Home based Business

I’m sure you’ve seen moonbounces at various parties &amp events. Perhaps you’ve even rented one. But have you ever thought about the financial windfall that can come with owning a couple of the units?

Moonbounces rent for anywhere from $85.00/day on the west coast to $250.00 & up in other parts of the country. Here in Indianapolis, we rent ours for around $225.00 for four to six hours. So…if you charge $150.00 for your rental, you can make an extra $300.00 per week in income.

Of course, there are some expenses that come with the rental. You’ll need a truck or a small trailer. A good dolly, extension cords, business cards, insurance and other small business items. Most people who start up a rental company do the deliveries and bookings themselves. That’s the joy of it. You work when you want to….not when you’re told to. On the other hand…the downside is that if you want the income you might as well accept that it’s going to be there on the weekend and that’s when you’ll be working.

The most expensive part of inflatables is the insurance. Insurance tends to get cheaper as you insure more units but the start up can be a bit tough. The average moonbounce costs around $1500.00 with the insurance running another $750.00. So…you can start up with one bounce for around $2500.00. At a rental rate of $150.00 you’ll have your expenses and covered in less than twenty rentals. Of course…if you charge what we do, you’re unit & costs will be paid for in about ten to twelve rentals.

Moonbounces aren’t the only thing you can rent. We started five years ago with two moonbounces and now have over fifty interactive games. Jousts, Giant Slides, Obstacle courses, video games, casino equipment and fun foods. So, as you can see the business will grow as large as you want it to. About the only way to fail is to purchase the equipment and leave it in your garage. Inflatable moonbounces and other inflatables are their own best advertisement.

To get going on your new business you just need to follow these simple steps.

1) Talk to your state and local boards to find out what is necessary to open your own inflatable rental business. Some states have restrictions on what you can do.

2) Start talking to suppliers. Search the web for “moonbounce” or “interactive games”

3) Ask the suppliers to give you insurance info. Do NOT make a purchase until you’ve secured insurance.

4) Once you have insurance locked up, place your order.

5) While you’re waiting for your equipment, get some fliers made up, business cards and a dedicated phone number. Tell EVERYONE about your new business.

6) Although you’re starting to advertise, it’s not recommended to book your units before they arrive. That’s just asking for trouble.

7) As soon as your equipment arrives, inspect it for damage before the delivery truck leaves. Make sure it’s all there (most units are sold with a blower).

Blow up your equipment and get familiar with it. Sit it in your yard or a friends yard and let the kids play. The more it’s seen the more people will want it.

Pretty simple, isn’t it? Of course I just touched on the steps but it’s not much more complicated than that. If you join the Party Rental Industry you’ll be sharing fun with everyone. And that’s a great way to make an income.

Cheryl Pierce is the President of PartyZone Entertainment and has spent the last fifteen years helping companies start up and expand their Party Rental Companies. She and her husband also own and operate their own party rental company in the Indianapolis area. If you would like her in depth FREE booklet on starting a rental company you can get it by visiting partyzone-sales.com partyzone-sales.com If you’d like more information you can email her: mailto:cheryl@partyzone-entertainment cheryl@partyzone-entertainment or call their sales department 317-838-9406

As Work at Home Moms, we talk about our “Why” as a positive thing. Our “Why” is our purpose, our reason, our muse. We refer to our ‘Why’ when we need inspiration or motivation to reach outside our comfort zone, to try a little harder, to keep going even when it’s hard. Our ‘Why’ helps us to succeed.

Today I was asking “Why work from home” in a slightly different tone. Today, I am home with a sick puppy and am up to my eyeballs in puppy puke.

I’m new to this puppy thing. I was warned up and down about how much work a puppy is, and I thought “I have two children. How hard can a puppy possibly be?!” Well, one difference is that newborn babies aren’t born with fangs — at least mine weren’t. So, in between changing the gauze patches on my shredded arms (those teeth are sharp!), and hours of puppy school, I fell in love with this furry beast. He was added to my list of “Why’s″.

So, today, while I was composing my work at home mom newsletter, in the background I hear my furr-ball start to vomit — again. The thought that ran through my mind initially was not a happy “Why”. It was more like:

* “WHY in the world am I home to deal with this while my husband gets to sit in a quiet office all day?”

* “WHY isn′t HE dealing with cleaning up the 8th pile of yucky stuff?”

* “WHY don′t I get any peace and quiet while I work?!”

After I cleaned up the puppy, rubbed his head and got him clean blankets, threw in another load of laundry, and climbed into bed with my sick 7 year old and my 3 year old to read stories, I had time to collect my thoughts. A little bit (ok, a LOT) of puppy puke was sure worth it.

And, later, when I made my phone call to my husband to tell him about our day, it wasn’t the puppy-puke I was telling him about….

I told him how our daughter said that she wanted to plant some jelly beans to grow a jelly bean tree. And, how the kids were playing the game of Life and I overheard their rules. They decided that the person who got the most parents into the car won. That’s why I stay at home.

And, if a furry little tail starts wagging when I walk into the room? Well, that’s sure an added bonus.

So, the next time your warm and loving “Why” turns into a plea for help, take a deep breath and think of all the memories you would be missing — both good and not-so-good, if you weren′t a work at home mom.

Nicole Dean is the mostly-sane Mom behind ShowMomTheMoney.com ShowMomTheMoney.com Are you a Work at Home Mom looking for help in your online business? Take the ShowMomtheMoney 101 Tutorial free at ww.showmomthemoney.com/free-tutorial.htm ww.showmomthemoney.com/free-tutorial.htm

Inflated prices for household essentials won’t sabotage your family budget if you learn how to hedge rising costs.

When a transportation company anticipates rising fuel costs, do you think executives just sit back and brace for the hit as operating costs explode? No, of course not. They use simple techniques to offset the extra expense.

Yet most American families do nothing to protect themselves, even when newspaper headlines scream at them about rising gas prices and/or grocery prices? Can it be so hard to learn how to hedge household expenses?

It’s not hard, but it can be expensive. The fact is even transportation corporations — or big business of any kind — must risk something to get something, such as reduced fuel bills.

Here’s how it works. Fuel costs rise. A transportation company, such as American Airlines, can’t afford to pay more for fuel and provide competitive ticket prices. If fuel prices go up they’ll have to charge more air fare to cover the extra expense. That’s bad news to the consumer and could hurt business.

So the corporation trades in the fuel market. This is called hedging. As the price of crude oil, which is refined to make gasoline and heating oil, begins to rise the corporation tells its trading division to get involved by trading in the futures, or commodities market. The corporation already has an existing account which allows them easy access. As prices rise their goal is to profit from the move, thereby offsetting the higher fuel bills they’re bound to pay.

Let’s review what our fictional company just did. They recognized that they can’t control the price of fuel. But they can trade it. If their traders are skilled, they’ll make money. This money – otherwise known as profit – is then used to pay for rising costs.

Could American families do the same? Sure. Are there risks? You bet. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates all futures markets, has made this simple disclosure the law: there is risk of loss when trading futures. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.

Has this disclosure sufficiently frightened you away from trading futures? In a sense, it’s meant to: The CFTC doesn’t want inexperienced people to suffer losses they can’t afford. And they know there are many brokers or sales people out there who make financial promises they can’t keep with phrases like “guaranteed,” or “it’s a sure thing.” These types of phrases are illegal, according to the CFTC.

But everything has risks. Driving, sky-diving, snow-skiing, and even the beloved stock market all present risks that training can help overcome.

Although corporations trade millions of dollars in commodities, families can easily begin with a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, if they know what they’re doing.

And whereas the fuel market can be tricky and wicked, with prices swings up and down, other markets such as corn, wheat and sugar are not quite as volatile and don’t require as much money to trade.

Another excellent market is the 30 Year U.S. Treasury bond. Many newcomers may think this market is complicated. But, in fact, much can be learned about our economy by watching this one market. And since in general it moves the opposite of interest rates, this is an excellent market to use to hedge another major cost – your mortgage.

The Chicago Board of Trade website provides free information about trading markets, such as bonds, the Dow Jones Index, and grains. Go to their website and click education>publications to peruse what they have to offer. Begin with the excellent book, “Trading Futures - An Introduction.”

Take your time when learning. You’ll save money by going slowly. Don’t believe hypes about “hot markets that can’t lose.” Nonsense. People lose money even in the most obvious bull markets because they don’t know how to trade.

Start looking for bargains, just as you do at the grocery store. Corn and wheat, which obviously are used in many food products you buy every week, were near historic lows in the summer of 2006. And despite their recent rise, some experts expect grain prices to continue climbing in the next few years. The same goes for sugar. The sweet stuff rose significantly in 2006, but could go much higher. Also, keep in mind, sugar and corn are considered major contenders for most popular alternative fuel as rising crude oil costs push gas prices higher.

You can also learn to trade the meat and currency markets. Have you noticed the value of the U.S. Dollar is dropping? Well, guess what, when the American buck goes down other currencies, such as the Euro and Swiss Franc or Canadian Dollar, actually rise. And the amazing thing about the futures currency market is that people like you can learn to make money two ways: when markets go up, and when they go down.

Many companies offer home-study course that claim you can “get rich quick” by spending lots of money on their software or advisories. Buyer beware. To get rich trading futures and options takes practice. And let’s face it, you don’t have to get rich quickly to benefit from hedging your household costs. If you could make an extra $400 per month, wouldn’t that help lighten the financial load?

The moral of the story: You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on fancy software to learn how to trade. Common sense makes clear that you must learn before you earn. And a lot of great info is available for free on the internet.

Despite the challenges of learning to trade, if you can make money to offset rising household expenses, isn’t that worth the time it takes to study? I know my answer. What’s yours?

Copyright 2006

Douglas Glenn Clark is the author After The Noise and T-Bonding with the Trend, and the founder of the wealth blog

AfterTheNoise.blogspot.com AfterTheNoise.blogspot.com Clark teaches simple methods for creating wealth. Visit

AfterTheNoise.com AfterTheNoise.com for free e-books.

Are you an online marketer? Or do you simply promote affiliate programs? Marketing is truly the most misunderstood word in use today on the Internet. Let me see if I can clarify this issue just a bit.

In Marketing 101 at your local university, marketing is actually the process of Product, Place, Price and Promotion.

PRODUCT

No business can exist without a product or service to sell.

In a nutshell, entrepreneurs are the people who believe in a product, service or idea, so much that they are willing to invest their lives into the development of their dream.

Historically, every major corporation in the world was started by an entrepreneur with a dream and the drive to make it a reality.

However, there comes a time in the life of every corporation when those who fear the gambling nature of their founder, squash the entrepreneurial drive that made the company a viable concern in the first place. The entrepreneur will either submit to the careful nature of the stockholders, or he will be forced to leave the company he created.

The only entrepreneurs who withstand the pressure to move more carefully are those who have maintained majority control over their companies.

PLACE

In the offline world, place is defined by location. On the Internet, place is defined by domain name and the web hosting service chosen.

Both online and offline, place can make or break a company without respect to the quality and value of the product, service or idea.

PRICE

Selecting a price is determined first on a basis of whether the company wants to be seen as a discount or a value company.

Take for example Wal-Mart and Staples.

Wal-Mart is the lead discounter in the marketplace. Staples on the other hand is the specialist in office supplies.

Both sell a significant number of office supplies despite the fact that the lowest price can usually be found at Wal-Mart. As a value dealer, Staples can afford to charge more for their products than Wal-Mart.

So the question for you is whether you want to position your company as a discount or value company.

Testing has shown that products and services can be sold at any number of prices and still reach a significant number of people.

The challenge of selecting the best price for your product or service will require a certain amount of testing.

UNDERSTANDING THE PRICING EQUATION

Let’s assume we are selling a product. Let us also assume that we know that the product can be sold for $10 or $50. Let us also assume that if the price dips below $10 or rises above $50, then the product sales fall off significantly.

Our challenge is to determine the best rate at which to sell our product.

Testing has shown us that we can sell 1000 items a week at $10. Testing has also shown that we can sell 500 items per week at $50. And testing has shown that we can sell 650 items per week at $45.

At $10, our projected weekly earnings are $10,000. When we sell the product at $50, we know that we can earn $25,000 per week. Most importantly, we know that we can earn $29,250 when our product is priced at $45.

With the imaginary testing we have done on our imaginary product, we can easily see that selling our product at $45 per item will earn us more money over the long haul.

Thus, when we make the decision for a national rollout of our product, then we will price our product at $45.

Of course, this is a very simplistic analysis of the point I am trying to make. Though simple, I believe this analogy will help you understand the methods of developing a product’s prices.

PROMOTION

Promotion, on the other hand, is the process of notifying the consumers for your product or service of your availability to serve them.

Methods of promotion vary distinctly and should be arranged to meet very specific goals.

As with product, place and price, promotion should not be left to chance. You should test every ad, every media, and every price point to determine the best bang for your promotional dollars.

HEADS UP!

If you are an online promoter or marketer, please factor in the most important element concerning the cost of your promotions.

What element is that? Your time!

Value your time at a certain dollar amount, and figure in your time into the cost of your promotional accounting.

I say this because too many online promoters lose sight of this concept and spend 20 hours to generate one sale while using free advertising. Even if you rate your time at the federal minimum wage, then you will have invested $105 of your time for one sale that might only net you a gross sale of $45!

ARE YOU TRULY A MARKETER OR ARE YOU JUST A PROMOTER?

Most people who run a business on the Internet call themselves marketers. Yet, most of these same people are really just promoters wrapped in the label of a marketer.

True marketers do not promote without a lot of advance work. They spend time planning, testing and measuring their actions and results to get the most out of every dollar spent and earned.

Entrepreneurs finesse the art of marketing as they build their company into a major enterprise.

If you are a promoter who does not keep an eye on the total marketing equation, then you are bound to fail.

If you do call yourself a marketer, then do what a professional marketer does. Make sure that every dollar spent is spent well. Make sure that every dollar earned is put to good use. Market well so that when the people of the next generation look at your life, they will see a fine example of a successful entrepreneur that they will strive to emulate.

About The Author

Stone Evans owns the Home Business Resource Directory where you can find everything you’ll ever need to start, run and grow a home based business at: Home-Business.com” target=”_new Home-Business.com

mailto:articles@home-business.com articles@home-business.com

“Sponsoring”. What is it? To most people, it’s “getting people to do your deal″. But let’s see what WEBSTER’S (the dictionary) calls it:

sponsor- patron; a wealthy or influential person who supports an individual, group, or activity

also defined as—

“A REGULAR CUSTOMER”.

That’s what the dictionary says! (Look it up if you don’t believe me.)

By this definition, the customer is the “sponsor”, or one who “supports an individual, group, or activity″. But in network marketing, we get it backwards! Is there any wonder why almost all network marketers never earn more than $300?

Look! Read! Understand! The “sponsor” is a WEALTHY or INFLUENTIAL PERSON… who is also a regular customer!

So, the value of the “SPONSORS″ you recruit is measured by their what? WEALTH or INFLUENCE. Unless they have either/or/both, YOU WILL FAIL AT NETWORK MARKETING. Pure and simple.

And remember, through it all, THEY MUST BE CUSTOMERS.

The good news is, if you do the opposite of 97 networkers out of 100, you have a 97% chance of success! Learn this now and you’ll put your network marketing business on the fast track.

While we’ve got the dictionary out, let’s look up “recruit″, which is an important part of network marketing, right? Again from Websters:

recruit- enlist persons for support of an organization, TYPICALLY IN THE FORM OF AN ARMY.

This one we only get half wrong. The military history of the word “recruit” is where we got the regimented attempt at “duplication”, where everybody does the same thing. We know now that doesn’t work. Not everybody is good at the same thing. And almost nobody will call cold leads on the phone or “make a list of 100 people”.

You DO need to enlist the help and support of others to build your network marketing organization, and they must be CUSTOMERS with measurable wealth and influence.

How do you find them? The short answer is YOU DON’T. You let them find you!

In the next 10 minutes, 165 people will believe in network marketing enough to join an MLM organization. 160 of those will fail, and some of those will want to try again. And THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE YOU′RE LOOKING FOR.

The good news is, they’re looking for you, too!

Kaleem Abdullah is the original bluecollarmlm.com Blue Collar MLM guy.

Is the work at home business opportunity you’re considering legitimate?

Investigating legitimate work at home opportunities is not as hard as it would seem. The first thing to do is look at the URL in your browser’s address bar while you are reading the sales page. Usually, the page you are reading is part of the main site. You want to get to the main site by simply clicking in the address bar and deleting everything after the com. Look for a forum or online discussion group. If you cannot find this, scroll to the bottom of the page and look for the site map, click this and look for the forum or online discussion. While you are in the site map, look at how many pages there are within the site. This will give you a good idea how much information is available to you should you join their work at home opportunity and the number of pages will give you an idea how long they have been online promoting the program. Feel free to look around here. If there is a forum, try to get into it, and read not only what the members are saying, but also how fresh the content is.

If your prospective work at home opportunity does not have a forum or online discussion, this is not necessarily the end of your investigating. In fact, some good programs use other bigger internet marketing forums for their members. Next, do a Google search but do not just look at the first page results of your search because you may just find the same replicated page promoting the same work at home opportunity (this brings up another factor addressed below). You may need to dig a little deeper into your search to find anything about it in online forums or blogs that pertain to internet marketing. These are a great source of information and I cannot recommend them enough to research a work at home business or internet marketing in general. If you can not find anything about the company other than the selling pages, then your best to skip it and keep your money in your pocket and your hair on your head.

Now, about those replicated sites that all look like the one you clicked on to get this whole ball rolling only to find out there are tons of others out there just like it. You may be thinking why put up another one just like it and what will this do for you. If you thought of that, then you are well on your way to success. You do not want a site like all the others. You want to put your own personality into it and make it your own because what you are really selling or promoting is yourself. Offering value to the visitor and gaining their trust is what it is all about. With this in mind, you will use the program you choose to market yourself online. It should also teach you and permit you to change your web site to your liking, add pages and make it your own. There should also be an online forum where you can learn and ask questions of the more experienced members who have their own work at home business.

Copyright © Jeff Houdyschell

About the Author:

Jeff Houdyschell provides work at home business opportunities,
information and ideas helping others work at home, visit => eSmartJob.com eSmartJob.com

For more information and ideas on this subject and many more,
visit => ideas-from.us ideas-from.us

Many of us rack our brains for the perfect job or business opportunity to bring in extra cash. We think that we need to come up with some brilliant plan to earn the money for a nice vacation, down payment on a car or some extra cash for our kid’s tuition. Sometimes the perfect money maker is right beneath our very noses. Here are some quick tips to receive extra cash with the least amount of effort:

Clean out your closets. Take out every time that you haven’t worn in the last century. Drag out those old comics. Dust off those old records. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, as the saying goes.

Hold a garage sale

Place it on ebay

Bring it to a flea market and agree to split the profits with one of the vendors

Place ads in local papers and the pennysaver

Take ten percent of your income and stick it in a savings account or better yet a high yield cd that you can’t touch for a year. Money market accounts are also a better alternative to standard bank accounts.

Promote affiliate programs online. They have already set up the business for you. All you have to do is promote it and earn commissions.

Form an investment club. If you don’t have a large enough pool of money to invest right now, many of your friends may be in the same boat. Pool your money together and invest in some of the safer investments right now, like bonds or CDs. You will earn together more than the measly percentage a regular account will provide.

If you have recently helped finance a house sale, sell your mortgage note for a lump sum. Instead of having to wait several years to get your money, take the discount and get cash in hand now.

About The Author

Caterina Christakos is a published author and national marketing consultant. She is also a full time real estate investor. For information on how you can turn your mortgage notes into cash go to: webpagedesignerforrealestate.com/cash_for_notes.html” target=”_new webpagedesignerforrealestate.com/cash_for_notes.html;
mailto:stockoptions101@yahoo.com stockoptions101@yahoo.com

It’s a shame that there are so many people out there trying to rip off the work-at-home job seeker. It’s even more disheartening to see them targeting the stay-at-home mom, the retiree, and the disabled. But the fact remains; they’re out there trying to capitalize on your desire to stay home and earn an income. And they’re making good money while they’re at it, because there’s no shortage of people who want so badly to believe their claims of easy income and instant wealth.

So how are we supposed to separate the scams from the real jobs? The legitimate business opportunities from the schemes?

Your number one guide should always be your common sense (why would a lawyer in South Africa select you to handle his billion dollar account, I mean let’s be honest!). There are always warning signs, and here are the top seven.

1. Advertisements for “envelope stuffing”, “mail processors″ and “home typists″.

In all my experience in online recruiting, I have never come across a legitimate job for an envelope stuffer. Nor have I ever, in my life, met someone who was an envelope stuffer. (And could you really say with any measure of pride that you are a professional envelope stuffer?)

These advertisements are always the same. They charge you a certain amount of money so that they can send you detailed instructions of how to advertise for envelope stuffers. You′re selling the very same packet that you just paid 30 bucks for, but you only get $3. There’s no product, just their self-perpetuating ads to sell more $30 packets.

Home Typists? What company needs 5,000 home typists? If a company needs some typing done, they’re not going to advertise it on the internet where they’re going to get 10,000 replies. They’re going to hire an administrative assistant who can type a report and hand it to them- while greeting clients and answering the phones.

That’s not to say that there aren′t legitimate Data Entry jobs available. Companies often find a need for specialized skills that can be done by a freelancer on a contract basis. Some examples would be database work, research projects and seasonal billing needs. But the key is that they involve a specialized skill that their existing employees don′t have.

2. They’re asking for a fee.

If it’s supposed to be a job, how on earth do they justify charging a fee? I’ve seen ads that say, “We have to charge a fee to make sure that you′re serious”. Why don’t they just post their job on E-Bay and give it to the highest bidder? Imagine going for an interview and the employer says, “Have a seat. Now, before we get started, I’m going to need $39.95 from you. We have to make sure you′re serious.” Would you pay them? Of course not! So why would you pay someone who is claiming to be hiring just because it’s on the internet?

Now, a business opportunity is different. You have to expect start-up costs for any business- but that’s a story for another day…

3. Job listings with typos and ALL CAPS.

These telltale signs should raise a flag right away. Do you really want to work for someone who can’t spell?

4. The job description says, “no skills or experience necessary!”

Really? Why not just have their kids do the job for 50 cents an hour? Managing remote employees is extremely challenging. Employers who hire and supervise telecommuters want highly skilled, experienced employees that they can trust. They have to be confident that they can perform their jobs with little or no supervision. This is why most telecommuters are required to work on-site for a certain period of time before they′re allowed to work from home.

5. Vague or non-existing job description.

The more vague a job listing is, the more likely it is to be a scam. There’s nothing more aggravating to a recruiter than getting bombarded by resumes from unqualified candidates. This is why most legitimate job listings read like a novel. They want to be sure that only the ones that meet their criteria respond.

This leads me to an important bit of advice for telecommute job seekers. Never, ever respond to a job listings that you are not fully qualified for. I spend a lot of time recruiting companies that have telecommute policies to post at my site. Many of them are reluctant to post their listings online because they are inundated with responses from people who aren’t remotely qualified. It gives all of us a bad reputation and cuts down on the number of jobs that are advertised. I just can’t stress enough how important this is.

6. No contact information.

If you can’t reach someone to ask a question, or ask for a reference, then there’s something wrong. A real employer wants to get the position filled, and if you are qualified, they want to convince you to work for them. You should be able to reach them (or someone in their company at least) directly.

And the number one sign of a scam:.

7. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

A case in point: A company posted a job listing for U.S. Representatives. Seems they needed people to accept shipments of computers and electronics and then ship them to international destinations. They were offering an outrageously high salary and reimbursement for shipping. They allegedly had offices in the United States, so why would they need John Smith in Hoboken, New Jersey to handle their shipping? Sounds fishy, right? It was. They had people ship the computers all right, but never paid them.

Many people rely on the website that carries the listing to screen out fraudulent listings, but the truth is that most of them don’t have the resources to screen every post. In fact, most sites carry a disclaimer stating that it is the job seeker’s responsibility to screen potential employers.

The bottom line is that you should let common sense be your guide. If something seems not quite right, don′t bother. At the very least, check out any company thoroughly before making any commitment.

Below are some excellent resources:

ScamWatch
scamwatch.com/

ScamBusters
scambusters.org/

The Better Business Bureau
bbb.org/

The Federal Trade Commission
ftc.gov/

Sharon Davis. When she is not researching scams, she is the owner of 2Work-At-Home.Com, WorkAtHomeArticles.net and the Editor of the site’s monthly ezine, America’s Home. In her spare time she reminisces about what it was like to have spare time.
List of other articles of interest:
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When I ask people what they feel is the most important word in the MLM business, I get many different answers. The most common are: products, commissions. money, opportunity, and sponsoring. I will admit they are all very good choices, but can anyone tell which word is missing, which word is more important than all the rest.

The word that is more important than all those words we just mentioned is DUPLICATABLE. Yes,all those other words are meaningless unless our system of business building is duplicatable for the average person.

If you are successful because you are mailing 500 tapes per month and placing full page ads in major publications, do you really think what you are doing is duplicatable for the average person ?? Do you think your downline will reach the same level of success that you are enjoying if that is what you are teaching them to do? I don’t think so. The average person doesn’t have the resources and the know how to conduct such a campaign.

All you are doing is building a nice first level for yourself, but you will not be able to keep them. If your downline is not successful than you will not be successful, it is just that simple. There is no way around that fact. If you are telling your people you made $5,000 in your second month, do you really think you are helping them ? All you are really doing is setting them up for a big fall. Sure maybe that kind of money is attainable in this business, but we all know it is not very probable.

There is already enough BIG HYPE in this business, don’t add to it. Just tell it like it is, be honest. Help your people in the most important way you can, honesty. Sure people make big money in this business, but many drop out because they feel they are not going to make that big money in three months. They feel that is the bench mark in this business. Let them know they are only beginning to scratch the surface in that amount of time.

Your people need help, they need guidance. It is up to you to provide that for them.
Just tell them to be consistent in their efforts. If they say they are going to mail 100 postcards or letters in a month then tell them to do it. Stick to their goals. This is a business so let’s treat it like one. MLM is not the get rich quick scheme some are lead to believe it is.

Many people who sign up with your company, are in MLM for the first time. They are all excited when they sign up, but they are easily discouraged. Teach them to use the products, share the products with there friends. They need to be their own best customer, they need to develop a belief in the company and the products. Then the success will follow.

Let them know that some months they may not get any response to their mailings but there will be other months that they may get 4 or 5 responses. Teach them to stay focused. That is the most important thing you can teach, ask them to determine what they can afford to do each month in promoting the business and then tell them to stick with it. Being focused is the best commitment one can make.

All this is duplicatable, you can teach this and so can your downline. As I said many people who join you in your MLM will be new to this business this will be their first attempt. Help to insure that it is not a bad experience. You can not guarantee anyone’s success, that is up to the individual. All you can do is provide them with a duplicatable system, and the encouragement we all need when treading in unfamiliar waters.

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Jim Garvin has been involved in network marketing and home based business opportunites since 1995. Jim wil provide free consultation to anyone joining one of the programs he is involved with. Visit his websites for more information cwlight.com/garvinco cwlight.com/garvinco garvinsmoneymaker.com garvinsmoneymaker.com mysteryshopa.com mysteryshopa.com

I have lost track of the number of discussion board posts and emails I have answered about that topic. I admit for those first venturing into the uncharted waters of internet business it can be challenging and more than a little daunting. There is a flood of products out there clamoring for your money and all claim to be absolutely essential to your success on the internet. Don’t buy it, they are all selling snake oil!

There are some essentials you will need (assuming that if you are reading this that you already have an email account and internet access) but you really can start out at the ground level with nothing but an idea and build your internet business up from there. You can start your business on a shoestring budget of just $10 a year. If you are ready for the fast track then you can start with as little as $10 month. If you are aiming for the penthouse then you can up your monthly budget to $30.

What are the essentials?

Ground level approach:

Create a blog account at one of the free blogging sites available online (we used to use Blogger.com but there are many other good options). This will serve as your internet base. It really is the cheapest and easiest way to get online today. Yes, you could create a free web site at one of the many available but blogs are more attractive to the search engines. Plus they offer you the ability to personalize it but most of your energy will be spent on content which is the king of the internet and the real reason you want an internet presence.

Now sign up for a free ClickBank affiliate acccount which will give you immediate access to something to sell –and the added advantage that many products also come with some handy content you can use to fill out your new blog. Sign up for a contextual or pay-per-click advertiser such as Google’s Adsense or Chikita and you′ll start earning from visitors as well as customers.

That’s it! You are now in business. Keep filling your blog and promoting it as well and you will soon start earning!

Shoestring approach:

This method is similar to the previous approach with one crucial difference — you purchase your own domain name. A domain name will cost you between $5 and $10 a year depending on whether you go .com or .info (or one of the many other options available). You don’t need to find a web host or create a site. Simply point the domain at your blog for now and continue with the development and promotion of your blog. The advantage of owning your own domain name is simply that later when you have the money, time, and knowledge to develop your web site that domain name will already exist and have filtered through the search engines. It also offers some marketing advantages that a free blog cannot.

Fast-track approach:

You host your own domain and offer your blog either as the site or as an addition to the site. You should be able to do this for between $10 and $20 a month with a reputable host that offers all the tools and utilities you might need for your current site. Maybe down the line you′ll need to upgrade but by then you′ll know your income and your needs.

Penthouse approach:

You add one final tool that will make your internet business complete — a mailing list tool. You can do this for just $20 a month and it will be worth every penny for sales, customer service, and promotional tool.

That’s it for just $90 you can have every tool you need to make hundreds or even thousands from your internet business and you can actually get by with a lot less than that for your initial startup.

Two final notes.

First, I did not include any budget in here for advertising because there are a lot of free ways you can get started advertising and promoting your site and I would recommend exhausting those options before you begin looking into spending money on advertising. By that time you may well have started to earn a profit from your internet venture and so you can have a better idea of the size of your advertising budget.

Second, if you plan to sell products yourself then you will need a payment processor. You can sign up for free with PayPal so that is no additional expenditure (you pay a percentage of each sale so it is self-funding) or you can sign up for vendor account with ClickBank which will cost you a one-time fee of $50 plus a percentage of each sale. I would not lay out a lot of money for a shopping cart program or one of the other programs that charges a monthly fee. I have done business with PayPal and ClickBank as my exclusive payment processors since 1999. Every so often I will investigate my other options and every time I stick with these simple, effective programs.

Good luck with your new internet venture!

Deanna Mascle is happy to offer her recommended route104.us Internet Business Tools as well as other advice about answersaboutdoingbusinessonline.com Doing Business Online. Internet marketers can also subscribe to her internet marketing newsletter establishyourepresence.com Establish Your Epresence.