Archive for June, 2007
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007
Some would consider working from home as a dream job. After all, you can work when you want, take off when you want, work as much or little as you want, stay home with the kids, never get dressed if you don’t want to, and the money you make is yours rather than in the pocket of the boss.Before quitting your job however, there are some decisions to be made and many things to take into consideration about working from home.
While there are many good points about working from the comfort of your own home, there are also some not so good points. Staying at home with the family is great, but it’s not so great when interruptions are constant. It’s great not having a time clock to punch, until you find yourself constantly working and not stopping. Not having to pay for lunches while on the job is great, until you find that you are always at home working and seldom get out of the house anymore. You also are responsible for keeping your own financial records. It’s important to be sure to set a block of time aside for working, so that you don’t find yourself working all the time and leaving out time for anything else.
Deciding just what it is that you will do from home is the next step. There are many opportunities available, both online and offline. The best place to start in deciding what you will do is to think about what you know, what you like to do, and what you have available already at home that can get you off the ground without taking money out of your pocket.
If you are leaving a job to work at home, you might consider doing something that pertains to the job or type of job you are leaving. For example, if you do tax preparation, you might want to do this type of work at home and advertise your services. If you repair computers, you could take your computer repairing skills and work from home. A medical transcriptionist working from home is a popular choice if you have previously worked in this field.
As many people as there are who leave a job to begin to work at home using their previous job skills, there are as many people who have no job training. If you are someone who has stayed at home raising the kids being a stay at home mom, you actually have skills that are fantastic for working at home and making money. Think of the things you do taking care of the home, crafts you might make, sewing that you have done, etc. Some ideas for working at home if you haven’t worked in the public sector are sewing, gifts in a jar, gift baskets, candle making, jewelry making, soap making, baking and catering, cake decorating, writing, organizing, flower arranging, painting, pet grooming, etc.
Once you have decided what type of work at home business you will do, you will need to get word out about your service or product. The fastest way to do this is through family and friends. You can advertise in a local paper, and if you have products to sell, you can make a website and even have a free online store offering your goods, plus eBay is still an option for making sales.Going online is almost a necessity for success in today’s world.
When choosing what you will be doing for your business, it’s important to remember to not try to do everything that you can do or you will soon be overwhelmed. Pick one business idea and start with that. Expand on it as you go, and if you find you can handle more business, that’s great. But be careful not to take on too much and find yourself stressed out and not being able to handle everything. Remember that working at home is just you and possibly family members helping at times. The idea is to make money and enjoy what you do. When it’s not enjoyable anymore, it’s become too much.
You will also want to do a little research on the type of business you are wanting to do from your home. For example, if you are going to run a daycare at home, you would want to find out how many other daycares are in your local area. If you decide to run a flower arranging and delivery service from your home, you would want to see how many there are near you. Too much competition will likely mean you won’t have much business.
Some other things to take into consideration
Do you need to put money out to make money, and if so how much. You don’t want to start spending money on a business before you are making money. There are no guarantees you will make it back or make a profit, and you might end up owing money back that you don’t have or haven’t made. Keep the spending to start out as low as possible, under $100 if possible.
Do you have the support from family and friends to do this? Do they understand this is your job, the way you make money, and are they willing to respect your working hours and not call you up to just chat or just show up unannounced? Are you prepared to handle the difference in income, the way you are paid, the length of time you might wait to be paid?
It’s important to be realistic about how much time and effort you can put into your business and working. If you have a family, you must not let the business overtake your obligations and a spouse and parent. Be sure to set a time that you will work, plan visits and outings in advance, and know your limitations. While working at home is wonderful, it can quickly become stressful if you don’t keep up a routine and schedule. Always be sure that you like what you are doing!
Posted in Articles, Work at Home Jobs, Home Business Tips | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007
I have to admit it, I like free things. Of all the freebies out there, however, free meals have got to be the best. I have found a wonderful way to get free or near free meals, and the best part is I can take the whole family!
Mystery shopping is a concept that actually has been around for some time, and is also known as secret shopping. While mystery shopping involves much more than fast food or dining, these are my favorite shops.
A mystery shopper has been compared to an undercover agent, because they are not to let it be known they are shopping for pay. The mystery shopper must remain anonymous for the shop to be successful.
A mystery shopper gets an assignment to do a particular shop. They perform the shop, fill out a form, and wait for the check to come in. The shopper usually gets to keep whatever, if anything, was purchased, and gets paid a fee for the shop plus reimbursed up to a pre-agreed amount for the shop.
There are many types of businesses that a mystery shopper might visit. These include fast food, fine dining, banks, department stores, grocery stores, movie theaters, appliance stores, hardware stores, florists, travel agencies, hotels, and more. All the shops work basically the same. You receive the assignment, go to it, follow the instructions for that particular shop, fill out the form, and wait for payment and/or reimbursement.
The purpose of mystery shopping is to evaluate businesses and their employees, and to see how the establishment looks. You might be asked if the salesperson smiled, if they were helpful and courteous, if the floors and restrooms are clean, if the parking area was clean, etc. You will have to get the name or names of those that waited on you and that you came into contact with. Sometimes this is not easy if the employees are not wearing name tags.
The part I like about mystery shopping is that I can take my family. However, you are only paid for, and reimbursed for, the pre-agreed amount, not the entire family. Mystery shopping is great for stay-at-home moms for this reason. There are various times that the shops can be done also, depending on the particulars of the shop you are doing.
Mystery shopping is an excellent way to earn some extra income, although you will not get rich from this. You will, however, get a fee for the shop, and most of the time get to keep whatever you shopped for.
One company that I shopped for on a regular basis was a great deal for our family. Our family of four would go to this restaurant, and we would order what was called for on the form sent to us via mail.This would usually cost us up front about $35. After we were back home, I would fill out the form, mail it off, and at the end of the following month would get a check for $24. So it costs us about $10 for the whole family to go eat out, and we would be so full, we would end up taking half of the food home with us!
This is my idea of a cheap and frugal meal! The company paid up to $20 for the shop, and $4 for the shopping fee. Even though we had to wait a month usually to get reimbursed, we eventually had a near free meal!
There are many mystery shopping companies that can be found over the internet. You should not ever have to pay for information to find out about mystery shopping. Having an eye for detail, keeping the fact that you are a mystery shopper secret, are two of the main things needed to be successful as a shopper.
Posted in Articles, Mystery Shopping, Work at Home Jobs | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007
One of the easiest and more entertaining ways to make money working online is to take paid surveys. Companies pay for your opinions on their products, from what you have used to products you might purchase.
Getting paid for your opinion is as simple as signing up with paid survey companies and taking surveys. Most paid survey companies will send you an email with a link to go to the survey. Once you complete the survey, you are paid, usually by check or PayPal. Some surveys are paid through points that you can redeem for merchandise or awards, although this is not as common.
The one main problem in looking for businesses who pay to take online surveys is that there are businesses who are scamming people into sending them money. While there is nothing wrong with paying to join a survey membership site or purchasing information such as a book or ebook showing you who pays you to take surveys, you should never pay to actually take a survey. Legitimate survey companies pay you, you don’t pay them.
You can sign up with as many survey companies as you want to. The more you are signed with, the more chances you have of getting a survey which means more money in your pocket. Most surveys take 10-30 minutes to complete.
There are a lot of reputable companies who will pay you for what you think. One of the most popular ones is PineCone Research. They pay a flat $5 per survey that you take…not bad at all for something that might take you ten minutes to complete. The downside is that you cannot sign up with them on their website.
You have to find a banner somewhere online that they have placed on another website and sign up from there. But the banner is always moving. And they give no hint as to where on the vast World Wide Web this banner could be at any given time which leads one to wonder who anyone ever signs up with them. In the past, it’s been reported that banners have been spotted on sites pertaining to freebies, bargains, shopping codes, and the like.
One of the most important things about taking online surveys is that most of these companies require that you not talk about the surveys to others. Some of the surveys offered are for new products that are not on the market yet, so telling others about these products could be a grounds for being removed from a survey panel. Be sure to read the confidentiality clause, if there is one.
Most of all, being paid to complete surveys, giving your opinion, is a fun way to make extra money and let companies know what you think of their products. Most of all, it’s profitable!
Posted in Articles, Paid Surveys, Working the Web | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007
You can make money working online from home. There are a lot of ways to earn money working online using your computer. Some will charge you for the information to learn how to do this. It’s up to you whether you pay for information that someone took the time to research and get together or if you search it out yourself. Some people consider it unethical to pay for information. But one has to wonder if they would work for free and not expect pay for what they do.
Just as a bookstore will charge you for the book you purchase from a bookstore (they don’t just give away the books with the information in them), likewise a company or individual will likely charge for information they compile. As the internet has grown by leaps and bounds, there is an abundance of information to be found on just about any topic you can think of. It’s mind boggling! Here’s where you come in, and how you can make money using the web and your personal PC.
First and foremost, you will need an email address, preferably one with a professional ring to it. You can find free email addresses with AOL.com and Google’s Gmail, although with Gmail you still need an invite. Those are fairly easy to get though if you know someone with Gmail who will send you an invite for the free email account. Yahoo.com and MSN’s Hotmail.com also offer free email services.
A website to do business online is almost a must have necessity today. While you can do okay without a site, the potential to earn is dramatically increased if you have a website that you can send customers to. GoDaddy.com is one of the best places to register domain names. GoDaddy.com also offers web hosting for your site at a great price. Another good web host company is HostNexus.com. Once your domain is up and running, and your site is build, you can apply to affiliate programs and post their advertisements on your site.
Affiliates are people who promote the products or ads for other people, and get paid a percentage or flat amount per click, per lead, or per sale. Affiliate ads are the online web equivalent of magazine or newspaper advertising. Instead of being in a magazine or newspaper, the ads are on your site and you are getting paid.
Affiliate marketing programs can bring in a lot of money per month for you. Some of the more popular affiliate marketing companies are CJ.com, DirectLeads.com, ClickBank.com, ValueClickMedia.com, ROIRocket.com, FineClicks.com, and FabJobs.com. You should never pay to join an affiliate program! They pay you!
One of the best ways to earn money online is by writing and selling ebooks. Topics for the ebooks can be on anything that you have knowledge about or can research and write on. These can range from recipe ebooks to parenting and childcare, to repairing your home and gardening. The choices you can write about are as endless as what you know and the amount of time you are willing to invest in researching a topic. You can either upload the ebooks to your site for instant download upon purchase or email orders as an attachment.
Another way to make money using the web is to sell products that you either make or buy wholesale. Buying wholesale and reselling gives you a nice profit on popular items such as computers, dvd players, digital cameras, ipods, mp3 players, etc.
Designer items are very popular and can bring in a spectacular amount of money per item. If you make crafts or sew, make jewelry, do woodwork or painting, chances are you can fetch a nice price on something that cost you very little to make or produce. People are always looking for something that not everyone else has. Fads are great and sell, but one of a kind items are rare and more profitable for you.
The best shopping cart is with PayPal.com because it’s not only free, it’s super easy to use. You simply use their site to make a payment button or link to put on your site, and you have instant payment for products.
These are only a a few money making tips and ideas. Using all or a combination of these ideas, or coming up with more of your own, can lead to a nice paycheck that doesn’t take a lot of of effort or your time.
Posted in Articles, Freelance Writing, Paid Surveys, Work at Home Jobs, Working the Web, Affiliate Marketing | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007
Having a newsletter is a must for anyone doing business online. A newsletter is the main lifeline to the customer. It’s through the newsletter that businesses can let customers know about sales and discounts or updates to their website.
Online marketing has grown by leaps and bounds. Opt-in marketing can greatly increase repeat visitors to your site, and drastically increase sales of your services or products. The wonderful thing about an opt-in mailing list is that the subscriber is wanting to receive emails from you, meaning they are interested in hearing from you on a regular basis.
One of the goals for your website should be to gain subscribers to your newsletter. It’s important that your newsletter be an opt-in newsletter, and that you don’t just add people or email addresses to your mailing list on your own. The opt-in feature is to ensure that the person wants your emails so that you are not spamming them. Opt-in means that the subscriber has to sign up for our newsletter and then confirm that subscription via the email they signed up with. This prevents anyone from just adding them or subscribing them without their permission or knowledge.
Put a sign up form on every page of your website. Most of your visitors will come from to your site from a search engine, and they could land on any page. Give them the option of signing up for your newsletter no matter what page they land on.
Focus on a niche for your newsletter. Instead of trying to do a little of everything out there, focus on one main niche area of interest. For example, if your interest is teddy bears, your website and newsletter could focus on teddy bear clothing or designer made teddy bears. Instead of trying to do all things regarding teddy bears, focus in on a small niche.
Keep fresh content on your site and as you update the site, relay the news to your subscribers. Keeping interesting and fresh content will help keep from losing subscribers. Give subscribers something new to look forward to.
Pick a day that your newsletter goes out and keep on that schedule. Your readers will know when to expect to hear from you. Don’t send something out every day, because most likely readers will grow tired of an everyday mailing. Once a week is the best option, although some choose to send out only on a monthly basis.
When you are getting material ready for your newsletter, be honest in product descriptions, etc. Don’t give your readers a lot of hype about something that you know doesn’t work as well as you are saying it does. Don’t say you have tried something that you’ve in fact never tried or used. Be honest with your subscribers. They will appreciate the honesty and see that you can be trusted. Trust is important in business. Gain the trust of the readers and don’t lose it.
On occasion, ask subscribers their thoughts on what you can do to improve your newsletter. Ask them what they want to see more of or less of. Remember that the customer is the lifeline to you making a profit. For example, even though you might love the layout of your newsletter, your readers might find it less than appealing. Go with what works best for your mailing list. The subscribers are the ones reading it, so you want to please them overall.
Even in the internet age, word of mouth is still the biggest and best advertising. Word of mouth can still make or break a business, and word of mouth can bring in new subscribers. Keeping a friendly appearance and attending to the needs of your subscribers on your mailing list can cause a domino affect. People will take about your business, your website will get more hits, and your subscriber base will grow.
Never sell your mailing list. Never give away your mailing list, or share it. When a subscriber joins your opt-in mailing list, they are not joining for your to sell or share their personal and private information or email address. They are joining to receive updates and newsletters from you, and you alone. This comes back to the trust issue. Your subscribers trust that you will not sell them out.
Offer a potential subscriber a sample newsletter on your website. Be sure to keep the sample newsletter up to date so that the reader can see just what they will be getting when they opt-in to your newsletter. It’s also a good idea to keep back issues of newsletters archived on your site. This gives readers and visitors the opportunity to look at older issues they might have missed.
Avoid sending out newsletters that are too heavy in advertising. While the goal of a newsletter is often to make a profit, no subscriber wants to get newsletters that contain nothing but a constant barrage of ads wanting them to buy something on a continual basis.
Your good reputation and the trust of your readers will build your mailing list size and increase your subscriber base.
Posted in Articles, Self Promotion, Publicity, Working the Web, Advertising | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007
Scrapbooking as we know it today is a fairly new term. But scrapbooking has really been around for years. Girls have saved dance tickets and photos in albums, parents have saved photos of babies and toddlers growing up, and spouses save those special notes and photos of dates and weddings.
Scrapbooking has become big business and one of the most popular hobbies. Instead of just a regular plain photo album, scrapbooks are embellished with colorful pages and all sorts of wonderful extras. The huge popularity of scrapbooking makes a great home business for the would be entrepreneur.
The appeal of making scrapbooks is not only that they hold precious photos of loved ones and special memories, but the endless possibilities in designing the scrapbook. There are so many ways to create a scrapbook that almost anything goes. The immense popularity of the scrapbook hobby offers a great work at home business opportunity.
Starting a scrapbooking business doesn’t have to cost a lot of money to get started. That’s one of the nice advantages to this particular home business. It doesn’t require a lot of money to get it going.
There are many different directions that be be taken to have a scrapbooking home business. One might consider doing everything pertaining to scrapbooks, or choose a niche area and focus on just one thing. Some ideas are teaching others how to make scrapbooks by having classes, direct sales of scrapbook materials, designing your own line of scrapbook embellishments and pages, organizing scrapbooking events in your area, etc.
Whichever particular direction you choose to take in starting a scrapbook business, there are several things that should be done to get your new business rolling. You must advertise to let people know that you are in business. Taking out ads in your local paper is an inexpensive way to advertise. Ask family and friends to tell people they know about your new business. Business cards, a website, press releases, and word of mouth are just a few ways to advertise. You will also want to decide what or how much materials you need and set a budget.
If you decide to do direct sales of scrapbooking items, you have many options open in how to go about selling. You can host home parties, sell at craft shows, have a website, and post on auction sites like eBay.
Should you decide to make and market your own line of papers and materials, the above suggestions work plus you might contact craft shops about selling your items.
Posted in Articles, Work at Home Jobs, Home Business Tips, Telecommuting | No Comments »
