Archive for July, 2005

Work At Home: Stay Focused

Friday, July 29th, 2005

One of the biggest problems I had when I started to work at home was staying on track. It became difficult for me to focus entirely on my online business directory. It wasn′t even as if I was playing video games or watching television. I was finding other opportunities online and was interested in pursuing them as well.

Before I knew it, I was working on six different endeavors. I was working hard with my business, but I was devoting much of my time to working on these other &ampquot;projects&ampquot;. The problem became I wasn’t devoting all of my time to my original business. If you have started a business before, I am sure you understand the need for every hour in the day and probably an extra two or three. Your business can take up your entire day.

I have no problem with working on other projects. As a matter of fact, many entrepreneurs will tell you that always working and moving on to different projects is a quality of many successful leaders. I agree completely. You just have to make sure you are putting your energy and efforts towards your main project so you can get it off and running first to become successful. You don’t want to have seven or eight things going on and never have any success with any of them. Once you get comfortable with your main endeavor, feel free to start focusing on other ideas as well.

What I started to do was set some goals for myself to stay more focused. I told myself I could work for two hours and I could take the next fifteen minutes working on something else. Once that fifteen minutes was up, I would start working on my main business again. I found this to be very effective and helped me maintain better focus.

If you find yourself losing focus when you really need it the most, don’t worry. Remember, this is normal when you work at home. Simply get back on track, write down what you need and want to accomplish with your main project. Then, you have to stick to it! Reward yourself for staying focused by taking some time working on different stuff. You’ll regain your focus in no time!

Jeffrey Moore, former principal, turned entrepreneur now runs several successful online business including AllAboutSouthfield.com AllAboutSouthfield.com
To gain instant access to all of his amazing strategies, insights, and resources, visit: workathome-bluejfm.blogspot.com workathome-bluejfm.blogspot.com

When Do I Promote My Business To My List?

Friday, July 29th, 2005

It’s Friday and one on the biggest benefits to owning your
own business is setting your own schedule. I’ll be cutting
out early here to go see a movie with my lady friend, but
before I do that I have a great question to get answered for
you.

This question comes from Joe LoBalsamo and it’s a great one!

“If someone is just starting to build their list, what would
be a good time frame to approach people on your list with a
Network Marketing Opportunity? And how would you approach
them?”

-JB

Great question Joe!

DS:

The first question is easy - immediately!

As soon as you know why it is that you are growing and
building a list you need to get to using it for that
purpose.

So if the purpose of your marketing list is to recruit and
enroll new prospects into your network marketing
organization get to it!

The second part of your question is a perfect follow up.

Now your list is not a “list” it’s people that eat, sleep,
pay bills, and breath just like you. Never forget that. Many
marketers make the mistake of thinking of their list as
being a “thing” and not what it really is.

It’s people, and for you to use your list effectively you
have to deliver something to the people on the other side of
your emails that they look forward to receiving. That’s NOT
what most marketers do. Most marketers only send to their
list when they have something to sell to that “list”.

Well, the REAL people on the other end quickly tire of being
used as an ATM for the owner of the list and will lose
interest and or unsubscribe when all they get hit up with is
buy buy buy.

“How do you approach them?”

Just like you would with any friend that you were helping
getting started.

You’d share advice, tips, and experiences that would help
them above and beyond just joining your business.

And you’d do it an friendly tone. You’d joke, you’d have
fun, and you’d share who you are and what you’re doing, how
you’ve failed, and how you’ve succeeded.

And you wouldn’t just force them into your business, you’d
know that if it was right for them they would join and most
definitely once they start seeing you succeed some of those
that are more reserved would start to believe because first
they believe in you and second they see you as a doer, not a
talker and as such - someone to go to first to work with.

They will join, but on their time not yours.

You can force the point, but I don’t suggest it on a daily
basis.

So here’s what I used to do . . .

When I wrote to the people on my mailing list I would speak
to each person on the other end of the email just like I’m
talking you now Joe.

At the end of that email in a Signature file I had a line of
test that read:

The business that changed my life:
==> Link to business

Not forcing the point, but it’s there for the curious and
the initiated to move closer to you.

And they will.

That’s what I suggest.

Again great question Joe!

Daegan Smith is an Expert easymlmprofits.com Internet Network Marketer. “Learn
How To Make $10,717 In Less Than a Week While Quickly And
Easily EXPLODING Your Network Marketing Organization Without
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==> easymlmprofits.com internetmlmsuccess.com
==> internetmlmexpert.com Internet MLM Expert

Starting a Auto Detailing Business Using a Pressure Washer

Thursday, July 28th, 2005

When starting an auto detailing business using a pressure washer you will need a few pointers. If you do not own a pressure washer we recommend an Ex-Cell Pressure Washer you will one of our more power models: XR2700 and the XR3000. They are available at the Home Depot.

These are our Commercial Series Ex-Cell Pressure Washers and are up for the job. You will need many items for your new business. It is important to present a good image and have strong and reliable equipment. You can load all your equipment and supplies in a pick-up truck or purchase a small trailer to put it in to go to the customers. You will need the following Equipment items:

A 110 Gallon Loaf Tank;
Supply Box made of aluminum diamond plate or Tough Durable Plastic
3000 Watt Generator;
Air Compressor Commercial Model with 50 feet extra hose;
Buffer Power Tool with (3) foam pads;
Bucket, sponges, 4 squirt bottles;
Terry Cloth towels (2 dozen), 2 chamois, Hand towels (1 dozen);
Wax pads, Small Brushes, Vacuum Attachments;
2 extra sections of Ex-Cell Pressure Hoses;
2 (50) foot sections of garden Hose and 1 (6) foot section found in the RV section EXA-80 Pump Saver for long life of the water pump
EXA-150 Quick Connect Turret Attachment;
EXA-290 Extension Wand for larger vehicles, motorhomes and trucks;
EXA-270 Water Sweep to clean off driveways after detailing EXA-130 High Pressure Solution Cleaning Wand;
EXA-260 Multi-Purpose Brush

You will also need a scheduling book, we recommend the Day Planner, At-A-Glance Calendar Book or Day Runner. You will also need the following:

Cell Phone with carrying case;
Business Cards with Company Name;
Flyers with prices and lists of services;
Collared Shirts with logo or matching your truck, cards and flyers;
Magnetic Sign Stating the Business Name which matches the above.

You may also wish to visit a few industry websites such as;

www.DetailGuys.com

www.MobileWorks.com

You will need training videos or work for a friend who details cars.
You will want to do an excellent job so that you will feel comfortable in asking for referrals. Please always use a checklist to insure a quality job.

“Lance Winslow” - Online WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/ Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance in the Online Think Tank and solve the problems of the World; WorldThinkTank.net www.WorldThinkTank.net/

Best Home Based Business for Cooks

Thursday, July 28th, 2005

You don’t need to be a chef to find a career in cooking. A best home based business for cooks is a personal chef business. If you want to cook on a larger scale, another best home based business for cooks is catering. Using your love of cooking and a little creativity can help you develop a best home based business doing what you love.

Think about it. One of the reasons why catering is considered a best home based business is that it is a $5 billion dollar a year industry and continues to have an annual growth rate of 5 percent. People are always having parties and events that need catering, and if you learn some basic business principles, you can run the best home based business while making great food and putting smiles on faces.

Still, not everyone likes to cook for big groups. If your idea of the best home based business is to cook small meals for just a couple of people, you may want to consider becoming a personal chef. You do not need to be an actual chef to run this type of business. What makes this a best home based business is that it is one of the fastest-growing industries in the U.S.

Whether you choose for your best home based business to be in catering or in being a personal chef, you still need to do some preparation. You will want to develop your food preparation skills so that you are showing people you have a best home based business. You can gain experience in the food industry through stints in restaurants, clubs, caterers, or even volunteer work. You do not need to have years of experience to run a best home based business in cooking, but you can gain some valuable advice.

You will also need to determine what type of services you want to offer when designing your best home based business. Know what type of cooking you want to do and if you want to be a personal chef on a regularly scheduled basis. You will also need to determine a name and gain some financing for your best home based business. Also, don’t forget important items like insurance and kitchen equipment, and making sure you are in compliance with municipal standards. In order to have the best home based business for cooking, you will also need to make sure you are within the law

Read the rest of the article here: home-based-business-world.com/articles/best-home-based-business-for-cooks.htm Best Home Based Business for Cooks.

Download the Free home-based-business-world.com/QuickStartWorkBook.pdf Work at Home Manual (Free $97 Value!) and receive valuable tips, strategies and techniques designed to grow a very successful Home Based Business.

Copyright © Charles Fuchs is an established online marketer who specializes in helping people start their very own Home Based Business. He specializes in showing people the best way to start a home-based-business-world.com/ Home Based Business.

I grant permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way.

Roadmap to Online Success - One Hour a Day, Five Days a Week

Thursday, July 28th, 2005

All great journeys begin with a single step. If you stand on the sideline and mutter to yourself about the distance, then you will never start your journey, let alone complete it.

As youngsters, we did not worry about time or distance. We only knew that we wanted to go, and we could not understand our parents′ insistence that something was too far away. Now, as adults, we sometimes let our adult sensibilities stand in the way of what we want.

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever thought to yourself that you would like to start your own online business and cash in on the success that others are experiencing on the Internet? If so, what is stopping you?

Many people tell me that they do not have the time to start or run an online business.

Other people tell me that they do not have the resources to start and run an online business.

Some people tell me that they do not have the requisite knowledge.

Does any of this sound familiar to you?

STOP! THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE SAYING.

How much television do you watch each week?

How much money do you squander on fountain soft drinks or snacks?

Have you ever watched an educational television program or asked a friend about something you wanted to learn about?

My point is this…

The sociologists tell us that the average American watches 15 hours of television each week. If you could bring yourself to give up one program each day — you decide which ones — then you would have all of the time that you require to start and operate a successful online business.

If you buy your soft drinks in two-liter bottles, you will pay as much or less for your soft drink habit as you currently spend on one 32-ounce fountain drink. The money you save on frivolous spending could more than pay for your web hosting and a bit of advertising.

It you have taken 15 minutes out of your day in the last year to learn something new, then you have the skills necessary to learn what you need to learn, to be successful in an online business. It doesn’t take much time or effort to learn what you need to learn, if you can find yourself a good mentor to help you get up to speed about this medium.

I have a full-time job, and yet, I have managed to successfully start two online businesses.

IT IS ALL ABOUT COMMITMENT

Commit yourself to one hour a day, $20-$30 per month, and one hour’s worth of education in a workweek. If you can meet these bare minimum requirements, then you too can find the success you desire and crave.

The definition of success varies from person-to-person.

Maybe success for you would be to earn an extra $100 per month, so that you can take the family to an extra movie a month or give your wife a “mom’s night off”, where she does not have to cook at all one day a month.

Maybe success for you would be to find an extra $250 per month so that you can afford to take those classes at the local University Extension, so that you can get that big promotion and big raise at your job.

Maybe success for you would be the extra $500 per month so that you can afford to pay for a new used car for you and your family.

Perhaps, your idea of success is much bigger. Maybe you want to earn enough from an online business so that you can quit your job. Maybe you hope to earn enough that you could leave that 60-hour a week job and have more time to spend with your family. That is definitely a goal worth aiming to achieve. Your kids will only grow up once.

HERE IS THE ROADMAP TO GET YOU STARTED

1. You do not have to have your own product or service to make money online. You can sell other people’s products and services, and you can earn a commission on those transactions. There are two types of programs available that can help you to sell other people’s products and services. They are called Network Marketing/MLM programs and Affiliate Programs. The Network Marketing/MLM variety tends to offer a more comprehensive system for making money.

2. Find a program that offers a variety of products and services so that you can extend your own product and service offerings and reach out to a wider marketplace.

3. Find a program that offers more tutorials and resources to help you to become successful.

4. Find a program that offers mentoring through their systems. Network Marketing/MLM type companies rely on the mentor structure to grow their businesses. With Affiliate Programs, you are often on your own. Mentor’s are individuals who are in the same business as you are, who are willing to guide you and help you to become successful in the business.

5. Commit yourself to one hour per day, five days per week, for learning about the business, and growing your online business.

6. Don’t give up on your business. Don’t give up on yourself. This should actually be the first item on my list. The Network Marketing model will not fail, if you put your mind and energy to following through with your plan. If anyone was to tell you that Network Marketing/MLM is a dead-end road, don’t listen to him or her. People who fail in Network Marketing/MLM are those who fail to make a commitment and fail to follow-through.

7. Don′t rely on the free website that the Network Marketing/MLM company provides to you. You can use this website to sell the companies products and services, but you do need to display it inside of your OWN domain. These days, you can register your domain for a year for much less than $20 per year, and you can get a good web hosting account for less than $30 per month. Your mentor can teach you how to set up your domain to host your web interface from your chosen Network Marketing/MLM program.

8. Try a couple of the products you sell through your Network Marketing/MLM program. In most cases, this is not a requirement, but it is a strong recommendation. Once you have used the product or service, you will understand much more about it, which will help you to tell other people about it and why they would want to purchase it.

If you use the resources that the company makes available to you, and you commit yourself to your $20-$30 per month and one hour a day, five days a week, you will soon find yourself basking in the success that you have desired for so long.

Don’t be afraid to contact your upline mentors. If you need help, ask for it. Your upline mentors are more successful, when you are more successful. It is in their best interest to help you find the success you so richly deserve.

Craig Ritsema - part-time-work-at-home-opportunities.com/ part-time-work-at-home-opportunities.com/
What if you could start your own part-time business today?
What if you could get started: with no technical know-how,
without jeopardizing your current job, and without any of the
headaches of a traditional business. What if I could give you
simple-to-follow, easy-to-understand instructions on how to start
and grow your business? What if you could get started for free
and without commitment? Would you make a commitment to “yourself”
to spend 5 hours a week learning the ropes, with my help? Visit
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Paid Surveys Etc Review - Best Survey Company FACT!

Thursday, July 28th, 2005

Today we will be reviewing, Paid Sureveys Etc. Paid Surveys Etc are a company that offer you a huge range of surveys to fill out, and focus groups to attend in your spare time to earn some extra cash from home. Let us start by saying there is a lot of skepticism about whether these companies actually live up to their word or not and this puts a lot of people off buying into these opportunities. From experience a lot of them don’t so much lie on their sales pages, but certainly hype their product up to be a lot more than it actually is. Let’s see how this package compares!

So how does it work?

Well, you sign up with the Company (Paid Surveys Etc) in our case, and in your profile area you will fill in some basic information about yourself including your hobbies and interests so the company can get to know a little bit about what kind of person you are. When an appropriate survey or focus group needs to be completed you will receive an email telling you that you are invited to participate. In the email they also offer the reward you will be receiving for taking part.

We are now going to tell you some information that they don’t. As we said earlier there is a lot of skepticism over these kind of companies living up to their reputation. What we will say is that this company is by far the best survey company we have come across yet but just like the rest they do claim you can make a lot more money than in reality.

There certainly is a flood of surveys to keep you busy all day if thats what you would like to do but we found that the average survey rewards (that were sent to us anyway) were between $5 - $15. Not the $20-$45 that they claim. Each survey on average takes about 10 minutes to do.

Realistically if you give an hour of your time a day to complete 5 surveys with a reward being at $7 lets say, you will be expecting just over $1000 a month. So this is by no means a business opportunity that can earn you a life changing income but if you have the time and patience to do a few surveys a day, $1000 sounds pretty good! This really is the perfect chance for all you mums that stay at home to earn some extra money.

As far as a recommendation goes, if you don’t want to bother learning all about internet marketing and you haven’t got the time or patience to learn a package such as the Average Joe Income Package to bring in the money online. Then Paid Surveys Etc. is the perfect way to earn some extra money at home straight away, hassle free. We hope that this Paid Survey Etc. Review has been of some help to you.

To learn more about Paid Surveys Etc. visit only-honest-reviews.com/paidsurveysetc.review.html only-honest-reviews.com/paidsurveysetc.review.html

Part of the team over at only-honest-reviews.com/” only-honest-reviews.com/ only-honest-reviews.com/
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The Importance Of An Autoresponder With The Start Of A Home Business Campaign

Wednesday, July 27th, 2005

Making money online is not always an easy task, but it can be made much easier with access to hundreds of potential customer’s emails. That is where an autoresponder comes into action for your home business campaign. Having a home business autoresponder gives you a much better chance for long-term success as you capture names and email addresses of visitors.

No matter what type of home business campaign you intend to start up, building an extensive opt-in list of subscribers should be a major priority. The great thing with an autoresponder is that you can continuously add names and email addresses, allowing you to over time build up hundreds of potential customers.

If you have a website, it is essential that you access and use an autoresponder constantly. You can use the list for a number of reasons to help promote various subjects. If you don’t have a website, having an autoresponder can still be beneficial to your needs. If you are promoting and selling a product online, you can still send your autoresponder address without directing people to a website address.

Building an opt-in list is of great importance for you for a number of reasons. This is a great way for you to promote your website or a specific product without doing it in an aggressive manner. One way to build up an email list is to give away something of value for free. You then tell the potential customer that in order to receive the free gift, they can locate it at your autoresponder.

Getting people to sign up for your autoresponder should be a simple task. All the information that is needed is generally a name and email address. If your free gift has any importance at all, it should be rather simple to build up a list. The kinds of free gifts you give out should be associated in some way to your home business campaign.

The most popular sources of free gifts include a free eBook related to your home business or subscriptions to a free newsletter. As long as you get the required information and permission to send the free gift to them, you now have another name and email address to add to your home business autoresponder.

From your home business autoresponder, you can then send out vast emails to the potential customers on an array of topics. You can offer more free information, updates and advancements to your website, and new products or discounts on products that you sell.

If you are running a home business campaign, it is truly a necessity to have an autoresponder if you wish to run a successful campaign. It is an easy way to reach hundreds of potential customers to help increase your sales, all through a home business autoresponder.

Vincent Murphy is the Webmaster/Owner of

3 Tactics to Get Rid of Downline Attrition

Wednesday, July 27th, 2005

Downline attrition is a terrible problem. Natural in some instances, but avoidable in many. By employing certain strategies and techniques you can make sure your organization is build upon solid principles and a strong foundation.

Here are 3 excellent ways to avoid downline attrition.

1. Make sure each new member of the group gets involved in the business with the right understanding, and proper expectations of what it takes to succeed in network marketing.

This is very important. If a new recruit thinks they will be rich over night, then that doesn’t happen they are likely going to quit. By firmly stating that network marketing is an income vehicle that requires a MINIMUM of 3-5 years invested into it before it begins to pay off largely…you will have most people aware that big money doesn’t come overnight.

On top of that, be sure to include what work needs to go into network marketing and how much work that is actually going to take. If a new recruit doesn’t understand how much work is involved, once they start working hard they will say, “man, this wasn’t what it is supposed to be like!”, and they will quit.

A recruit that doesn’t understand these foundational principles of network marketing is often times going to be more trouble then they are worth. The people who do understand the time commitment involved, and the work ethic required, are the people you want to build a lasting business with.

2. Make sure to get new volume in a new recruit’s group as soon as possible. It has been proven that if a person even has minimum success within the first 30 days, they are far more likely to stick with it. You might want to stack a new distributor, stack new customers, or both to solidify a leg in your organization.

Stacking often times will lead to more stability and will motivate the people above to work even harder. Even more so, it’s important to have depth in your organization rather then a wide flimsy organization with no real pillars to hold it up.

3. Develop a marketing co-op strategy, or lead generation system for your team. One of the most successful things I have employed to have true loyalty in my organization is a lead generation marketing system. When your recruits always have fresh new leads coming in…they always have hope.

They always know success is around the corner and they can truly achieve it. It’s only when people have no prospects, and no hope of building their business that they give up. By developing this marketing system you can ensure your team will grow, and be sticking around for a long time.

To learn more secret online strategies to build a massive network marketing organization visit: OnlineMLMSecrets.com OnlineMLMSecrets.com

How Meditation Can Help You Improve Your Home Business

Wednesday, July 27th, 2005

Rest and Relaxation – Meditation

Have you figured out how to plan your workday to get the most benefit from it for your business and family? Have you factored in playtime and service to your community?

Are you having a little trouble, though, with the concept of rest and renewal for yourself? Do you wish that there was something you could do for yourself which would take about twenty minutes, can be done anywhere you are, requires virtually no cost or physical effort and actually ENERGIZES you instead of drawing energy? Well, not only IS there such a thing – it is something that has been tried and found true and effective by untold millions of people from before recorded history. Yes, I’m talking about meditation – and it is NOT just for Buddhist monks anymore!

Did I say twenty minutes? That is the amount of time that appears to be of the most benefit for the average person who is not in a monastery. The famous spiritual leader Deepak Chopra himself recommends this amount of time as being a good one for most people. But, of course, you can spend as much or as little time as you want at this soul renewing, physically relaxing and energizing activity. Take a little time to find out what works best for you.

Let me begin by saying that I am an advocate of the plain old kitchen timer for meditating. If you tell people what you are doing, you will probably run into someone who thinks this is too crass or jarring. Some people like to say that they meditate without paying attention to time – indicating that a Higher Power, or Inner Voice, tells them when to start and stop. My experience is that these are people who do more talking about meditating than actual meditating. In monasteries, even those in which monks meditate for hours at a time, it is done with beginning and ending times. Granted, a pleasant bell or chime is a nicer sound than a mechanical timer, but most of us don’t have anyone willing to act as our chimer. Some people have found that putting the timer in the next room where they can hear it but it is not so loud makes it more pleasant. I have even heard of someone going so far as to record the sound of a bell followed by twenty minutes of recorded silence and then the sound of another bell. Not a bad idea!

The point is that to get the benefits of meditation it needs – like anything else – to be done regularly and not just when the “spirit” moves. Think of it as training the mind and spirit, just like building up muscle. Twenty minutes a day lifting weights will give you stronger biceps – picking up the weights only when you feel like it just won’t!

There are many forms of meditation. The common idea in almost all of them is to put one thing into the mind and focus on THAT as a way of blocking out other things. It is good to find a quiet place for meditation, but in today’s world it is often impossible to find complete silence. You will find that after practicing for a while you can come to an inner core of concentration in which the sounds around you become peripheral. You can hear them, as it were, at a distance - while your mind dwells on the focus of your meditation.

The common Zen practice of counting breaths is a good way to start for many people. Zen practitioners will count “One” on the in breath, “Two” on the out breath, up to the count of ten and then start over. If you prefer you can come up with a “mantra” for yourself – a phrase to repeat over and over as you meditate. Anything that feels safe and comfortable for you – the actual meaning doesn’t matter as much as the focus. If you are a visual person you may want to picture a peaceful scene. A more “audio” person may want to try the following: Identify for yourself an area of silence that is inside your head – some people locate it right around their ears. When you can “hear” that silence, actively listen to it for as long as you can and keep coming back to it when your thoughts run away with you. After practicing this for a while you will find that other sounds around you seem to be “outside” of this interior silence.

A word about the business of “thoughts running away.” Don’t become discouraged when extraneous thoughts intrude on your concentration. That is natural. Just keep returning to your focus. After a while it will become more and more natural to return sooner and the thoughts will not last as long. Some practitioners say that having the thoughts is not a problem – just try not to “run after them” or elaborate on them. Just keep gently returning to the meditation, as if you were training a puppy by putting him back on the paper over and over again. Above all, be gentle with yourself. It is counter-productive to make meditating another hurdle for yourself. Chances are you have set up enough of those as it is.

Some people feel the benefits of regular meditation immediately in the form of a calmness and renewed energy. Other benefits may take longer and may not be so obviously related to your new activity. People who have meditated for years reflect that they are more creative, more centered and less anxious and irritable than they were before – even though on the outside their lives have become more hectic. On reflection they realize that the one thing they have done differently is that they gave themselves the gift of regular meditation and it has made all the difference.

The home business entrepreneur needs to keep that well of creative energy flowing. Meditation may be the way for you, as it has been for so many others.

Some other information which will help you relax. Gardening is excellent for centering ones self
mittleidermethodgarden.blogspot.com/ mittleidermethodgarden.blogspot.com/

The Joy of Candle Making

Wednesday, July 27th, 2005

Almost everyone enjoys candles and they’re a very popular gift idea. According to the National Candle Association, seven out of ten households use candles, so there’s an obvious demand for them which then increases the likelihood of your business succeeding. Even if you don′t end up selling them, it’s a fun creative hobby.

There are so many different types, sizes, scents and colors for candles that you are bound to find one that someone will like. The most popular sellers are containers, votives and pillars, although grubby and edible looking ones are gaining in popularity.

If you want to eventually sell your candles, it’s important to do your research and learn how to price them so that you will make a profit. Other considerations are proper safety procedures and temperature control. Wax has a flash point and will basically explode when over heated. Different waxes have various flash points, so find out what yours is.

Most need to be kept under 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Colors are normally left to add at the end of the melt and scents not usually until just before pouring. Packaging makes a tremendous difference and it’s amazing what a little decal or ribbon can do for sales when displayed attractively on a shelf or in a box.

Equipment you will need to start:

Double boiler (A Dutch oven with a coffee pot for a pourer will do as a homemade double boiler to start with)Wicks - Make sure they′re the proper size for your needs. Most are labeled and smaller candles normally take smaller wicks. Most wicks are made out of paper or cotton or a combination of the two. Lead is now banned for obvious reasons.Wax - Decide whether you’re going to use paraffin, soy, beeswax or even bayberry and then narrow it down further into either a softer wax for containers or harder for pillars. Many candle suppliers have their wax premixed, but if not you will need to know the amounts of what additives to add if any.Candle or candy thermometer- very important for temperature control.Molds or containers, depending on the shapes, sizes or styles required.Scale so that you can weigh your wax before melting and know how much dye or scent to add.Mold release spray or cooking spray to enable the candle to come out smoothlyMechanical tape or mold sealerPopsicle sticks and/or bamboo sticks for balancing and centering wicksVisual color mixing ideas if neededScents, if using- (buy only scents made for candles following the instructions on amounts to use per pound and don’t skimp on this one)Dyes, if using - (special dyes made for candles, either in liquid or solid form)Newspaper or paper towels to soak up the messFire extinguisher - just in case If you do get into the business, you will get a better deal buying larger amounts. Besides, you can save on UPS charges if you buy 200 pounds or more because they have a price break once you get to that weight, which they should!

Candle making is an excellent way to release your creativity, so create your one of a kind masterpiece and have fun!

©Copyright 2007, Sandra Williams, candle making blog editor for candlemaking.craftgossip.com/ Craft Gossip