Blog commenting is the one of the best way to create quality backlinks. More bloggers do spam in the name of blog commenting and waste their valuable time. Here the 7 tips helps who want create better and quality backlinks from blog commenting.
1.Links at comment body : Don’t put links to your blog on comment body. Just leave your link at URL field.
2. ofollow blogs : Don’t focus to commenting only of dofollow blogs. More High traffic blogs are NOfollow.
3. Comment is micro blog : Comment relevant that blog post. Because every comments like a microblog.
4. Long Comments : Long comments are useful. If you write a good long comment to others blog,it will be a new blog post for you.
5. Quick and easy Comments : Make comments very simple and easy. Don’t be hard.
6. Don’t spam : I see so many comments on other blog are clearly spam, Don’t write words like EXELLENT POST, GOOD POST, NICE POST, GREAT POST, etc..,
7. Are you first Commenter? : if you are a first commenter, write something useful for the blog post. Opportunity to see your blog by Many people.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
10 Best Questions and Answers Websites Like Yahoo Answers
After Yahoo answer website, there are many more website has come around the world. You can submit your question and answers on these site also helpful to other viewers and you. Here I shared the best 10 website like yahoo answers. If you cant find perfect answer for your questions, Use these website and Keep answering.
1. WebAnswers.com : is a answering website, earn money through your answers.
2. Answerbag.com : is a well know answering website like yahoo answers.
3. Myquestion.net : This is good site for personal advice question and answers.
4. Answersnext.com : is a technology related questions and answers.
5. Maybenow.com : is a nice questions and answer site for general interest.
6. Trulia.com : is a real estates and developing answering website.
7. Minti.com : This is Q and A site about family related problems.
8. Chacha.com : is a Q and A site. Real people waiting to answer for you.
9. Askpedia.com : This site like wikipedia,softpedia. But Q & A site.
10. Funadvice.com : Answers for funny questions.
1. WebAnswers.com : is a answering website, earn money through your answers.
2. Answerbag.com : is a well know answering website like yahoo answers.
3. Myquestion.net : This is good site for personal advice question and answers.
4. Answersnext.com : is a technology related questions and answers.
5. Maybenow.com : is a nice questions and answer site for general interest.
6. Trulia.com : is a real estates and developing answering website.
7. Minti.com : This is Q and A site about family related problems.
8. Chacha.com : is a Q and A site. Real people waiting to answer for you.
9. Askpedia.com : This site like wikipedia,softpedia. But Q & A site.
10. Funadvice.com : Answers for funny questions.
10 Most Common Bad Habits of bloggers must avoid
There are many bloggers have some bad habits in the early and middle stage of blogging. Very successful bloggers also do this in early stage. Here the 10 most common bad habits, blogger must avoid these habits.
1. Don’t Blog without goal: More bloggers blogging without goal. They will never become a successful blogger. Set your goal like one or two post daily. What about your blog after 1 month, three months and one year.
2. Don’t Blog without domain: most of the new blogger starting with free like blogger.com, wordpress.com or webs.com etc.., if you blog with free domain you will never have complete control with your blog. I was starting with blogger. After I have shifted to my own domain with wordpress.
3. Don’t skip Proof reading: Proof reading is the important one for blogger. Don’t skip proof reading. Write your blog post in MS Word for check spelling mistakes, grammar errors. After see the proof then post your blogs.
4. Don’t use full size image: I have seen full size images in many blogs. Blogger should avoid this habit. There are many ways to resize your images online. Use 250 X 250 sizes for better look.
5. Don’t check Blog stat: More bloggers checking their blog traffic like search engine traffic, alexa ranking status in hourly. Nothing can change your blog status in a hour. Watch once in a week not hourly.
6. Don’t check your Ad revenue: this is also the same like checking traffic stat. Don’t see your ad revenue site like adsense, chitika, adbrigt etc.., check weekly for good habit.
7. Don’t Addict in Social media: Don’t spend more time in Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc., Spend one or two hours to check your updates daily is good habits.
8. Blog post from bed: there are many bloggers love at work in bed. Don’t blog at your bed in late night. Use day time or evening time for post your blog.
9. Don’t Irregular post: I have seen many blogs posted once in a month or 3. Don’t post irregular post. Plan yourself to post min 3 in a week.
10. No vocation: working always is not healthy for your health, business even blog careers. Vocation gives you opportunity to recharge your mind. Try to schedule your post and go somewhere, forget all about your business, blog, email etc..,
1. Don’t Blog without goal: More bloggers blogging without goal. They will never become a successful blogger. Set your goal like one or two post daily. What about your blog after 1 month, three months and one year.
2. Don’t Blog without domain: most of the new blogger starting with free like blogger.com, wordpress.com or webs.com etc.., if you blog with free domain you will never have complete control with your blog. I was starting with blogger. After I have shifted to my own domain with wordpress.
3. Don’t skip Proof reading: Proof reading is the important one for blogger. Don’t skip proof reading. Write your blog post in MS Word for check spelling mistakes, grammar errors. After see the proof then post your blogs.
4. Don’t use full size image: I have seen full size images in many blogs. Blogger should avoid this habit. There are many ways to resize your images online. Use 250 X 250 sizes for better look.
5. Don’t check Blog stat: More bloggers checking their blog traffic like search engine traffic, alexa ranking status in hourly. Nothing can change your blog status in a hour. Watch once in a week not hourly.
6. Don’t check your Ad revenue: this is also the same like checking traffic stat. Don’t see your ad revenue site like adsense, chitika, adbrigt etc.., check weekly for good habit.
7. Don’t Addict in Social media: Don’t spend more time in Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc., Spend one or two hours to check your updates daily is good habits.
8. Blog post from bed: there are many bloggers love at work in bed. Don’t blog at your bed in late night. Use day time or evening time for post your blog.
9. Don’t Irregular post: I have seen many blogs posted once in a month or 3. Don’t post irregular post. Plan yourself to post min 3 in a week.
10. No vocation: working always is not healthy for your health, business even blog careers. Vocation gives you opportunity to recharge your mind. Try to schedule your post and go somewhere, forget all about your business, blog, email etc..,
How To Index Fast Your Blog In Google In 10 Min Step By Step
How to Index Fast your blog in google with in 10 min. Yes we can. I have found a new way for index fast in search engines like google, yahoo, bing and more. When You complete a new blog post, Google fast Indexed within 10 min. Here the step by step process to index fast your blog.
First Go To the following website and Register yourself.
1. Digg.com
2. followlist.com (dofollow blogs only)
3. forums.digitalpoint.com
4. yousaytoo.com
5. technorati.com
6. blogcatelog.com
7. topofblogs.com
8. Google.com/webmastertools
It will take 1-2 days to complete Registration process the above websites. After Complete the process Go and write a new blog post.
After you post a new Submit following website.
1. Submit your URL to Digg.com
2. Ping your blog at Pingler.com
3. Another Ping Site Pingomatic.com
4. Submit Your blog Followlist.com
5. Put Comments in Forums.digitalpoint.com
6. Submit Sitemap in Google webmaster tools.
7. Submit your URL to Official.my
Thats it. It will take 5-10 min for Submit your blog to above websites. Now Go to Google.com, type site:http://yourblogname.com. You can see your blog indexed.
First Go To the following website and Register yourself.
1. Digg.com
2. followlist.com (dofollow blogs only)
3. forums.digitalpoint.com
4. yousaytoo.com
5. technorati.com
6. blogcatelog.com
7. topofblogs.com
8. Google.com/webmastertools
It will take 1-2 days to complete Registration process the above websites. After Complete the process Go and write a new blog post.
After you post a new Submit following website.
1. Submit your URL to Digg.com
2. Ping your blog at Pingler.com
3. Another Ping Site Pingomatic.com
4. Submit Your blog Followlist.com
5. Put Comments in Forums.digitalpoint.com
6. Submit Sitemap in Google webmaster tools.
7. Submit your URL to Official.my
Thats it. It will take 5-10 min for Submit your blog to above websites. Now Go to Google.com, type site:http://yourblogname.com. You can see your blog indexed.
Search Engines Submit Your Blog Free Traffic
Search Engines drive more than 85% of Internet traffic. Get indexed in the major Search Engines and bring traffic to your website. Here the 100+ search engine that bring more traffic. Submit your blog or website with one click and enjoy unlimited free major search engine web traffic free.
Google : The King of search engines. Google got 57% market share of internet users. So submit your blog or website to google get index quickly. Submit Your Blog Here.
Yahoo : The Queen of search engines. Yahoo got 22% market share of internet users. so submit your blog or website to yahoo also. Submit your blog here.
Bing / Msn : The another major search engine. Bing got 8% market share of internet users. submit to your website to bing also. Submit Your blog here.
Bulk Submission To other major search engines.
There are 100+ small search engines like aol, ask. so many ways to submit your blog or website with single click. Here i share some website having this free submission software.
FreeWebSubmission.Com : This website provide 50+ free manual and auto submission to the highest-rated, Free Internet Search Engines and Directories. The Search Engines and Directories listed below are all ranked according to popularity.
Submitexpress.com : This website Auto submission script will submit your website URL to 70+ top search engines for free, including Google.
free-web-submission.co.uk : This website have 20+ search engine submission free including Google.
official.my : This is a great way to get traffic from search engine , but sometimes it is a little impractical when it comes to sending site to more than 30 Search Engine manually.
Bing / Msn : The another major search engine. Bing got 8% market share of internet users. submit to your website to bing also. Submit Your blog here.
Bulk Submission To other major search engines.
There are 100+ small search engines like aol, ask. so many ways to submit your blog or website with single click. Here i share some website having this free submission software.
FreeWebSubmission.Com : This website provide 50+ free manual and auto submission to the highest-rated, Free Internet Search Engines and Directories. The Search Engines and Directories listed below are all ranked according to popularity.
Submitexpress.com : This website Auto submission script will submit your website URL to 70+ top search engines for free, including Google.
free-web-submission.co.uk : This website have 20+ search engine submission free including Google.
official.my : This is a great way to get traffic from search engine , but sometimes it is a little impractical when it comes to sending site to more than 30 Search Engine manually.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Make $100 Per Day Online
This post is about a technique to make $100 per day online.
With economic times being tough across the world there are lots of people looking for a way to make some extra money.
$US100 per day may not sound much, but when you multiply it by 365 days you get about $US36,000.
Better still once you know how to make $100 per day you have to tools to grow it into much more – $1000/day anyone ?
This post started when I saw an interesting post in DP headed up First $100 Day ($117 actually). So being a sucker for this type of title, I looked through the thread to see how the author had been able to do it.
It turns out Jose Armando has been working away for a year in his quest to reach the magic $100/day. Over that time he an his brother have been steadily growing their home business in between attending lectures at college.
There’s a telling quote in the thread ……”I remember writing dozens of articles and not getting a single sale for months.. man was that tough.”
Which reveals a secret to his success. Take a simple system, follow it to the letter and never give-up.
While Jose does not reveal his exact methods it seems he has been using article and pay per click advertising (Adwords etc) promotion as the means to generate traffic to a site with affiliate links. About 40% sales come from Article Marketing and the balance from PPC.
From earlier posts he started out doing article marketing exclusively. In an earlier thread he wrote:
The secrets to Jose’s success? Well, these seem to be the key ingredients:
With economic times being tough across the world there are lots of people looking for a way to make some extra money.
$US100 per day may not sound much, but when you multiply it by 365 days you get about $US36,000.
Better still once you know how to make $100 per day you have to tools to grow it into much more – $1000/day anyone ?
This post started when I saw an interesting post in DP headed up First $100 Day ($117 actually). So being a sucker for this type of title, I looked through the thread to see how the author had been able to do it.
It turns out Jose Armando has been working away for a year in his quest to reach the magic $100/day. Over that time he an his brother have been steadily growing their home business in between attending lectures at college.
There’s a telling quote in the thread ……”I remember writing dozens of articles and not getting a single sale for months.. man was that tough.”
Which reveals a secret to his success. Take a simple system, follow it to the letter and never give-up.
While Jose does not reveal his exact methods it seems he has been using article and pay per click advertising (Adwords etc) promotion as the means to generate traffic to a site with affiliate links. About 40% sales come from Article Marketing and the balance from PPC.
From earlier posts he started out doing article marketing exclusively. In an earlier thread he wrote:
I have to say…. Newbies, keep writing the articles and keep testing different niches.Recently some more good advice:
If I had to say WHY this experiment failed it was because I was in a too saturated niche…
Find a small niche with a product that has 10-30 gravity and do your article marketing there. Don’t go in “make money”, “weight loss” etc niches. It’s just too crowded for someone who just wants to start with this.
Also, if you REALLY want to be successful with bum marketing then make real goals and stick to them for any cost.
Make a goal to write two articles per day for 50 days.. What’s two articles per day? It’s nothing… it’s just 30 minutes… Are you willing to put 30 minutes per day in your dreams, in your goals?
If you just do the 2 articles per day you’ll have 100 articles in less then two months… That’s A LOT of articles. Imagine the traffic you’ll be pulling and the sales you’ll be making.
And once you commit don’t skip a single day.. Don’t let yourself fail yet again. Be consistent – it’s the key to success.
As you’ll start writing articles do 20 articles per niche… If you don’t make a sale after 20 articles then this means you need to find a new niche and start again. Do this over and over again and I guarantee you’ll make a lot of sales in just a few weeks/months.
Actually I get about 40% sales from article marketing and 60% from PPC. And I want to get to 90%+ sales from PPC in near future.Jose makes reference to “Bum Marketing” a method of making money which costs nothing to start. In essence you just:
See, I’m only writing articles for my own product because I think it’s worth to invest time in my own business and have it grow in terms of SEO rankings.
For affiliate products I’m using Adwords and YSM.. Right now I’m just direct linking to affiliate products and it’s converting really well. Most of them have 1:20 or 1:30 conversions so I’m making profits even at $0.3+ CPC.
So how I get products to convert with direct linking?
I pick a product on marketplace, make a subdomain for redirect of my hoplink. Take first 30 keywords for that niche from Adwords Keyword Tool, copy ads from other niches and make them fit my niche. And press ACTIVATE.
Once I find something that consistently converts I’ll buy a .com domain for it and do a split test with:
1. direct linking and what are my profits there
2. review page and what are my profits with it
After about a week I’ll have a pretty good idea which one makes me more money and I’ll just port my campaign to AdWords and pull traffic from there too since I’ll already know that the product converts.
I’ll have yet another product locked down in passive income mode.
Then all you need to do is to do the process again for another product…”
- Find a product to promote – say from clickbank
- Setup a free webpage to promote it from – could be a free blog at blogger.com
- Write lots of articles and submit them to the top rated article sites. (All the articles need to unique)
- Keep writing articles and adding new products
- Over time you will get sales, some products will be real winners (you keep promoting these) and the rest you can discard or onsell the site.
The secrets to Jose’s success? Well, these seem to be the key ingredients:
- A system that works
- He worked with his brother. Its a bit like running or going to the gym, if you do it with someone else you will help keep each other motivated
- He had mentors. When he wrote back in March in the DP forum lots of people offered advice and assistance.
- Persistence, persistence , persistence. Jose just kept going and the results came in.
Income Opportunities
There are lots of home based business income opportunities to choose from.
The question is, how do you choose? Click here for 12 Tips to find the best home based business for you.
If you are an experienced online marketer you will already have a feel for what works for you. If you are starting out, I recommend you read our starting online section and check out the Home Based Business Opportunity Listings, then make a decision to DO SOMETHING. It may turn out to be one of those “learning experiences” or it might surpass your wildest dreams. You won’t know until you try !
The following are notes regarding a number of home based business income opportunities I have researched or actively promote. Feel free to contact me if you have any queries regarding the material here.
These home based business income opportunities have been chosen with the following in mind:
The question is, how do you choose? Click here for 12 Tips to find the best home based business for you.
If you are an experienced online marketer you will already have a feel for what works for you. If you are starting out, I recommend you read our starting online section and check out the Home Based Business Opportunity Listings, then make a decision to DO SOMETHING. It may turn out to be one of those “learning experiences” or it might surpass your wildest dreams. You won’t know until you try !
The following are notes regarding a number of home based business income opportunities I have researched or actively promote. Feel free to contact me if you have any queries regarding the material here.
These home based business income opportunities have been chosen with the following in mind:
- I am building residual income. Once someone sees what they like and joins under me, I must get some reward for their efforts and those of the people they recruit.
- Each home based business opportunity must be complimentary to the other. This means by focusing my efforts in any program I will in effect be growing the others as well. It also means that anyone who joins one program will find benefits in the others I promote.
- The program must work. The company must do what it says it will do and must pay on time. Their website must have high availability.
- The company must actually do something. While I focus my efforts on selling the business opportunity, the company must sell advertising or sell touch and feel products or whatever. In my experience companies which don’t fit this requirement don’t hang around for long.
- I must feel proud to represent this program. Comments in forums and with existing members I have corresponded with must be positive.
- There must be a good chance that people I refer to the home based business opportunity will succeed. A the end of the day I want the people I work with to be successful too.
- The cost of joining must not be more than $30 per month. If its higher than that the number of people will sign up for paid membership is reduced.
Free Home Based Business
A free home based business could be for you if your looking to make some extra cash but have little online experience or little money.
By starting with a free home business you will gain the experience and the funding you will need to really take your earnings to the next level. You will learn what works and what doesn’t. The risk with this business model is nothing – so you have nothing to lose!
Any one can be successful, but it does take time and lots of it. Having some funding will speed the process up and a good strategy is to use half of your profits towards paid advertising.
Here’s what you need to build your first home business:
Product
Find a free affiliate program with a wide range of products, for your home business. This way you will be able to experiment with different markets to find which one, works for you.
As a start consider joining the Clickbank program. They have been in business for many years and have hundreds of thousand of products for you to promote. You can find out more about Clickbank by following this link Clickbank.
Now that you have a range of products select a few that you have a personal interest in, which are low priced and which will have appeal to a wide range of people.
Keywords
Research the keywords for your products. These are the words people will enter into search engines to find your products. There is an excellent tool over at DigitalPoint. I suggest you select five keywords from your area of interest. Make sure they are down the list a bit to ensure you can get to the top of search engine rankings with them quickly.
WebSite
Now you have some products you need a website to promote them with. This can easily be done by starting a free blog. Later on you will want to host your own blog but this is a good starting place.
Go to Blogger and setup your blog.
Then write lots of articles around the subject of each your keywords. Make sure the content is unique an original. As a bare minimum post 1 article per day for 30 days then after that at least one per week.
Within each article embed links to your products. Not too many only one or two per page.
Once you have a good supply of pages in your blog (30 days) apply to Google for a Google Adsense account. Experiment with Ad placement to find the most profitable positions.
Promotion
Now all you need to do is promote your site and keep posting fresh content.
By starting with a free home business you will gain the experience and the funding you will need to really take your earnings to the next level. You will learn what works and what doesn’t. The risk with this business model is nothing – so you have nothing to lose!
Any one can be successful, but it does take time and lots of it. Having some funding will speed the process up and a good strategy is to use half of your profits towards paid advertising.
Here’s what you need to build your first home business:
Product
Find a free affiliate program with a wide range of products, for your home business. This way you will be able to experiment with different markets to find which one, works for you.
As a start consider joining the Clickbank program. They have been in business for many years and have hundreds of thousand of products for you to promote. You can find out more about Clickbank by following this link Clickbank.
Now that you have a range of products select a few that you have a personal interest in, which are low priced and which will have appeal to a wide range of people.
Keywords
Research the keywords for your products. These are the words people will enter into search engines to find your products. There is an excellent tool over at DigitalPoint. I suggest you select five keywords from your area of interest. Make sure they are down the list a bit to ensure you can get to the top of search engine rankings with them quickly.
WebSite
Now you have some products you need a website to promote them with. This can easily be done by starting a free blog. Later on you will want to host your own blog but this is a good starting place.
Go to Blogger and setup your blog.
Then write lots of articles around the subject of each your keywords. Make sure the content is unique an original. As a bare minimum post 1 article per day for 30 days then after that at least one per week.
Within each article embed links to your products. Not too many only one or two per page.
Once you have a good supply of pages in your blog (30 days) apply to Google for a Google Adsense account. Experiment with Ad placement to find the most profitable positions.
Promotion
Now all you need to do is promote your site and keep posting fresh content.
- Place links to your blog on every other website which is related to your topic.
- Submit your blog to as many webdirectories as you can. There is an excellent list of free web directories at Directory Critic. Follow this link to check it out: Directory Critic Make sure you use your keywords as the title to your directory listing.
- Write and submit an article per week with your blog URL in the bio line
- Put a link to your blog in your emails.
- Each time you post an article be sure to tell the world. You do this by issuing a “ping” to RSS feed directories. Follow the instructions at Pingomatic.
- “Claim” your blog at Technorati
- Find a number of active forums and post helpful messages making sure your blog URL is included in your signature line.
Make Your Website A Success
I bet you haven’t heard of Randy Brown. I hadn’t until I stumbled across a short advertisement in the Digital Point forums. The advertisement was for an ebook called “What I did to make a successful website in only a few months”. Since the price was only $10, I decided to buy it.
The 16 page report arrived instantly. It was pretty simple. Sixteen pages of typed notes, no illustrations and no marketing hype. To drive home the point, the sub-heading on the first page reads as follows : “No promises, no guarantees, nothing to buy – just a simple list of things that I did that I think made my site successful”
Turns out Randy is a 39 year old It department manager who managed to take his start-up website from zero to $3500 per month. This in only 12 months. He decided to sell his story to make a little extra cash.
There are no big secrets or get rich promises. This is an ebook about making good money from Adsense.
Randy lays out his site philosophy, the tools he uses and the steps he took to achieve this earning level. For good reason he doesn’t disclose his site and he doesn’t attempt to sell you anything in addition to the report.
The report does show that if you do the basics really well then a good income can follow.
If your looking for a bit of inspiration and a few good tips to grow your online business then the $10 is a good investment.
The 16 page report arrived instantly. It was pretty simple. Sixteen pages of typed notes, no illustrations and no marketing hype. To drive home the point, the sub-heading on the first page reads as follows : “No promises, no guarantees, nothing to buy – just a simple list of things that I did that I think made my site successful”
Turns out Randy is a 39 year old It department manager who managed to take his start-up website from zero to $3500 per month. This in only 12 months. He decided to sell his story to make a little extra cash.
There are no big secrets or get rich promises. This is an ebook about making good money from Adsense.
Randy lays out his site philosophy, the tools he uses and the steps he took to achieve this earning level. For good reason he doesn’t disclose his site and he doesn’t attempt to sell you anything in addition to the report.
The report does show that if you do the basics really well then a good income can follow.
If your looking for a bit of inspiration and a few good tips to grow your online business then the $10 is a good investment.
Home Based Franchise Sector
The office is coming home. This is perhaps the greatest trend in American workplace over the last fifteen to twenty years. New technologies, plus a change in the way we, as a society, think about work, has led to many people leaving the cubicle for the freedom of the home office.
But home is not merely an extension of the office. It is a home base for many entrepreneurs who are looking to find the next great franchise opportunity. So many home-based businesses have sprouted up over the last few years, it’s hard to keep to track of them all. Luckily, there are portals like Franchise Direct, which point entrepreneurs to the best opportunities out there at the moment.
Working from home doesn’t mean being locked in your house the entire day. Often it means being out it in the world, refilling vending machines or going door to door to build up a client base. Your home is the launching pad of your business and by being based there, you free yourself from the restrictions of the office. You are your own boss and the success or failure of your franchise ultimately rests on your shoulders.
The home based franchise sector has evolved to cater to the needs of nearly every worker. From home restoration to senior care to even food businesses, you can open the home based business of your choosing. In recent years, we’ve seen more and more women drawn to working at home. By maintaining a home based business, women can look after the various needs of raising family, while still attending their business requirements.
Franchise Direct (http://www.franchisedirect.com/) recently published a home based business report which goes into much greater detail about which home based businesses are thriving at the moment. There are many demands for working at home: you must be disciplined and self-motivated. But if you have the skills to succeed in a home-based business, you will certainly find an opportunity to work for yourself. Given the on-going financial constraints of the recession, it’s great time to open your own franchise.
But home is not merely an extension of the office. It is a home base for many entrepreneurs who are looking to find the next great franchise opportunity. So many home-based businesses have sprouted up over the last few years, it’s hard to keep to track of them all. Luckily, there are portals like Franchise Direct, which point entrepreneurs to the best opportunities out there at the moment.
Working from home doesn’t mean being locked in your house the entire day. Often it means being out it in the world, refilling vending machines or going door to door to build up a client base. Your home is the launching pad of your business and by being based there, you free yourself from the restrictions of the office. You are your own boss and the success or failure of your franchise ultimately rests on your shoulders.
The home based franchise sector has evolved to cater to the needs of nearly every worker. From home restoration to senior care to even food businesses, you can open the home based business of your choosing. In recent years, we’ve seen more and more women drawn to working at home. By maintaining a home based business, women can look after the various needs of raising family, while still attending their business requirements.
Franchise Direct (http://www.franchisedirect.com/) recently published a home based business report which goes into much greater detail about which home based businesses are thriving at the moment. There are many demands for working at home: you must be disciplined and self-motivated. But if you have the skills to succeed in a home-based business, you will certainly find an opportunity to work for yourself. Given the on-going financial constraints of the recession, it’s great time to open your own franchise.
Working from Home and Making Money Online
It is rare these days that you would find a stay-at-home mom who is not also a work-from-home mom. Few families have the luxury of being able to survive on a single salary.
The following list of jobs is great for moms who need to bring in some extra money, but who are not willing to sit in an office from 9:00-5:00 every day while their kids are in daycare and the house falls to shambles. These jobs can be done during steady business hours or can be spread sporadically throughout the day, during baby’s naptime, in between errands, and at night once the house is quiet.
1. Share your expertise and passions by writing articles.
Many companies nowadays outsource the writing of their web content to freelancers, often to people like you who work from home. It’s cheaper for them to hire you than to pay someone in-house, plus it allows them to shop around to find someone who’s truly passionate about the topic they need written.
Create a small portfolio of writing samples that you can send out to companies that are looking to hire. You may also want to check out sites like Elance, ODesk, and GetaFreelancer. Once you gain some experience, you can make quite a living freelancing—some websites will pay up to $50 per article!
Worried that you don’t know how to write? Generally, if non-writers find a topic that they have opinions on, the writing comes naturally. Plus, there’s no rule against using spell check and grammar check!
2. Build your own website.
Getting the hang of content writing? Maybe it’s time to start your own website. That way you’ll get to write about topics that genuinely interest you and you’ll get to be your own boss!
Download a free website builder, like WordPress, take a class or two about website building, and then get straight to work writing about baby products, pet adoption, or antique furniture or whatever it is that makes your fingers want to dance along the keyboard.
How will you make money with your new website? It’s simple–acquaint yourself with the workings of affiliate links and ad displays and your set to make a quick buck (or more, hopefully).
3. Become an online assistant.
There’s no reason why you need to be in the cubicle next to your boss for you to do his dirty work, is there? Virtual assistants are quickly gaining popularity as a less expensive option to keep a secretary on-site. You can sit on your comfortable your living room couch and handle day-to-day business tasks. You’ll spend your time making travel arrangements, handling customer service calls, setting appointments, paying bills, and more.
Some virtual assistants will work for a few hours a day and some only a few hours each week. You’ll find tons of these sorts of jobs at Elance, Virtual Office Temps, Alpine Temps, and Team Double Click. Salaries run about $20 per hour.
4. Sign up to be a virtual tutor.
Usually all you need is a college degree to become a virtual tutor, though having some tutoring or teaching experience may work to your advantage. You can sign up with a tutoring agency like Transwebtutors or Tutors.com to work one-on-one with students from all over the world on general homework help, essay writing, language skills, math, English, and other subjects.
You don’t need to go with an established organization. If you’re a competent tutor, and an even more competent marketer, then you may want to consider setting up your own website using an easy website builder, like WordPress, that advertises your skills as a professional virtual tutor.
5. Sell your photos online.
Did you know that anytime a company places a picture on its website or brochures it needs to pay for the rights to that photo? Most companies buy their graphics and photos from stock photo websites—places where you can sell your pictures for money.
Visit sites like Fotolia, BigStockPhoto, and ShutterStock to see which will give you the best deals for your pics. Upload your pictures to the sites and then anytime someone downloads your photo, you get paid! It’s that simple.
6. Clean out your garage and then sell your extra stuff on eBay, Woobly, efleaa, or Craigslist.
This may start out as a one-time job, but once you see how easy it is to make money on eBay, you’ll get hooked. You can sell things from old pieces of furniture, to used baby clothing, to other knick knacks lying around the house. Once you’ve totally de-cluttered your home, you can start looking for cheap deals to buy and then sell again for a profit. Or offer to clean out your neighbor’s garage…for a fee of course.
7. Sell some of your favorite ebooks.
You can build a website that offers some ecommerce features that enable you to buy and sell online. Buy some ebooks and sell them for profit.
8. Sign up and Become a Mystery Shopper.
Sign up to become an expert shopping reviewer at Service Intelligence, Service Excellence Group, and Shoppers View. These sites will provide you with a list of stores, businesses, and restaurants that they want you to go visit. You make your rounds, take some notes, and return to your computer to fill out a questionnaire about your shopping experience.
9. Join a Craft Community and Start Selling.
You could always sell your crafts on eBay or Craigslist, or you could join a like-minded crafting community and sell your goods to people who will be looking specifically for crafts. Etsy and Silkfair are good places to start.
10. Unleash Your Inner Guru.
Offer your skills to the people who need the expertise of a guru. Give one-on-one yoga classes, hold workshops on time management, or host webinars online about raising teenagers. You’re bound to have expert knowledge in one field or another—why not put that knowledge to use? You can also make some quick cash at LivePerson.com and JustAnswer.com answering questions and getting paid per minute.
The following list of jobs is great for moms who need to bring in some extra money, but who are not willing to sit in an office from 9:00-5:00 every day while their kids are in daycare and the house falls to shambles. These jobs can be done during steady business hours or can be spread sporadically throughout the day, during baby’s naptime, in between errands, and at night once the house is quiet.
1. Share your expertise and passions by writing articles.
Many companies nowadays outsource the writing of their web content to freelancers, often to people like you who work from home. It’s cheaper for them to hire you than to pay someone in-house, plus it allows them to shop around to find someone who’s truly passionate about the topic they need written.
Create a small portfolio of writing samples that you can send out to companies that are looking to hire. You may also want to check out sites like Elance, ODesk, and GetaFreelancer. Once you gain some experience, you can make quite a living freelancing—some websites will pay up to $50 per article!
Worried that you don’t know how to write? Generally, if non-writers find a topic that they have opinions on, the writing comes naturally. Plus, there’s no rule against using spell check and grammar check!
2. Build your own website.
Getting the hang of content writing? Maybe it’s time to start your own website. That way you’ll get to write about topics that genuinely interest you and you’ll get to be your own boss!
Download a free website builder, like WordPress, take a class or two about website building, and then get straight to work writing about baby products, pet adoption, or antique furniture or whatever it is that makes your fingers want to dance along the keyboard.
How will you make money with your new website? It’s simple–acquaint yourself with the workings of affiliate links and ad displays and your set to make a quick buck (or more, hopefully).
3. Become an online assistant.
There’s no reason why you need to be in the cubicle next to your boss for you to do his dirty work, is there? Virtual assistants are quickly gaining popularity as a less expensive option to keep a secretary on-site. You can sit on your comfortable your living room couch and handle day-to-day business tasks. You’ll spend your time making travel arrangements, handling customer service calls, setting appointments, paying bills, and more.
Some virtual assistants will work for a few hours a day and some only a few hours each week. You’ll find tons of these sorts of jobs at Elance, Virtual Office Temps, Alpine Temps, and Team Double Click. Salaries run about $20 per hour.
4. Sign up to be a virtual tutor.
Usually all you need is a college degree to become a virtual tutor, though having some tutoring or teaching experience may work to your advantage. You can sign up with a tutoring agency like Transwebtutors or Tutors.com to work one-on-one with students from all over the world on general homework help, essay writing, language skills, math, English, and other subjects.
You don’t need to go with an established organization. If you’re a competent tutor, and an even more competent marketer, then you may want to consider setting up your own website using an easy website builder, like WordPress, that advertises your skills as a professional virtual tutor.
5. Sell your photos online.
Did you know that anytime a company places a picture on its website or brochures it needs to pay for the rights to that photo? Most companies buy their graphics and photos from stock photo websites—places where you can sell your pictures for money.
Visit sites like Fotolia, BigStockPhoto, and ShutterStock to see which will give you the best deals for your pics. Upload your pictures to the sites and then anytime someone downloads your photo, you get paid! It’s that simple.
6. Clean out your garage and then sell your extra stuff on eBay, Woobly, efleaa, or Craigslist.
This may start out as a one-time job, but once you see how easy it is to make money on eBay, you’ll get hooked. You can sell things from old pieces of furniture, to used baby clothing, to other knick knacks lying around the house. Once you’ve totally de-cluttered your home, you can start looking for cheap deals to buy and then sell again for a profit. Or offer to clean out your neighbor’s garage…for a fee of course.
7. Sell some of your favorite ebooks.
You can build a website that offers some ecommerce features that enable you to buy and sell online. Buy some ebooks and sell them for profit.
8. Sign up and Become a Mystery Shopper.
Sign up to become an expert shopping reviewer at Service Intelligence, Service Excellence Group, and Shoppers View. These sites will provide you with a list of stores, businesses, and restaurants that they want you to go visit. You make your rounds, take some notes, and return to your computer to fill out a questionnaire about your shopping experience.
9. Join a Craft Community and Start Selling.
You could always sell your crafts on eBay or Craigslist, or you could join a like-minded crafting community and sell your goods to people who will be looking specifically for crafts. Etsy and Silkfair are good places to start.
10. Unleash Your Inner Guru.
Offer your skills to the people who need the expertise of a guru. Give one-on-one yoga classes, hold workshops on time management, or host webinars online about raising teenagers. You’re bound to have expert knowledge in one field or another—why not put that knowledge to use? You can also make some quick cash at LivePerson.com and JustAnswer.com answering questions and getting paid per minute.
10 Qualities of Successful Entrepreneurs
How do you succeed in business? What qualities must you have to become a successful entrepreneur? This is a question that every business owner wants to know, with many trying to understand if there’s some magic formula to achieving success.
Alas, there’s none. But as entrepreneurs who made it big have shown, there are a number of strategies that you can use to increase the chances for success of your business.
1. They Dream Big
It is important to dream big, according to David Novak, Chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands: “I want to continue to dream big, even if from time to time people tell me I’m overreaching. If we set bold goals, then we at least have a shot at achieving them. If we don’t, what’s the point of showing up tomorrow?”
2. They Can Spot Opportunities
Learning how to find opportunities is an important trait of every successful entrepreneurs. As Gladys Edmunds said: “Sometimes opportunity knocks; at other times you have to pursue it. You don’t want opportunity to come in on a boat when you’re standing at the airport waiting for it.”
3. They are Prepared to Win
Successful start-up businesses require a lot of work to get off the ground, let alone manage. As Mark Cuban said: “Everyone has the will to win, but it’s only those with the will to prepare that do win.”
4. They are Willing to Work Harder than Ever Before
Ryan Allis describes the hard work as: “Would you work 70-hour plus weeks for months on end; sleep at the office when you get backed up; put your own money on the line when payroll is due and the bank has yet to approve a loan ; be the janitor .. and present in front of a room of investors after already being turned down by 50 other banks, angel investors, and venture capital firms?
5. They are Disciplined and Focused
How you perform each day will determine whether or not you will succeed in the long run. Self-discipline is very important; as it is what will push you to work on the business and persist despite the challenges you will face as you jumpstart your business.
6. They are Optimistic, But Prepared for the Worst
As Donald Trump wrote in his book: “Learning to expect problems saved me from a lot of wasted energy, and it will save you from unexpected surprises. It’s like Wall Street, it’s like life. The ups and downs are inevitable, so simply try to be prepared from them.”
7. They Keep the Passion Going
Founder of Blockbuster Video and other successful businesses Harry Wayne Huizenga said: “It’s not making the investment for the sake of making the investment. It still is having fun. If you are enthused and excited about it, you work at it harder. And you get up in the morning and you’re still thinking about what you should be doing and so forth.”
8. They Find and Work with the Right Partners
Kitty Holding said: “Finding a true partner is one of the most critical things you will do. You are better when you have a partner that you can truly trust, rely upon, and function effectively with as a counterbalance to your weaknesses”
9. They Innovate and Think Differently
To succeed in this competitive business environment, you need to be innovative. Don’t play catch-up with the leader; rather create new markets and reinvent new ones.
10. They Know How to Sell
Author Donna Fenn adviced: “Seduce your customers, by not presenting your products as commodities but by selling something far more emotional and valuable.”
Alas, there’s none. But as entrepreneurs who made it big have shown, there are a number of strategies that you can use to increase the chances for success of your business.
1. They Dream Big
It is important to dream big, according to David Novak, Chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands: “I want to continue to dream big, even if from time to time people tell me I’m overreaching. If we set bold goals, then we at least have a shot at achieving them. If we don’t, what’s the point of showing up tomorrow?”
2. They Can Spot Opportunities
Learning how to find opportunities is an important trait of every successful entrepreneurs. As Gladys Edmunds said: “Sometimes opportunity knocks; at other times you have to pursue it. You don’t want opportunity to come in on a boat when you’re standing at the airport waiting for it.”
3. They are Prepared to Win
Successful start-up businesses require a lot of work to get off the ground, let alone manage. As Mark Cuban said: “Everyone has the will to win, but it’s only those with the will to prepare that do win.”
4. They are Willing to Work Harder than Ever Before
Ryan Allis describes the hard work as: “Would you work 70-hour plus weeks for months on end; sleep at the office when you get backed up; put your own money on the line when payroll is due and the bank has yet to approve a loan ; be the janitor .. and present in front of a room of investors after already being turned down by 50 other banks, angel investors, and venture capital firms?
5. They are Disciplined and Focused
How you perform each day will determine whether or not you will succeed in the long run. Self-discipline is very important; as it is what will push you to work on the business and persist despite the challenges you will face as you jumpstart your business.
6. They are Optimistic, But Prepared for the Worst
As Donald Trump wrote in his book: “Learning to expect problems saved me from a lot of wasted energy, and it will save you from unexpected surprises. It’s like Wall Street, it’s like life. The ups and downs are inevitable, so simply try to be prepared from them.”
7. They Keep the Passion Going
Founder of Blockbuster Video and other successful businesses Harry Wayne Huizenga said: “It’s not making the investment for the sake of making the investment. It still is having fun. If you are enthused and excited about it, you work at it harder. And you get up in the morning and you’re still thinking about what you should be doing and so forth.”
8. They Find and Work with the Right Partners
Kitty Holding said: “Finding a true partner is one of the most critical things you will do. You are better when you have a partner that you can truly trust, rely upon, and function effectively with as a counterbalance to your weaknesses”
9. They Innovate and Think Differently
To succeed in this competitive business environment, you need to be innovative. Don’t play catch-up with the leader; rather create new markets and reinvent new ones.
10. They Know How to Sell
Author Donna Fenn adviced: “Seduce your customers, by not presenting your products as commodities but by selling something far more emotional and valuable.”
Build a Successful Freelance Business
While the labor market is slowly improving, many are still without jobs, or are continuing to lose their jobs. Instead, many are turning to entrepreneurship and working from their homes. Having got out (or forced out) of the 9 to 5 grind, they look for ways to continue earning money, embarking on a new journey as a solo entrepreneur or freelancer.
Whether you’ve just been let go from your job or you made the decision to leave your full time job to become a business owner, what do you need to become a successful freelancer or solo entrepreneur? It will not be easy; and the road ahead will be full of challenges. But if you are up to the challenge, the rewards can be worth all the effort and hardships.
Here are 10 things you need to consider to build a successful freelance career:
1. Commit to Becoming an Entrepreneur
Forget about being an employee, you’re now the boss! Start putting on your entrepreneur thinking hat, and look at your new freelance career as your new “work” deserving of the thought, energy and focus you gave to your full time job.
2. Prepare for the Ups and Downs of Entrepreneurship.
Be prepared for the long haul: some months you may have several clients, and some months you may find it hard winning any accounts. That is simply the nature of freelancing. You need to prepare for the lean times and make sure that you have income buffer to ride out those difficult times.
3. Carefully Plan What You Really Want to Do.
Think long and hard what you want to do, and what you can do (those can be two different things!). You can start your one-person business based on the things you did in your previous job; start a business based on your interests, hobbies or passions; or start a business where you think there are good opportunities.
4. Learn as much as you can about the business
As a solo entrepreneur, you are the business, the only decision maker, and the only staff.How the business will go along — and whether it will succeed — will depend solely on your knowledge, instincts, and ideas.
5. Set clear directions for your business.
Freelancing is just like starting a business: you need to have a roadmap to help chart your course to success. Think of it as similar to the process of writing a business plan where you assess the needs in the marketplace, what you can offer, who are your target clients and how to reach them, and whether you have the resources to do it.
6. Excel in Wearing Many Hats
The worse part of being a solo entrepreneur is that you only have YOU to do everything. Many things that you’ve ignored as an employee while you focus on your own area of responsibilities will have to be learned and done, such as billing, collection, record keeping, tax paying, even marketing your services to other clients.
7. Hone your Marketing Skills
Don’t you wish that assignments and new contracts will conveniently fall on your lap without you lifting a single finger? Alas, that is mostly pipe dream. For majority of freelancers, you need to market yourself to potential clients. And marketing is never easy.
8. Get your home ready for your new business.
You need to get your home ready for your business. Find a dedicated corner or room in your house where you can focus and do your work. More importantly, you need to get your mindset ready that your home, for better or worse, is now your workplace.
9. Learn to Organize the Logistics of Managing and Running a Business
As a new business owner, a significant part of your success lies in how well you manage your day and your business. Dedicate a certain percentage of the day to administrative and marketing tasks, making sure that you track your time and bill your customers for it. Or hire professionals to help you manage these tasks.
10. Find a Supportive Network.
Make a list of people who may be able to help you — from your family and friends, potential advisers to fellow freelancers. Check if there are any freelancing or consulting networks or communities that you can join in so you can share ideas, even referral to clients.
Whether you’ve just been let go from your job or you made the decision to leave your full time job to become a business owner, what do you need to become a successful freelancer or solo entrepreneur? It will not be easy; and the road ahead will be full of challenges. But if you are up to the challenge, the rewards can be worth all the effort and hardships.
Here are 10 things you need to consider to build a successful freelance career:
1. Commit to Becoming an Entrepreneur
Forget about being an employee, you’re now the boss! Start putting on your entrepreneur thinking hat, and look at your new freelance career as your new “work” deserving of the thought, energy and focus you gave to your full time job.
2. Prepare for the Ups and Downs of Entrepreneurship.
Be prepared for the long haul: some months you may have several clients, and some months you may find it hard winning any accounts. That is simply the nature of freelancing. You need to prepare for the lean times and make sure that you have income buffer to ride out those difficult times.
3. Carefully Plan What You Really Want to Do.
Think long and hard what you want to do, and what you can do (those can be two different things!). You can start your one-person business based on the things you did in your previous job; start a business based on your interests, hobbies or passions; or start a business where you think there are good opportunities.
4. Learn as much as you can about the business
As a solo entrepreneur, you are the business, the only decision maker, and the only staff.How the business will go along — and whether it will succeed — will depend solely on your knowledge, instincts, and ideas.
5. Set clear directions for your business.
Freelancing is just like starting a business: you need to have a roadmap to help chart your course to success. Think of it as similar to the process of writing a business plan where you assess the needs in the marketplace, what you can offer, who are your target clients and how to reach them, and whether you have the resources to do it.
6. Excel in Wearing Many Hats
The worse part of being a solo entrepreneur is that you only have YOU to do everything. Many things that you’ve ignored as an employee while you focus on your own area of responsibilities will have to be learned and done, such as billing, collection, record keeping, tax paying, even marketing your services to other clients.
7. Hone your Marketing Skills
Don’t you wish that assignments and new contracts will conveniently fall on your lap without you lifting a single finger? Alas, that is mostly pipe dream. For majority of freelancers, you need to market yourself to potential clients. And marketing is never easy.
8. Get your home ready for your new business.
You need to get your home ready for your business. Find a dedicated corner or room in your house where you can focus and do your work. More importantly, you need to get your mindset ready that your home, for better or worse, is now your workplace.
9. Learn to Organize the Logistics of Managing and Running a Business
As a new business owner, a significant part of your success lies in how well you manage your day and your business. Dedicate a certain percentage of the day to administrative and marketing tasks, making sure that you track your time and bill your customers for it. Or hire professionals to help you manage these tasks.
10. Find a Supportive Network.
Make a list of people who may be able to help you — from your family and friends, potential advisers to fellow freelancers. Check if there are any freelancing or consulting networks or communities that you can join in so you can share ideas, even referral to clients.
Home Office is Humming
For the office-bound, working from home sounds like a dream come true. After all, there are no demanding bosses, office politics or snooze-inducing meetings in your living room. You can wear your sweat pants, give the old Prius a rest and even hit that midday yoga class.
Last year, 18.4 million Americans were living that fantasy. According to the market research firm Interactive Data Corp., that's the number of homebased businesses, up from 16.5 million in 2008. In that same time frame, the number of home-based franchises also crept up--from 97,403 to 98,905 units, according to Entrepreneur's annual Franchise 500® survey. And Justin Jaffe, senior analyst for Interactive Data, says his firm expects 350,000 more home-based businesses every year for the next few years.
Setting up a home office is relatively easy, even exciting. It's what comes next--getting down to the actual work--that trips people up. Because the great benefit to working from home--escaping anytime you want to--is also its greatest challenge. Going to and from an office bookends the workday; home-based professionals are always in danger of entering "the gray zone," says Maria Bailey, CEO of BlueSuitMom.com , a website that lends support to female executives--many of whom work from home--with children. The gray zone, Bailey says, is the kind of multitasking "where you aren't doing anything 100 percent. You're not present at work or home."
Click here to find out more!
It's also easy to let work bleed into every waking moment when your desk is 15 feet from your bedroom. "People who work from home tend to be on 24/7," says Peter Turla, a time-management consultant based in San Jose, Calif., who operates out of a home office. "It's hard to turn it off."
But for those who make it work, a home-based office can be an enormously productive place. Suzi Carragher, director of corporate communications for Home Franchise Concepts, the parent company of Budget Blinds and Closet Tailors, notes that there is less absenteeism and higher productivity among home workers. "And," she says, "it cuts down on the nonsense--the personalities ruffling people the wrong way, the office gossip. That doesn't exist in a home office."
Neither do rigid work hours--the thing that attracted Lori Sanders to open two Budget Blinds franchises, serving the towns of Keller and Denton in Texas.
"I wouldn't be able to do anything else and have the flexibility I have working from home," says Sanders, who has three children and an airline pilot husband. "It's a solution for a busy mom. If I'm in the middle of something and my daughter needs attention, I can stop and help her."
What's essential, experts agree, is to treat home-based work with the same deliberate planning and structure as you would a corporate job. Once the basics are in place, you very well may have the office of your dreams.
Step 1: Create a Schedule
"The key is to enforce structure," says Julie Morgenstern, a time-management and business productivity expert in New York City. "It's not like, 'Oh, I can work four hours a day.' That's a recipe for disaster."
Trish Delacruz, who runs a tutoring franchise, Club Z! Tutoring , in Plano, Texas, knows how important a routine is. "I have days when I'm good at it, and days when I've lost the structure," says Delacruz, whose job includes matching tutors with students, setting up schedules and visiting clients. To keep her days in check, she creates lists every morning and religiously keeps a calendar in Microsoft Outlook. "I try to keep times to do things--in particular if I'm trying to make calls. I schedule them in advance and stick with those times."
She's also strict about keeping household chores at bay during work hours. "If I'm going to run a business from home, I have to keep regular work hours."
But "regular" doesn't have to mean "traditional."
Sanders, the Budget Blinds franchisee, keeps regular business hours Monday through Thursday and saves Fridays for fieldwork. She spends mornings working at her desk--located in the dining room--then takes appointments in the afternoon outside the house.
Step 2: Have Daily Rituals
It's important to create rituals throughout your day--the at-home equivalents of time-stamps such as putting on a tie in the morning or grabbing coffee with your cubicle mate at 10. In other words, you need signals for when it's time to work.
Stephen Deusner, a freelance music journalist in New York City, starts his day by feeding his two pet rabbits, who then head over to a cushion near his desk to slumber the day away. "They're my muses, you could say," he notes, jokingly. "When they're sleeping, I know it's time to stop checking my e-mail and get busy."
Amanda Moore, a freelance interior designer on Long Island, N.Y., left a Manhattan office job to create eco-friendly nurseries. She writes in her personal journal before getting dressed, eating breakfast and closing the door to her home office.
"You need to demarcate your working hours," Morgenstern says. Showering and getting dressed for work are not optional, even if you're going to be spending the entire day alone.
Step 3: Stay in the Zone
In an office, distractions tend to come in the form of co-workers. But at home, it's everyday life--unwashed dishes, stay-at-home moms next door, that bathroom sink begging to be caulked--that can derail you.
These distractions need to be put on hold, Turla says.
"You've got to be firm with people who interrupt you," he says. "People may not take your work as seriously if you're working at home--they assume you're more available. But handle interruptions like you would in an office--hang a 'do not disturb' sign on your office door, and tell people when you will be available."
To help separate work time from home time, Turla also recommends a clever mind game: Walk around the block before you begin work, then enter your home as though you were arriving at an office.
"When you get there, you're in professional mode," he says.
Other "tricks" include burning the same scented candle for an hour every morning. Eventually, the brain will associate it with starting work. Taking a lunch hour at the same time every day and scheduling an exercise class for 4 or 5 p.m. will help you stay on track and finish tasks, too.
Step 4: Define Your Work Space
With laptops, it's tempting to roam all over the house, incessantly working--a practice Turla says undermines efficiency. "When every surface in your home becomes a filing cabinet, it's hard to feel like you're keeping it together," he says. "You have to keep pushing it back and containing it."
A separate room with a door that closes is ideal but not necessary--you just need a place where you won't be disturbed constantly, and where you can section off an enclave that is solely for work.
"Put your office in an area of inspiration if you can," says Bailey of BlueSuitMom.com. "I think sunlight helps. If you're down in the basement, you're putting yourself in a space that's isolated and alone. And running a home-based business can feel isolating enough."
Delacruz, the Club Z! franchisee, agrees. "I started off in a spare bedroom and moved my office to the front of the house, because I felt like I was in a dark hole." Bedrooms are also a bad idea because the flashing lights of a printer or PC don't make for a good night's sleep.
Linda Varone, an Arlington, Mass.-based consultant and author of the forthcoming The Smarter Home Office, says almost everyone shoves their desk up against a wall, but it's actually healthier to put the desk in the "command position"--facing the door and away from the wall.
"People reflexively do this," she says, "because we've been brought up in study carrels and work environments with walls in front of us. But they're unconsciously re-creating the office cubicle they just escaped."
Varone recommends an L-shaped desk to provide more work space and keeping the space neither cluttered nor sparse. "People who do focused, analytical work may need to tone down decoration," she says, "but never make it spare or bare. A bare office--one that has just the desk and equipment--is just as unproductive as a cluttered office. When there's not enough stimulation, people start getting restless and unfocused."
Hanging a photo of your dream house or dream vacation to "remind you what you're working so hard for" is good, too, Varone says.
Moore, the interior designer, has a whole "dream board" in her office. It's covered with quotes and images that represent various areas of her life and her aspirations for them.
"Looking at it helps keep me grounded," she says, "and keeping those motivations in mind pushes me through."
Last year, 18.4 million Americans were living that fantasy. According to the market research firm Interactive Data Corp., that's the number of homebased businesses, up from 16.5 million in 2008. In that same time frame, the number of home-based franchises also crept up--from 97,403 to 98,905 units, according to Entrepreneur's annual Franchise 500® survey. And Justin Jaffe, senior analyst for Interactive Data, says his firm expects 350,000 more home-based businesses every year for the next few years.
Setting up a home office is relatively easy, even exciting. It's what comes next--getting down to the actual work--that trips people up. Because the great benefit to working from home--escaping anytime you want to--is also its greatest challenge. Going to and from an office bookends the workday; home-based professionals are always in danger of entering "the gray zone," says Maria Bailey, CEO of BlueSuitMom.com , a website that lends support to female executives--many of whom work from home--with children. The gray zone, Bailey says, is the kind of multitasking "where you aren't doing anything 100 percent. You're not present at work or home."
Click here to find out more!
It's also easy to let work bleed into every waking moment when your desk is 15 feet from your bedroom. "People who work from home tend to be on 24/7," says Peter Turla, a time-management consultant based in San Jose, Calif., who operates out of a home office. "It's hard to turn it off."
But for those who make it work, a home-based office can be an enormously productive place. Suzi Carragher, director of corporate communications for Home Franchise Concepts, the parent company of Budget Blinds and Closet Tailors, notes that there is less absenteeism and higher productivity among home workers. "And," she says, "it cuts down on the nonsense--the personalities ruffling people the wrong way, the office gossip. That doesn't exist in a home office."
Neither do rigid work hours--the thing that attracted Lori Sanders to open two Budget Blinds franchises, serving the towns of Keller and Denton in Texas.
"I wouldn't be able to do anything else and have the flexibility I have working from home," says Sanders, who has three children and an airline pilot husband. "It's a solution for a busy mom. If I'm in the middle of something and my daughter needs attention, I can stop and help her."
What's essential, experts agree, is to treat home-based work with the same deliberate planning and structure as you would a corporate job. Once the basics are in place, you very well may have the office of your dreams.
Step 1: Create a Schedule
"The key is to enforce structure," says Julie Morgenstern, a time-management and business productivity expert in New York City. "It's not like, 'Oh, I can work four hours a day.' That's a recipe for disaster."
Trish Delacruz, who runs a tutoring franchise, Club Z! Tutoring , in Plano, Texas, knows how important a routine is. "I have days when I'm good at it, and days when I've lost the structure," says Delacruz, whose job includes matching tutors with students, setting up schedules and visiting clients. To keep her days in check, she creates lists every morning and religiously keeps a calendar in Microsoft Outlook. "I try to keep times to do things--in particular if I'm trying to make calls. I schedule them in advance and stick with those times."
She's also strict about keeping household chores at bay during work hours. "If I'm going to run a business from home, I have to keep regular work hours."
But "regular" doesn't have to mean "traditional."
Sanders, the Budget Blinds franchisee, keeps regular business hours Monday through Thursday and saves Fridays for fieldwork. She spends mornings working at her desk--located in the dining room--then takes appointments in the afternoon outside the house.
Step 2: Have Daily Rituals
It's important to create rituals throughout your day--the at-home equivalents of time-stamps such as putting on a tie in the morning or grabbing coffee with your cubicle mate at 10. In other words, you need signals for when it's time to work.
Stephen Deusner, a freelance music journalist in New York City, starts his day by feeding his two pet rabbits, who then head over to a cushion near his desk to slumber the day away. "They're my muses, you could say," he notes, jokingly. "When they're sleeping, I know it's time to stop checking my e-mail and get busy."
Amanda Moore, a freelance interior designer on Long Island, N.Y., left a Manhattan office job to create eco-friendly nurseries. She writes in her personal journal before getting dressed, eating breakfast and closing the door to her home office.
"You need to demarcate your working hours," Morgenstern says. Showering and getting dressed for work are not optional, even if you're going to be spending the entire day alone.
Step 3: Stay in the Zone
In an office, distractions tend to come in the form of co-workers. But at home, it's everyday life--unwashed dishes, stay-at-home moms next door, that bathroom sink begging to be caulked--that can derail you.
These distractions need to be put on hold, Turla says.
"You've got to be firm with people who interrupt you," he says. "People may not take your work as seriously if you're working at home--they assume you're more available. But handle interruptions like you would in an office--hang a 'do not disturb' sign on your office door, and tell people when you will be available."
To help separate work time from home time, Turla also recommends a clever mind game: Walk around the block before you begin work, then enter your home as though you were arriving at an office.
"When you get there, you're in professional mode," he says.
Other "tricks" include burning the same scented candle for an hour every morning. Eventually, the brain will associate it with starting work. Taking a lunch hour at the same time every day and scheduling an exercise class for 4 or 5 p.m. will help you stay on track and finish tasks, too.
Step 4: Define Your Work Space
With laptops, it's tempting to roam all over the house, incessantly working--a practice Turla says undermines efficiency. "When every surface in your home becomes a filing cabinet, it's hard to feel like you're keeping it together," he says. "You have to keep pushing it back and containing it."
A separate room with a door that closes is ideal but not necessary--you just need a place where you won't be disturbed constantly, and where you can section off an enclave that is solely for work.
"Put your office in an area of inspiration if you can," says Bailey of BlueSuitMom.com. "I think sunlight helps. If you're down in the basement, you're putting yourself in a space that's isolated and alone. And running a home-based business can feel isolating enough."
Delacruz, the Club Z! franchisee, agrees. "I started off in a spare bedroom and moved my office to the front of the house, because I felt like I was in a dark hole." Bedrooms are also a bad idea because the flashing lights of a printer or PC don't make for a good night's sleep.
Linda Varone, an Arlington, Mass.-based consultant and author of the forthcoming The Smarter Home Office, says almost everyone shoves their desk up against a wall, but it's actually healthier to put the desk in the "command position"--facing the door and away from the wall.
"People reflexively do this," she says, "because we've been brought up in study carrels and work environments with walls in front of us. But they're unconsciously re-creating the office cubicle they just escaped."
Varone recommends an L-shaped desk to provide more work space and keeping the space neither cluttered nor sparse. "People who do focused, analytical work may need to tone down decoration," she says, "but never make it spare or bare. A bare office--one that has just the desk and equipment--is just as unproductive as a cluttered office. When there's not enough stimulation, people start getting restless and unfocused."
Hanging a photo of your dream house or dream vacation to "remind you what you're working so hard for" is good, too, Varone says.
Moore, the interior designer, has a whole "dream board" in her office. It's covered with quotes and images that represent various areas of her life and her aspirations for them.
"Looking at it helps keep me grounded," she says, "and keeping those motivations in mind pushes me through."
Working From Home is Hard Work!!!
For many, a home office sounds like the ultimate work fantasy. Visions of working in pajamas, spending more time with family, scheduling your own time--what could be better?
Unfortunately, all those images are exactly that--fantasy.
When the line between home and work gets blurred, things can get a little complicated. There are several obstacles that make working from home more difficult than it seems at first, and it actually requires a lot of discipline to make sure you're staying at the top of your game when you're not in an office.
Fortunately, we have a few guidelines to help you do just that. We consulted a few experts and self-employed sources to find out how you can maximize your home office situation.
First: Should you work from home?
Working from home is most definitely not for everyone.
Some personality traits to be conscious of: Do you need the presence of others to hold you accountable? Do you already have trouble putting down your BlackBerry when the day is done? Do you thrive on professional interaction? Characteristics like these can mean that you're not a great candidate for working from home.
Most importantly, "you have to be self-motivated. Some folks just need someone to push them along or to be sure they stay on task," Jeff Erickson, a self-employed strategic marketing consultant advises. "That's hard to do on your own."
You know yourself best--do the hard self-evaluation before you commit to the idea of a home office.
Set it up right: You'll need a desk, a door, and business-quality materials.Setting up a professional-quality workspace is crucial.
"Have a real office with a real desk. Tucking it in the family room or kitchen just doesn't give you the separation and quiet you need to work. At the very least, put it in a room that you can shut the door," Erickson suggests. "Have the right equipment for your job--computer, monitor, printer, high-speed internet, etc. Make sure you have good lighting as well."
A separate room, in particular, "helps create a sense of separation, making it easier to 'go home' at the end of the day," says Kate Lister, co-author of Undress For Success--The Naked Truth About Making Money at Home.
And it's very important that you "get along with technology," Lister adds. You are your own IT person now--not having the latest business tools could put you at a disadvantage.
Of course, your home office should also be a space where you look forward to going and where you enjoy spending time. Need inspiration? Check out Lifehacker's series on cool home workspaces here.
Treat your home office like a "real" office.
One of the best ways to maximize working from home is to act like you're in a "real" office.
Erickson lays out a potential schedule: "Get up at a normal hour, have breakfast, get dressed, make your coffee and go to your home office. Stay off Facebook and other personal sites except for lunch. End the day like you would a normal work day and go off to do what you normally would have done after work--pick up the kids, go to the gym, happy hour, whatever."
The bottom line is to "create some structure for your day." It'll minimize distraction, force you to work efficiently, and allow for clear demarcation between work and play. Easier said than done, of course, but doing so should be a top priority.
Keep your work life separate from your personal life...
Getting distracted by your personal to-do list can be one of the biggest obstacles to effectively working from home. If it becomes a habit, your productivity will quickly go down the tubes.
One source advises to adopt the mindset that your office environment is miles away from your home. Whether that requires just closing your office door or more drastic measures, like turning off your personal phone, be sure you have some system for barring personal distractions while you are "at work."
And keep your personal life seperate from your work life.
At the same time, "one of the biggest problems cited by home-based workers is over-working [...] you'll continually have to wrestle with working too much. It's by far a bigger challenge than staying motivated," Lister comments.
The solution? "One guy we interviewed for the book resorted to getting in his car at the end of the day, driving around the block, and returning home to start his evening routine," says Lister.
Ken Sheridan, Managing Director and co-founder of Remote Employment, advises:"Set helpful rules: I don't talk about work when the laptop is switched off. I don't talk about work in this room (i.e. the main family room). No work chat between [these hours], etc. Set a forfeit if the rules are broken."
"And don't have 'creeping hours'," he adds.
A special note for those with children:
Building an effective home office can be especially difficult for people with children, but it is not impossible.
"Help the kids understand what it means to work from home. Draw the boundaries--as in be quiet when you're on the phone, knock on the office door, etc. The sooner you start, the more likely they'll eventually do it," Erickson suggests.
One source offers this creative solution: Place a sign on your office door that let's them know right away whether it's alright for them to come in, or if they shouldn't disturb you. For younger kids, use colors--green for "go" and red for "stop."
Setting boundaries and instilling certain habits from the start helps make the situation work.
Home offices can be lonely...
When you work out of your home, you don't have the opportunity to build the deep personal connections you can make when you work with the same people every day. Without that interaction, it's easy to feel isolated, one source notes.
That physical remoteness can also result in mental isolation, too--which can in turn stifle innovation and affect the quality of your work.
"Don't lose your external focus. Get out and stay in touch. Meet people. Seek advice. Get a process for acquiring and sounding out ideas," Sheridan says.
So make a concerted effort to not turn into a hermit.
Above all, don't isolate yourself further. "[Avoid] turning into a hermit. Because you're out of sight, you need to be particularly vigilant about staying in touch" with clients, partners, and other associates, says Lister.
Don't fall into the trap of doing everything remotely, either; when appropriate, encourage real interaction.
"I had a situation the other day where a local client (who also works at home) and I needed to have a quick one hour meeting. Easy to do over the phone," recalls Erickson. "His immediate suggestion was 'Let's do it over lunch!' After 40 years surrounded by people at work, he was missing the social interaction--and desperately needed to get out of the house."
Some other take-aways:Sheridan offers a few more points to consider:
"While I've been successfully working from home for over 20 years, my personality and skills aren't a perfect fit," she adds. But, "if you're motivated and willing to work, you're more than halfway there."
Unfortunately, all those images are exactly that--fantasy.
When the line between home and work gets blurred, things can get a little complicated. There are several obstacles that make working from home more difficult than it seems at first, and it actually requires a lot of discipline to make sure you're staying at the top of your game when you're not in an office.
Fortunately, we have a few guidelines to help you do just that. We consulted a few experts and self-employed sources to find out how you can maximize your home office situation.
First: Should you work from home?
Working from home is most definitely not for everyone.
Some personality traits to be conscious of: Do you need the presence of others to hold you accountable? Do you already have trouble putting down your BlackBerry when the day is done? Do you thrive on professional interaction? Characteristics like these can mean that you're not a great candidate for working from home.
Most importantly, "you have to be self-motivated. Some folks just need someone to push them along or to be sure they stay on task," Jeff Erickson, a self-employed strategic marketing consultant advises. "That's hard to do on your own."
You know yourself best--do the hard self-evaluation before you commit to the idea of a home office.
Set it up right: You'll need a desk, a door, and business-quality materials.Setting up a professional-quality workspace is crucial.
"Have a real office with a real desk. Tucking it in the family room or kitchen just doesn't give you the separation and quiet you need to work. At the very least, put it in a room that you can shut the door," Erickson suggests. "Have the right equipment for your job--computer, monitor, printer, high-speed internet, etc. Make sure you have good lighting as well."
A separate room, in particular, "helps create a sense of separation, making it easier to 'go home' at the end of the day," says Kate Lister, co-author of Undress For Success--The Naked Truth About Making Money at Home.
And it's very important that you "get along with technology," Lister adds. You are your own IT person now--not having the latest business tools could put you at a disadvantage.
Of course, your home office should also be a space where you look forward to going and where you enjoy spending time. Need inspiration? Check out Lifehacker's series on cool home workspaces here.
Treat your home office like a "real" office.
One of the best ways to maximize working from home is to act like you're in a "real" office.
Erickson lays out a potential schedule: "Get up at a normal hour, have breakfast, get dressed, make your coffee and go to your home office. Stay off Facebook and other personal sites except for lunch. End the day like you would a normal work day and go off to do what you normally would have done after work--pick up the kids, go to the gym, happy hour, whatever."
The bottom line is to "create some structure for your day." It'll minimize distraction, force you to work efficiently, and allow for clear demarcation between work and play. Easier said than done, of course, but doing so should be a top priority.
Keep your work life separate from your personal life...
Getting distracted by your personal to-do list can be one of the biggest obstacles to effectively working from home. If it becomes a habit, your productivity will quickly go down the tubes.
One source advises to adopt the mindset that your office environment is miles away from your home. Whether that requires just closing your office door or more drastic measures, like turning off your personal phone, be sure you have some system for barring personal distractions while you are "at work."
And keep your personal life seperate from your work life.
At the same time, "one of the biggest problems cited by home-based workers is over-working [...] you'll continually have to wrestle with working too much. It's by far a bigger challenge than staying motivated," Lister comments.
The solution? "One guy we interviewed for the book resorted to getting in his car at the end of the day, driving around the block, and returning home to start his evening routine," says Lister.
Ken Sheridan, Managing Director and co-founder of Remote Employment, advises:"Set helpful rules: I don't talk about work when the laptop is switched off. I don't talk about work in this room (i.e. the main family room). No work chat between [these hours], etc. Set a forfeit if the rules are broken."
"And don't have 'creeping hours'," he adds.
A special note for those with children:
Building an effective home office can be especially difficult for people with children, but it is not impossible.
"Help the kids understand what it means to work from home. Draw the boundaries--as in be quiet when you're on the phone, knock on the office door, etc. The sooner you start, the more likely they'll eventually do it," Erickson suggests.
One source offers this creative solution: Place a sign on your office door that let's them know right away whether it's alright for them to come in, or if they shouldn't disturb you. For younger kids, use colors--green for "go" and red for "stop."
Setting boundaries and instilling certain habits from the start helps make the situation work.
Home offices can be lonely...
When you work out of your home, you don't have the opportunity to build the deep personal connections you can make when you work with the same people every day. Without that interaction, it's easy to feel isolated, one source notes.
That physical remoteness can also result in mental isolation, too--which can in turn stifle innovation and affect the quality of your work.
"Don't lose your external focus. Get out and stay in touch. Meet people. Seek advice. Get a process for acquiring and sounding out ideas," Sheridan says.
So make a concerted effort to not turn into a hermit.
Above all, don't isolate yourself further. "[Avoid] turning into a hermit. Because you're out of sight, you need to be particularly vigilant about staying in touch" with clients, partners, and other associates, says Lister.
Don't fall into the trap of doing everything remotely, either; when appropriate, encourage real interaction.
"I had a situation the other day where a local client (who also works at home) and I needed to have a quick one hour meeting. Easy to do over the phone," recalls Erickson. "His immediate suggestion was 'Let's do it over lunch!' After 40 years surrounded by people at work, he was missing the social interaction--and desperately needed to get out of the house."
Some other take-aways:Sheridan offers a few more points to consider:
- Don't under-price because you are home-based.
- Stay productive and be able to prove it. Never charge by the hour: charge for output/results--it's a big plus versus office workers.
- Know when to upgrade [your] business infrastructure; don't stay small and miss the bigger opportunity.
- Keep your other interests. Stay driven, but don't get boring.
"While I've been successfully working from home for over 20 years, my personality and skills aren't a perfect fit," she adds. But, "if you're motivated and willing to work, you're more than halfway there."
Home Based Business
The move from a fully-equipped office--with copiers, doughnuts and an IT specialist--to a home-based office can be tricky. What elements are essential and what can you outsource so you can effectively start, run and manage your business?
The same daily operations need to be taken care of and your computer will still crash, but there are people and programs out there to help. Here are some of the best ways to make "working for yourself" work for you.
Invoicing, time tracking, estimates, and information storage
Without an accounting and bookkeeping department, someone needs to handle your paperwork. If you're good with numbers, you can take it into your own hands, but what happens when you need to crank out that report for your new client before the end of the day?
A CPA can help record and track your time as well as process your invoices, and many of them take on individual clients. One site, outsourcing.org , provides a list of offshore firms looking for clients on a daily basis. And if you're weary of offshore firms and want to keep your business information private, web-based programs such as freshbooks.com offer invoicing, time tracking and client information storage as well as many other options that will only be accessible by you.
To store your documents digitally so your living room doesn't fill up with papers and filing cabinets, programs like DocumentMall and Digitech ImageSilo offer digital storage options for as low as $50 a month, depending on your specific needs. There are many digital copiers that can act as scanners to turn your paper documents into digital files.
Merchant services and billing options
Even though you are operating from home, you'll need to still accept credit cards. If you have an e-commerce website, you can set up direct payment with a merchant services provider and bring it all online. Additionally, if you are offering some sort of consulting service like public relations consulting or business plan writing, many companies pay by credit card instead of invoices, so it's a good idea to have this as an option.
Web design, online marketing, and IT outsourcing
You may want to invest in online marketing options to promote your business. Without the benefit of a brick-and-mortar location for customers, a website can be the best way to offer your services and get your name out to your target market.
Even if you're not a web-savvy tech guru, starting a website can still be relatively easy. Web-hosting services like Go Daddy offer templates for you to plug in company logos, information, blogs, etc. If you want an e-commerce site so customers can purchase products, or if you want additional features like flash, you might want to hire a designer. Shopping carts can be tricky and also costly if not implemented correctly because of fraud issues and security problems. A reputable web designer should be able to work around your budget, especially in today's economy.
Search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertisements and e-mail marketing options are all methods of online marketing. Planning out how you want to market your website can save you money in the long run, since SEO and PPC campaigns require your website to be designed in a certain way from the start.
With all this technology, you should invest in outsourcing an IT programmer to help with any computer problems and customer service issues you may have. IT outsourcing is considerably less expensive than staffing someone and is known to have saved businesses thousands of dollars.
Order Fulfillment
If you are retail-based, product storage can be impossible unless you have garage space to spare. The best way around this is to outsource your fulfillment services. Most fulfillment companies can work with your product suppliers to ship from their warehouse location directly to your customers.
The contract that you sign with a fulfillment company lists the details--storage, shipping, customer returns, order receipts and inbound customer calls--all for a management fee of a few hundred dollars a month. Remember that your business volume will dictate how much you spend because more business will lead directly to more work for them.
Internet, VoIP services and video conferencing
Working from a home-based business will require a consistent way to keep in touch with your suppliers, fulfillment companies, clients and business partners. A standard telephone connection is a great traditional option, but long-distance and international charges can add up quickly.
With a steady internet connection, a VoIP service provides video conferencing, digital voice mail, hold music and more features that any home-business owner needs. Voice over Internet Protocol is a technology that is internet-based, so you'll have an unlimited connection and lower long-distance charges than a standard phone system. If you get a VoIP service, ask about the "Follow Me" feature where a single number can ring to multiple phones.
Shopping wisely and running your living room
Home offices can range from extra bedrooms with entire computer systems to living room couches that are close enough to the wall outlet so you can plug in your laptop. You may find that some of the benefits of having an office are harder to replace than others.
Shopping around, researching your options and talking to your providers can save you money--and help build your company from the ground up.
A home-based business is no longer just a way to stay in your sweats all day--in fact, there are many options dedicated specifically to work-at-home companies that offer resources, vendors and advice. Hiremymom.com and virtualassistantforums.com are both great websites for entrepreneurs that offer good advice as well as success stories for the newly self-employed.
The same daily operations need to be taken care of and your computer will still crash, but there are people and programs out there to help. Here are some of the best ways to make "working for yourself" work for you.
Invoicing, time tracking, estimates, and information storage
Without an accounting and bookkeeping department, someone needs to handle your paperwork. If you're good with numbers, you can take it into your own hands, but what happens when you need to crank out that report for your new client before the end of the day?
A CPA can help record and track your time as well as process your invoices, and many of them take on individual clients. One site, outsourcing.org , provides a list of offshore firms looking for clients on a daily basis. And if you're weary of offshore firms and want to keep your business information private, web-based programs such as freshbooks.com offer invoicing, time tracking and client information storage as well as many other options that will only be accessible by you.
To store your documents digitally so your living room doesn't fill up with papers and filing cabinets, programs like DocumentMall and Digitech ImageSilo offer digital storage options for as low as $50 a month, depending on your specific needs. There are many digital copiers that can act as scanners to turn your paper documents into digital files.
Merchant services and billing options
Even though you are operating from home, you'll need to still accept credit cards. If you have an e-commerce website, you can set up direct payment with a merchant services provider and bring it all online. Additionally, if you are offering some sort of consulting service like public relations consulting or business plan writing, many companies pay by credit card instead of invoices, so it's a good idea to have this as an option.
Web design, online marketing, and IT outsourcing
You may want to invest in online marketing options to promote your business. Without the benefit of a brick-and-mortar location for customers, a website can be the best way to offer your services and get your name out to your target market.
Even if you're not a web-savvy tech guru, starting a website can still be relatively easy. Web-hosting services like Go Daddy offer templates for you to plug in company logos, information, blogs, etc. If you want an e-commerce site so customers can purchase products, or if you want additional features like flash, you might want to hire a designer. Shopping carts can be tricky and also costly if not implemented correctly because of fraud issues and security problems. A reputable web designer should be able to work around your budget, especially in today's economy.
Search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertisements and e-mail marketing options are all methods of online marketing. Planning out how you want to market your website can save you money in the long run, since SEO and PPC campaigns require your website to be designed in a certain way from the start.
With all this technology, you should invest in outsourcing an IT programmer to help with any computer problems and customer service issues you may have. IT outsourcing is considerably less expensive than staffing someone and is known to have saved businesses thousands of dollars.
Order Fulfillment
If you are retail-based, product storage can be impossible unless you have garage space to spare. The best way around this is to outsource your fulfillment services. Most fulfillment companies can work with your product suppliers to ship from their warehouse location directly to your customers.
The contract that you sign with a fulfillment company lists the details--storage, shipping, customer returns, order receipts and inbound customer calls--all for a management fee of a few hundred dollars a month. Remember that your business volume will dictate how much you spend because more business will lead directly to more work for them.
Internet, VoIP services and video conferencing
Working from a home-based business will require a consistent way to keep in touch with your suppliers, fulfillment companies, clients and business partners. A standard telephone connection is a great traditional option, but long-distance and international charges can add up quickly.
With a steady internet connection, a VoIP service provides video conferencing, digital voice mail, hold music and more features that any home-business owner needs. Voice over Internet Protocol is a technology that is internet-based, so you'll have an unlimited connection and lower long-distance charges than a standard phone system. If you get a VoIP service, ask about the "Follow Me" feature where a single number can ring to multiple phones.
Shopping wisely and running your living room
Home offices can range from extra bedrooms with entire computer systems to living room couches that are close enough to the wall outlet so you can plug in your laptop. You may find that some of the benefits of having an office are harder to replace than others.
Shopping around, researching your options and talking to your providers can save you money--and help build your company from the ground up.
A home-based business is no longer just a way to stay in your sweats all day--in fact, there are many options dedicated specifically to work-at-home companies that offer resources, vendors and advice. Hiremymom.com and virtualassistantforums.com are both great websites for entrepreneurs that offer good advice as well as success stories for the newly self-employed.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Online Work At Home
Welcome to our site...
If you need a work then this is right place. You can earn money from home. No need to go here and there. You can choose your perfect job from here. No need any invest.
Just find your suitable job and start bidding, that’s all. You will get only information from here but you have to choose the work. You can communicate with buyer directly.
So chose your work from following list and start work.
New online work: 27/02/2011
New online work: 27/02/2011
Title: Screen Scraping Application
Budget: $30-$250 USD
Description:
I have a screen scraping project I need implemented. PHP is preferable, however, Python will also work.
Detailed instructions are here. Some of the calls are to non-static pages, so authentication will be an issue. However, once authenticated, most of the rest can be done through basic form submission. The one issue will be handeling the pop up window. That is why I am farming it out. See below.
More Details: Screen Scraping Application
Title: Import XML into Joomla-Estate Agent Improved
Budget: $41-$344 USD
Description
We have a real estate CRM that exports property info on 3 languages into an XML file. What we want is a script that will be called from the CRM with add - edit - delete actions and will add the property (all 3 languages) into estate agent improved, edit some of its info if changed, or delete it from the estate agent improved extension
I can cooperate with all info you need to make this as easier as it can get for both parts.
The Languages are
Greek English German
More Details: Import XML into Joomla-Estate Agent Improved
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