during a business call. Below the sign she posted three questions for her kids to ask themselves before interrupting.

1. Is someone hurt?
2. Does it concern schoolwork?
3. Would you pay $5 for the answer? ($5 = the 15 minutes it takes to work through the question and get refocused)

This cut the interruptions down to almost zero after about a week.

By being proud of your decision to work from home, being prepared for the unexpected, giving silent hellos or good-byes, and leaving your children reminders, you, too, can experience more success with your at-home-business calls.



Photo Attribution
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mangpages/3212233291/ CC by 2.0

Bronzi Home Based Business Tips

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5 Powerful Strategies For Depressed Entrepreneurs

Ok, so you have not made your first million within 90 days as you thought. Your idea crashed and you feel gutted. Worst, your partner says I told you so. You and your get rich ideas. Well, I salute you because you tried and failed. Guess what? The more you fail, the faster you will succeed. So keep falling forward. Get up and keep moving. The distant dream is getting closer with each step.

Now some of you depressed entrepreneurs want to stay
down. You crawl into a depression. You want to hide from
the cruel, unforgiving world. Rest if you must but die you
will not. So dust yourself off and read the following
strategies to get you fired up. Here goes..


1) Go Out Into The Light and Sunshine.

Lack of exposure to sunlight is responsible for the
secretion of the hormone melatonin, which could trigger
a dispirited mood and a lethargic condition.

Melatonin is only produced in the dark. It lowers the
body temperature and makes you feel sluggish. If you
are always cooped up in your room (with the curtains
closed), it would be difficult to restrain yourself
from staying in bed.

This is the reason why many people are suffering from
depression much more often in winter than in the other
seasons. It's because the nights are longer.

If you can't afford to get some sunshine, you can
always lighten up your room with brighter lights.
Have lunch outside the office. Take frequent walks
instead of driving your car over short distances.

2) Get Busy. Get Inspired.

You'll be more likely to overcome any feeling of
depression if you are too busy to notice it. Live
a life full of inspired activities.

Do the things you love. If you're a little short
on cash, you could engage in simple stuffs like
taking a leisurely stroll in the park, playing
sports, reading books, or engaging in any activity
that you have passion for and would love to pursue.

Set a goal - a meaningful purpose in life. No
matter how difficult or discouraging life can be,
remain firm and have an unshakable belief that you
are capable of doing anything you desire. With
this kind of positive attitude, you will attain
a cheerful disposition to beat the blues.

3) Take a Break.

I mean it.

Listen to soothing music. Soak in a nice warm
bath. Ask one of your close friends to massage
you. Take a break from your stressful workload
and spend the day just goofing around. In other
words, have fun.

4) Eat Right and Stay Fit.
Avoid foods with lots of sugar, caffeine, or
alcohol. Sugar and caffeine may give you a
brief moment of energy; but they would later
bring about anxiety , tension, and internal
problems. Alcohol is a depressant. Many people
would drink alcohol to "forget their problems."
They're just aggravating their conditions in the
process.

Exercising regularly is a vital depression buster
because it allows your body to produce more
endorphins than usual. Endorphins are sometimes
called "the happy chemicals" because of their
stress-reducing and happiness-inducing properties.

5) Get a Social Life.
No person is an island. Your circle of friends are
there to give you moral support. Spending time
and engaging in worthwhile activities with them
could give you a very satisfying feeling. Nothing
feels better than having group support.

Never underestimate the power of touch. Doesn't
it feel so good when someone pats you on the back
and gives you words of encouragement during your
most challenging times? Hug or embrace someone
today. You'll never know when you have saved
another life.

Get intimate. Establish close ties with your
family and friends. The love and care expressed
by others could tremendously boost your immune
system and fend off illnesses. Best of all, you'll
live a more secured and happy life.

Now, that feels better.


About the author:
Hirini Reedy is a mental toughness expert who helps people find inner strength. A former military officer, martial arts founder and NLP mind coach, he has designed short sharp mind-body fitness workouts to toughen you up.

I like this article so I shared it with you and hope you find it helpful.



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21 Quotes You Can Use To Inspire Yourself to Fire Your Boss and Build Wealth at Home Based Business

It has been said that it takes 21 days of consistent action to change a behavior or create a new habit. Often times we want something different but old tapes continue to play in our head that keep us from reaching our goals and dreams. This can range from trying to drop 10 lbs to gaining the courage to start your work at home based business.

The truth is going from an employee to an entrepreneur can be a little scary. However one of the ways to reduce fear and increase success is to lean on the wisdom and experience of others who have been successful in life.

Some may be famous and others not. Nevertheless, the wisdom if you choose to listen can help you create a paradigm shift in thinking which the foundation to massive success. I have always loved to listen to the champions that have gone before.

Here are 21 quotes that I have thought about often and used to inspire me to down size my boss and it can do the same for you.

1. Once in a while it really hits people that they don't have to experience the world in the way they have been told to. ---Alan Keightley

Were you told to go to school and get a good job? I was. While I know my mother meant well and thought she was preparing me tobe able to have access to the pearly gates of success she could not know how things would change.

However, I knew that I wanted more? How about you? Remember, you don’t have to settle for 60 hour work weeks, 30 minute commutes, your kids in day care or relocating for the promise of career advancement. You don’t have to be part of the grind…the rat race.

2. You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. --- Mike Murdock

Are you afraid to get started? It may seem overwhelming but if you focus on simply daily actions the big goals take care of themselves.

3. No one lives long enough to learn everything they need to learn starting from scratch. To be successful, we absolutely, positively have to find people who have already paid the price to learn the things that we need to learn to achieve our goals ---. Brian Tracy


Get help right out the gate. Find a mentor, coach, mastermind or become a part a community that will help to support you in your success. You want to become a life long learner. Attend seminars and boot camps in your specialized area knowledge. When you learn from people who have been successful and you model their activities you will get their results.


4. By stretching yourself beyond your perceived level of confidence you accelerate your development of competence. --- Michael J. Gelb

The only way to gain confidence in a certain area is to take action. It is in the action you will start to have small victories which will increase your level of success.

5. If you don't program yourself, life will program you! ---Les Brown

Don’t let other people make decision for your life. If you have no plan on you will create wealth during your working years your employer will. Have no retirement plan? You don’t the government to be your strategy. Remember, it’s your life and it’s now or never.

6. There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them. ---Denis Waitley

No matter what your current conditions are you have the opportunity to change them. However, this only can happen if you take total responsible for the direction of your life. If you don’t like where you are forgive yourself and focus on solutions. Don’t focus on problems or why you think something can’t happen. Start to ask powerful questions the answers will start to appear.

7. Everything you need you already have. You are complete right now, you are a whole, total person, not an apprentice person on the way to someplace else. Your completeness must be understood by you and experienced in your thoughts as your own personal reality. --- Dr. Wayne Dyer

8. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. Who are we NOT to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in us all. ---Marianne Williamson

When I first heard this quote it brought tears to my eyes. What talent or gift do you have that you are allowing fear to rob you from achieving? Doing what you were called to do it is bigger than you. You are unique and sharing your gift with someone could make a difference in their life. Are you playing it too small? Are staying in a job that doesn’t stretch you? What can you do to make a difference?


9. You'll see things "you never knew you never knew." --- Disney's Pocahontas

The journey and pursuit of freedom allows you to see the world in a different way than others. As you grow you will naturally see opportunities that others can not see. Jason Oman author of Conversation with Millionaires calls it “Money Goggles.” Even if you were in a pitch black room you will have infrared vision in the area of creating opportunities to make money.

10. A different world cannot be built by indifferent people. ---Peter Marshall

You can’t have what you want in life by being indifferent. Successful people are passionate and sometimes radical in pursuit of their dreams. Don’t allow yourself to be in environments that discourage you.

11. What is it that you like doing? If you don’t like it, get out of it, because you’ll be lousy at it. You don’t have to stay with a job for the rest of your life, because if you don’t like it you’ll never be successful in it. ---Lee Iacocca

Why would you ever spend most of your waking hours doing something that you don’t like? The key to success is finding something you love to and set the standard for excellence.

12. Simply making consistent investments in our self-education and knowledge banks pays major dividends throughout our lives. --- Jim Rohn

The self-education I have pursued after college has been my greatest return on investment. There is something to be said when you develop skills that you know will support you in any economy. Specialized knowledge applied with all out massive results will yield hefty financial and emotional rewards.

13. Finding your purpose may be a lifelong pursuit or you may have discovered it when you were 5 years old. There’s no absolute timeline for anyone. That’s a good reason never to give up, to keep on discovering things every day. --- Donald Trump

If you have not discovered your life’s purpose don’t be hard on yourself. Start to ask yourself questions and enter into a discovery process. Allow yourself to dream without concerns of how you will get it done. Every time you think you have found the answer did a little deeper with more questions. Rarely are your true goals, purpose and desires on the surface of your soul. Often times they have been put away for safe keeping to protect yourself from disappointment. Keep discovering new things until your purpose is crystal clear.

14. What material success does is provide you with the ability to concentrate on other things that really matter. And that is being able to make a difference, not only in your own life, but in other people's lives. ---Oprah Winfrey

When you get the money out of the way your world expands even greater. Oprah exemplifies this principle. She now looks for ways to help others in everything she does. Whether it is giving more support to your family or contributing to a worthy cause, having freedom as a work from home entrepreneur will allow you make your mark in the world.

15. The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what the man or woman is able to do. --- Booker T. Washington

So what can you create and add value to the world? I love this quote because it demonstrates very clearly that what matters are results at the end of the day. Don’t get caught up in theories. Make sure you are constantly taking action that moves you towards a specific goal.

16. There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long-range risks of comfortable inaction. --- John F. Kennedy

Are you so afraid to fail that you just can’t get out of the box? Don’t be. Many people have “failed” their way to million dollar empires. It is better to do something and be wrong then to do nothing at all. When you choose to do nothing someone else usually makes a decision that impacts you and you ending up doing something you don’t want to do.

17. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for circumstances they want. --George Bernard Shaw

There is no such thing as luck. You create the luck by working and preparing for the opportunity. When you start to put yourself out there the universe gives back. Make sure you are clear of your intentions and then go and make it happen.

19. It's not the hours you put in your work that counts, it's the work you put in your hours. --- Sam Ewing

You have the same 24 hours in the day as Bills Gate and Oprah. Don’t sabotage yourself by saying, “Well they can do it because their rich.” Unless you inherit wealth there is a price that everyone has to pay. You don’t have to work all day at your work from empire. However, you must consistently put time in if you want success.

20. You must do the thing you think you cannot do. --- Eleanor
Roosevelt.

One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself is to do something you think you can not do. It doesn’t have to be something huge. A simple action of courage goes a long in adding to your confidence in every area of your life.

21. You will never leave where you are, until you decide where you'd rather be. --- Dexter Yager

Until you know your purpose you will be at risk for staying in a job that slowly eats away at you. Why? You simply don’t have a strong enough goal to leave your current job. When the goal is strong enough you will search to find the answers.




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Bronzi Home Based Business Tips

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4 Tips For At Home Business Call Success For Mom Entrepreneurs

The kids are racing through the house screaming and the business phone rings, what do you do? Don’t panic! There are some simple ways to handle your at-home business calls.

You know it’s happened to you. Your phone rings and it’s the important business call you’ve been waiting for. As you look at your children wildly circling you, you ask yourself, “Do I take the call?”

It leaves you wondering how other Mom Entrepreneurs handle at-home-business calls.

Here are 4 quick tips:

1. Don’t apologize.
On the days my son, Ulyssis (age four) is with me, there ARE times he talks or is noisy when I’m on a business call. (That is I use to have this problem, but he's thirty now. Soon to be thirty one.) I used to say, “I’m sorry, my son is here…” But thankfully, I’ve changed. I’m grateful to Ponn Sabra, author of Empowering Women to Power Network for setting me straight. She told me to be proud my son is with me. And she is right. Now when I proudly state, “My son is with me today,” I find callers are gracious. Most reply with, “Oh, that’s wonderful! Enjoy your time with him.”

2. Be prepared for the unexpected.
As a mom, you wear many hats. When on the phone, always smile and project a good attitude. But be prepared to deal with unexpected situations. If children are disruptive during a call, remain calm. This is the time to have a sense of humor and make light of the situation. If the caller hears the background cries and you’re unable to quickly control the situation, offer to call back at a later time. “Would ten minutes or a half hour be better for you?”

3. Give “silent hellos or goodbyes”.
Laurie Hurley of Home Tutoring Business developed a “silent hello” (or goodbye) she uses when on the phone and her girls walk in or out. Laurie wears a headset to free her hands for a big hug and a quiet kiss. Her girls are trained to be quiet and they understand she can’t hang up just because they’ve arrived. The girls compete to see who can be the quietest, and Laurie doesn’t have to hang up on a client!

4. Leave your children “reminders”.
Melody Spier of Ballyhoo Virtual Services purchased a small stop sign for her office door. It serves as a visual reminder for her kids to stop and listen so they don’t burst in during a business call. Below the sign she posted three questions for her kids to ask themselves before interrupting.

1. Is someone hurt?
2. Does it concern schoolwork?
3. Would you pay $5 for the answer? ($5 = the 15 minutes it takes to work through the question and get refocused)

This cut the interruptions down to almost zero after about a week.

By being proud of your decision to work from home, being prepared for the unexpected, giving silent hellos or good-byes, and leaving your children reminders, you, too, can experience more success with your at-home-business calls.




Photo Attribution
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mangpages/3212233291/ CC by 2.0

Bronzi Home Based Business Tips


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10 Setup Secrets For Your Home Based Business - Ten Of Them!

Setting up a home based business doesn't have to be intimidating, expensive or time consuming. When you decide to make your living working from home, you simply need to go through a basic set up process to ensure you are ready.

Here are my steps for setting up your home business for success:

1. Attitude

- The key to your business success is your attitude.
- Treat your business like a business.

This is critical whether you are working part-time or full-time. For example, the mom who works from home around her family. She always puts her family first, at the same time developing her business. She says, "I may work part-time, but I have a full-time attitude." To put another way, "Have a hobby attitude, get a hobby income, have a business attitude get a business income."

You can be successful working part-time and you can be successful working full-time but it is unlikely that you will be successful just working in your "spare time".

2. Describe Your Business

Be able to describe your business concisely; a powerful one or two sentence description that someone can repeat in describing your business to others.

A unique and memorable tag line can also be invaluable for promoting your business. This is often referred to as your "elevator pitch" or "audio logo". Think about it, if you ask someone about their business and they describe it as "a errr, well, I kind of take care of, you know, well in as much as..." would you be impressed? Would you think that you should really hire that person? It's much better to be able to speak briefly, confidently and memorably about your business and what makes it unique.

3. Know Your Product or Service

Once you have chosen the product or service to sell you need to know your product intimately. If you are selling e-books for example, then know the content and its value. If you are selling software then use it and know it "inside out".

You will develop a reputation of providing quality information and because of your product knowledge, you can become the preferred supplier.

If it is not practical to use certain products (for example a woman may choose to sell man's shoes or vice versa) then you won't be using the product, however you can still know the benefits and features of the product intimately.

4. Get a Domain Name

Welcome to the twenty first century, you need a domain name for your business! You'll need an account with a reputable hosting company who will provide a "space" on the web for your domain name and site. The fees can be as low as $4.95 per month and go up from there. If you do not have any knowledge of HTML there are hosting companies that provide "site builder" software via the web. This can be a great option but be sure you like the application before you plunk down your money as you will probably be using it a lot!

5. Email

Once you have your own domain you will have one or more email accounts for that domain. This can assist in the promotion of your business and promotes a more professional business image.

Using email smartly can help you in the task of organizing your business communications. For example, sales can arrive via sales@your-company.com, support and help requests via support@your-company.com and so on.

By setting up some basic rules in Outlook or other email program you can have the mail conveniently sorted into folders for you as soon as it arrives.

6. Payment Processing

You will probably need a way to process credit cards. You could use services such as:

- PayPal https://www.paypal.com/
- StormPay http://www.stormpay.com/
- 2 Checkout http://www.stormpay.com/

Paypal now has a Pro level of service that includes a virtual terminal, helping to keep the costs low. Once your business picks up you may need to look into your own merchant account for credit card transactions but any of the sites listed will certainly get you started and may be all you need for the life of your business.

7. Computer Protection

Your computer is the lifeline to your business dealings and must be protected including the data that is stored. You will need a virus scanner, personal firewall, anti-spyware and anti-adware and preferably an email scanner with the ability to delete suspect of spam email from the server before it is downloaded to your computer.

Some suggestions are:

- AVG Anti-Virus: http://www.grisoft.com/ (free version available)
- Spybot S&D: http://www.safer-networking.org/
- Microsoft Anti-Spyware: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
- Adaware: http://www.lavasoft.com/
- Mailwasher Email Scanner: http://www.mailwasher.net/

A good all-round selection is one of the Norton products as they are kept up to date and have many if not all the features mentioned.

8. Working Environment

Getting organized is highly important, to ensure that you complete projects on time but also pay your bills on time and even bill your clients on time!

Having a working environment that help rather than hinders you work is also highly important. It can be tough but you need to establish a definite workspace for both yourself and any other people that are around.

- A space that you can call your own, free from distractions for your scheduled time.
- A comfortable chair and organized desk.
- Stationery supplies as required.
- Ensure you have a good computer monitor if you will be staring at it for long periods of time.
- Consider the value of a broadband connection. Your time is valuable and a broadband connection can allow you to get more done in a given time frame.

9. Administration

Use good record keeping practices... please!

You may need to consult a tax advisor who can let you know about the best way to set up your financial records and what records need to be kept. Your advisor can recommend record keeping systems and software may simplify this aspect of your business.

Additionally you can obtain advice on the best arrangement for your bank accounts. You will most likely be advised to have a separate account. Many banks now offer free checking for small business so do your research in to the options available to you.

Keep track of your various logins, usernames and passwords. This can be quite a big deal once your have a number of business resources online.

There are other useful tools for this also from a simple paper notebook to free and commercial password keepers. One popular solution is PasswordSafe.com. They provide a free web based service for storing username / passwords so you can access them from anywhere with an internet connection. They've been around since 1998 so the service is both trustworthy and reliable.

10. Schedule

Develop a schedule that works for you, your family and your business. When you mark off a block of time for work, then use that time for work. Equally important is to schedule time for your other commitments - family time, self-education (reading, listening and viewing), "health time" (exercise, cooking and eating), and leisure time. During these other times don't work. Remember, one of the reasons to work from home is to spend more time with your family and you don't want your working at home time to consume your family time.

You are working for yourself and your schedule (by your choice) is your "boss". When you have people calling you or dropping around unexpectedly or maybe out-of-town visitors may want to catch up with you then you need to make a choice. Are you committed to your own business success? What will be your choice in these situations? Only you can decide what is important to you.

In a family environment you may need to negotiate with your family and have your business time agreed upon, during which you will not be interrupted. Put this schedule prominently somewhere so all family members are aware of your work schedule.

These are the ten basics of working at home. Some of these items may change a little depending on the type of business you choose but in essence, this is it. A home based business can be the most fun, most rewarding experience of your adult life as long as you realize there are a few simple rules to keeping everything on track along the way.



Photo Attribute:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/atoach/3654123527/ / CC by 2.0


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