Home based Business

What do you do when you work from home (your own business) and you come down with the flu? Is there a number you can call and let them know that you’re sick and cannot come in today? If only!

Since Saturday I′ve been hit by one of those dreaded winter flu’s (mind you this winter marks the very first time I ever got the flu vaccine). Feverish, headache, entire body hurts and my throat is soar.. the flu! It takes everything out of me to get out of bed today to ensure the websites I do support for are fully functional and all customers are happy. This means replying to tons of emails and support tickets.

Here’s a tip… create as many short cuts as you can that will not only save you time, but will help you when you get the flu and cannot function at 100%. In my Eudora (email program) I’ve set up responses for all of the common questions I receive. But a canned response can be spotted and many customers hate them. Be sure to personalize the canned response, so start your reply with Hello , and simply place the persons name in the field when responding. This will allow you to respond to a customer or client in the time it takes to type their name.

Here is an example of a canned response I use…

Hello

Thank you for taking the time to contact us with your concern.

Step 1 - Place the Cd into your cd drive on your computer.

Step 2 - Open your text editor ( MS Word, Works, Note pad, Word Pad or MS Excel)

Step 3 - Click on “File” (top right) .. then “open″

Step 4. You should see the option to choose which file you want to open. In the area marked”Look In” choose the drive that your cd was placed in. Once you have the source chosenthe list of files with the leads should appear.

Step 5. Choose the file you want to open and hit “open”.Note : If you use MS excel to open the file, it will automatically open in a spreadsheet format.Note : Depending on the version of operating system you have installed on your computer the disc will automatically open after you load it into your cd drive.

Best Regards

Chris De La Rosa
Owner / Operator
www.genuinejobs.com

===========================================

I have this saved as a stationery file within my Eudora, so all I do is hit “reply with” and edit the name field. It’s that simple.

Create as many short cuts as you can, remember we can’t call in sick!

regards

Chris

Chris De La Rosa is a work from home dad who manages genuinejobs.com/ Genuinejobs.com where users have free access to genuinejobs.com/ vacant work from home, telecommute, freelance and contract jobs You can also get help with your resume, cover letter and tips on a successful job interview. You can also read my daily entries at my blog, iloveworkingfromhome.blogspot.com/ A work from home dad’s story.

Prospects may choose to not join your MLM business for various reasons. In my years as an MLM success coach, I’ve trained thousands of people to avoid this one costly mistake that will most certainly drive people away from your business opportunity and your products.

Of all the MLM training I cover, this topic is the most controversial of any subject I discuss. But as you will learn, it could be the VERY reason your prospect doesn’t sign up with you…or that if you DO sponsor them - you can’t seem to get or keep them focused on their MLM business. This very important subject is one of my Ten Communication Qualities and is named: “Make sure your body doesn’t distract the prospect.”

There was a survey done at a very large trade show as people were walking out the door. They were asked a series of questions about the trade show.

Before I give you the answers to the survey, think about the money companies invest in trade shows: the booth fee (sometimes tens of thousands of dollars), the travel, the display materials - sometimes hundreds of thousands or even millions- the employees and sales reps that attend the trade show, etc.

While you’re thinking about all that expense…when asked the question, “What’s the number one reason you didn’t buy today?” guess what the answer was? The sales rep’s bad breath! Can you believe that?!

The prospects didn’t say the number one reason they didn’t buy was because of a poor presentation or that the event wasn’t exciting or anything else. The number one reason was bad breath!

This also goes for perfume and cologne. You may think your perfume makes you smell like a flower, but to some you might as well be wearing bug spray. You may even get compliments from some people - that doesn’t mean your specific prospect is going to love it.

People who wear perfume first put a dab on and over time their nose becomes less sensitive to it. Then for them to smell it they have to put two dabs, then three and pretty soon you can smell those people coming IN the room - not when they’ve walked past you, but when they enter the room!

If this scent is something that prospects don’t like they will be backing up (running away) trying to distance themselves from you. So, the rule is…MAKE SURE YOUR BODY DOESN′T DISTRACT YOUR PROSPECT.

This also goes for dress. Dress professionally. Ladies, if you have a beautiful body that you like to show off - great - but I don′t recommend it with prospects. Your body may get more of their attention than your business. The reason you’re there is to be interested in them - more specifically the problem your business can solve for them - not to have them be interested in your body.

Now I know what everyone thinks of when I say that: “But people buy you not the business or the product.” This statement is very true. But what about you do they buy?

In network marketing they buy your ability to help them get what they need or want as it relates to your MLM business or product. If you dress provocatively and your prospects join the business because they like looking at you, you will have a heck of time trying to keep them focused on the business. When you’ve concluded your business for the day and you want to dress up sexily and wear perfume - great! But keep business and personal separate.

Your dress code should be appropriate for the situation and the others present. In my MLM business, I work with health clubs and doctors’ offices. It’s not appropriate to wear a suit or even dress clothes for that matter. Nice shorts and polo shirts get the best response in the gym.

When we work in doctors′ offices we dress professionally but not in suits. In business presentations, suits work the best. The best rule of thumb is dress as nicely as the most nicely dressed guest.

From sloppily tied ties to body odor; from odd behaviors like tapping your feet to putting on lipstick in front of your prospects - all can be distracting and cause them to focus their attention on something other than the thing that can help them achieve what they want…and whatever you do make sure your breath is fresh!

Tim Sales helps network marketers gain the confidence and skills to be an M.L.M success. Learn how to become a true network marketing professional and sign up for his free M.L.M training newsletter and listen to free training at brilliantexchange.com/ www.brilliantexchange.com

Unless you have been residing on another planet, you have heard of Ebay and the easy way it is to make money by selling “stuff” that you have in your basement. There are thousands of people – hundreds of thousands - that make a living selling items that they no longer need or want. But one problem that I have found is finding the items that I can sell and make a profit.

I have been to yard sales, estate sales, and garage sales and bought something and I have whispered to my wife that “I can sell this on Ebay,” only to find that when I listed the item, there were either hundreds of other items just like it listed, or I couldn’t even sell the item and recoup my investment. Most people are so familiar with Ebay that I think that the items left at yard sales are the rejects that they couldn’t sell on Ebay. Granted, there are the exceptions and that is what keeps us all looking for that great find.

I have several items sitting on a shelf beside me as I type this that I found at yard sales that “I can sell on Ebay.” However, the dust on the boxes says otherwise.

Over the past few months, I have decided to leave the yard sale items to others with more time and that know what items will sell. I have since started using dropshippers to sell items on Ebay. There are several legitimate dropshippers that you can find by searching the internet.

I thought I would give you a quick overview of what a dropshipper does. First of all, a company that will dropship items for you has the inventory in stock. They usually provide the pictures and description that you can copy and use on the auction site or for that matter, in a mail order catalog.

The first step that you need to take is to find a good, reliable dropshipper. Once you have found the supplier, Make sure that the items that you want to sell are not over saturated on the site that you want to list the items. I have used dropshippers in the past, and sometimes, there are so many of the same item that you may only make $3 - $4 on each item. After paying the high fees that Ebay charges, you may only make $1 - $2 net profit. Although, you do make money from this, it takes a while for a few dollars profit to add up to “riches” that is advertised daily on television.

After you have found the item that you want to sell, the second step it to list the item for sale. I use Ebay as the example, because I actually dropship items on Ebay. However, the site you use could be anyone that you want. As the matter of fact, Ebay has recently raised their fees so high that I am considering switching to Yahoo or some other site. I think that sometimes Ebay forgets about the “little guy” just trying to make a few hundred extra dollars a month. On the positive side, it is a good way to start your own business for very little money. If you haven’t registered on Ebay, I recommend that you do so and familiarize yourself with the process of buying and selling items.

The third step to take is after the sale. Whether the item that you sold is to be dropshipped or not, let your customer know that you received the order and give them an approximate date that it should arrive. If you sell very much, you can get an auto responder that will send out the message for you and once you set it up, you don’t have to change it. This makes the work a lot easier and saves time.

The fourth step is to order the item from the dropshipper. Most dropshippers always have the item in stock. Every now and then, the item may be out of stock and you have to contact the buyer and explain this. Offer them a reasonable substitute or cash back when this happens. One thing that you don’t want is a lot of negative feedback. I understand that items do run out of stock, but keep a watch on the items that you have listed so that it is minimized.

The final step is to make sure that the profit that you made is enough to make it “worth your while.” If it is not, stop selling that item and move on to another one. After a few tries, you will know which items will sell and which ones won’t.

Even if you don’t make a lot of money, at least you won’t have shelves full of stuff that you can’t sell. Well, I have got to go get ready for a “yard sale.”

Paul Taylor is a business owner that helps other business owners and entrepreneurs locate wholesale distributors and dropshippers for their small business. Visit his website at: wholesalemap.com wholesalemap.com

It’s been five years since I made the decision to leave my corporate job and start my own company. No question about it, leaving nice coworkers, a stable paycheck and 12 years of tenure with one company was the scariest thing I’d ever done. And yet looking back, it was the defining moment not only of my career, but of my personal development as well. The fact is, I am now so enamored of blazing my own trail that I could never go back – I am hopelessly, incurably, unemployable.

As a result, I receive a steady stream of, “Can I buy you a cup of coffee?” invitations – from old colleagues, new friends, complete strangers – anybody who is considering a change, and who wants to know, “Why should I start my own business?” This is what I say:

1. You’ll dance to your own music. There’s a lot of noise in the corporate world. Not physical noise, but opinions, rules, history and a whole lot of, “that’s the way we do it around here,” always just an inch or two below the surface. In such a setting it’s hard to find your path, or as I like to say, “hear your own music.”

Once you’re on your own, you’ll suddenly begin to hear what’s there, and the more you can hear it and have the courage to follow it, the more enjoyable and yes, profitable your life will be. The fact is, there is no right way to live, to act or to grow a business.

2. You’ll never have to retire. Retiring is a strange concept to the satisfied, self-employed person. It implies that work is something you want to be done with, something you wish were over. When you truly find your passion however, the concept becomes meaningless. Do painters stop painting? Do musicians stop playing music? Do comedians stop being funny just because they’ve reached a certain age? Not if they are doing what they truly want to be doing. Sure, you may slow down or change focus as you get older, but the game is never over, since the game and your life will be one.

3. You’ll put your money where your mouth is. I never planned to start my own business, and I always secretly believed that I didn’t have the guts to be successful on my own. When I look back now, I’m not even sure how I managed to convince myself to leave the perceived safety of living within the protected walls of a large corporation. When I finally jumped however, I was surprised by the number of friends, former co-workers and family who remarked on my “courage.” Frankly, I’m not any braver now than I was before, but I know with certainty that I don’t need a corporation to take care of me (and neither do you).

4. You’ll no longer live in two worlds. I used to be two people: “corporate Michael” and “home life Michael.” Corporate Michael was less friendly, less intuitive and a lot less interesting. I found it easy to switch back and forth between the two Michaels, and for a long time it didn’t even strike me as odd that I would make decisions at work based on a completely different set of criteria regarding what was fair, what was smart or what was worth doing. That’s over – I’m now one person no matter what I do, and I have a more balanced, more humanistic approach to business.

5. You’ll know your own power. Swept up in the turmoil of working as part of a corporation, there’s a tendency to blame others, wait for others, think that others are making things happen. Working alone you’ll realize how much control you actually have (and have always had). That realization will give you the courage and drive to do more things than you ever dreamed of when you saw yourself as an insignificant part of a big machine. You’ll have nobody else to blame, and even more importantly, you will see how much credit you really do deserve for everything you’ve created.

6. You’ll be free to walk away. When you first start out on your own, you will probably be grateful for whatever business comes your way. The thought of “walking away” from a client may seem suicidal. It isn’t. As your reputation grows, people will approach you, ready to hand you their money and have you begin work. That’s terrific. However, in some cases, the fit won’t be there – something in your gut will tell you it’s a bad match. You will learn that you can say “no thank you” and walk away. Nobody assigns projects or clients or teammates to you anymore. You and only you decide who you work with and on what terms, and if it doesn’t feel right you need only say so.

7. You’ll make new friends. If you’ve been with the same company for a long time, you’ve probably developed several close relationships. You may be afraid that you’ll be lonely and isolated out here in the “cold cruel world.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Starting your own business gains you immediate entrance into a collegial world of fellow sole proprietors and entrepreneurs, eager to have you along for the ride. We hold meetings, we have events, we meet for lunch, we talk on the phone – we share ideas, support each other and hang out together. Price of admission: a friendly demeanor and a willingness to help other people find their way.

8. You’ll pick the players. Wherever you sit in a company, you’ve got people you interact with every day. Your boss, your direct reports, the head of the legal department, the desktop support guy, the receptionist. Hopefully you like and get along with most of these people, but whether you do or not, you’re stuck with each other. When you run your own company on the other hand, you pick who’s on the team. You get to choose your attorney, your accountant, your landlord, your printer, your partners, your clients – everybody in your daily life is there because you decided to put them there. You get to choose.

9. You’ll have real problems, instead of imaginary ones. In a corporate setting, your happiness and success is dependent upon dozens of intertwined relationships and handed-down decisions, any one of which can change your world in ways you may not anticipate or even understand. With so much out of your control, it’s hard not to spend time “What If-ing” and worrying about the future: “What’s my boss really think of me? What if I don’t get put in charge of that new project? What if they cut my budget next year?” Fear of what might happen can become worse than the situation itself – imaginary problems.

When you’re building your own business you’re immersed in reality. Sure, you may have days where you worry about paying the mortgage, but you’ll be in the game, fighting the good fight, and no longer obsessed with the possibility of being blindsided by an unforeseen shift in the corporate winds.

10. You’ll find your purpose. You didn’t come here to follow somebody else’s vision or sit on the sidelines watching the clock tick away until retirement. But somehow, somewhere along the way, you forgot. Now, after so many years of following the pack, you’ve come to see work as a place you go to earn enough money to do the things you really want to do. It doesn’t have to be that way. Working on your own will give you the freedom and focus to find the exhilarating, balanced, self-directed career you’ve always dreamed of.

One of my favorite quotes is from the book, The Artist’s Way, and I’ve had it taped to the top of my computer monitor for the last five years: “Leap, and the net will appear.” Go ahead, I’ll be waiting for you.

Michael J. Katz is Founder and Chief Penguin of Blue Penguin Development, Inc., ( BluePenguinDevelopment.com BluePenguinDevelopment.com) a Boston consulting firm that helps clients increase sales by showing them how to nurture their existing relationships, and that
specializes in the development of electronic newsletters. He is author of the book, E-Newsletters That Work.

Before you can hope to find a home based business, it really helps if you know what a business is compared to what you’re used to which is most likely a job. Being successful in a home based business may require you to think differently than you’re used to. By understanding the difference between business ownership and employment, you can position yourself for success.

As the employee of a company you are considered to be an expense. As long as the company makes more money than what you cost, you are a justifiable expense. The reason that layoffs occur is that the total expense of employment exceeds the profitability of the company. The result is downsizing.

When you’re the business owner such decisions about profitability become your responsibility.

The ideal home-based business allows you to leverage your time to develop an income. The only employee might be. Perhaps your family might be involved. For occasional tasks like bookkeeping you may hire professional help. Just like with any business a home-based business owner needs to keep an eye on expenses and focus on growth.

Most successful home-based businesses are based on network marketing. The reason for this is network marketing creates an opportunity to build a business that does not involve inventory, extensive recordkeeping, employee overhead, and provides the benefit of a residual income that generates a regular check month after month.

It is this residual income that truly characterizes a business versus mere employment.

Some people may sell knickknacks online or stuff envelopes from home. Unless there is the potential of these tasks generating a continuous stream of income then they are only jobs which are worked from home and are not characteristic of a business.

When seeking a home-based business opportunity, be sure to understand how a residual income will grow over time. Good network marketing companies provide compensation plans that combine a short term combination of bonuses which reward you for the harder work that you do early on, with residual income bonuses that grow over time as your home-based business grows.

Dave Saunders has been helping people build successful home based businesses since 2003 and loves to help others live their dreams through profitable home businesses.


Discover the 5 Critical Factors You Must Consider Before 5criticalfactors.com Choosing a Home Based Business at 5criticalfactors.com 5criticalfactors.com

Is working from home Stuffing Envelopes a good idea let’s take a closer look. I see a lot of advertisements in the newspaper with advertisements like this “Work At Home make up to $1500/week assembling products and stuffing envelopes no experience needed”. At first glance stuffing envelopes seems more like job but I’m here to tell you that it is not, it’s actually a business.

Now there are businesses that handle other business mail, but as most of us are aware these companies usually hire employees and do not charge them fees to get leads. When ever a company requests that you pay them a fee by mail this company is going to provide you with leads for companies that use work from envelope stuffers.

What you don’t know will be used against you, if you have seen ads saying you can make $1500.00 a week working from home stuffing envelopes what this actually means is, if you have like 10 companies that want you to stuff envelopes for them this may equal $1500.00 a week. One independent company is not going to pay you $1500.00 a week stuffing envelopes.

Now if you want to get into the envelope stuffing business what you should be aware of is that like any other business there is going to be slow periods, and another thing your going to have to learn to do is sell your business, No company is just going to trust any business to handle their mail, and sometimes certain companies want work from home envelope stuffers to provide there own supplies examples would be stamps, boxes, envelopes it all depends. Companies use stay at home worker to save both money and time. So when they hire someone to handle their mail or assemble their products they are actually looking at as a way for them to save themselves money.

Look at it in terms instead of the company hiring someone and paying them $10 per hour for a week and spending close to $1600 dollars on supplies and training an employee they can go to a work from home worker and pay them $300, because the stay at home envelope stuffer should have all the supplies necessary to complete the job. I use this example a lot when it comes to stay at home jobs, I compare it to starting a staffing agency, majority of times it’s hard to get into this business because a lot of people have been doing this sort of thing for years so they already established a good reputation and are referred too by other companies.

My personal opinion I would never get into this type of business because the profits to me do not sound that great even in the long term, but each his/her own.

Best wishes to you in all that you do.

Steven Porter 25 year old entrepeneur from Toronto most of my time online is spent drop shipping and affiliate marketing. To learn more about affiliate marketing and drop shipping please refer to my articles thank you.

For information on home based businesses visit yourwealthysource.com/Scams yourwealthysource.com/Scams

How do you earn your money? Are you:

1. working for someone
2. a professional or self-employed (exchange your expertise for someone’s money) = small business owner
3. a business owner
4. an investor

Most people opt for employment because they see it as a “safe” option. “Job Security” is what they want. However, as many people will tell you; due to downsizing and industries like the recording industry changing from records to CD’s, where a skill is literally obsolete overnight, there is no such thing as “Job Security.” Think for yourself: What would you do if your boss tells you tomorrow that you have no job? How long will you be able to survive?

The second way is to be self-employed, or to be a professional. Some professionals have jobs, like teachers, nurses and doctors, but most have a practice or are self employed. Others are self employed by offering a service. If you ask someone who is self employed why he is self employed, he will often say: “I prefer working for myself and not for a boss.” That is just about the only advantage I can see. Does the self employed have fixed hours to work? No, they often work overtime. Do they have a fixed salary? No, if there is a bad month, they have to take a cut in earnings. They can’t take holidays, weekends or days off.

The third way is to be a business owner – this is someone who leverages his time by having people work for him, and/or own a big network of businesses, such as MacDonalds.

The fourth way is to be an Investor – someone who uses money as leverage.

You can possibly see from the descriptions above that the last two: Business Owner and/or Investor probably have the most money. Why do they have more money? There are two words above that give you a clue: Network and Leverage.

What is a network?

My Thesaurus describes it as: A system, complex, set-up, set of connections, and set of contacts. Examples of Business Networks or Systems: McDonalds, Wendy’s, Starbucks, Wal-Mart,

What is leverage?

My Thesaurus says: influence, power, force, control, pull, weight. Simply put, leverage is to get other people to do work for you so you can get more done. The owner of McDonalds has 1000’s of people doing work for him in stead of him doing it all himself.

Can you see the power of leverage and networking? How can you use the power of networking? You can start your own business. However, starting your own business is quite difficult and very costly, and most people don’t have the money to get started. You will have to come up with a new idea, or an idea that gives you a competitive advantage over an existing business. After putting lots of your own money into research, brand names, copyrighting and start-up costs, you will have to find loans somewhere with your business plan that your accountant wrote for you. Most people who want to start their own business take out a loan on the equity in their property, or take out a second mortgage on their house, to get started. Big business may start as a small business. But take care that you don’t think your small business falls in this category. If you bought your small business, and you are running it, and it needs you to survive, then you just bought yourself a job. But true leverage is when you can walk away from your business and it can carry on without you.

However, most people don’t have the resources to get their own business up and running. Besides, there is another problem for most people: Consider this scene: You have worked for a company for 15 years. You have been promoted a couple of times. Now there is an opening to become manager of your division. You and another guy both want that position. You have both worked hard for it, but only one of you can get it. Perhaps one of you wants the promotion so bad, he is willing to bribe someone for it - Is this fair? Most people can never dream of obtaining the top jobs.

Now we have to wonder: Is there a way that you can use the power of Networking and Leverage as well? Is there a fair structure where you get paid and promoted directly in proportion with your efforts? The good news is that there is. It is called “Network Marketing.” In Network Marketing, not only do you get paid directly in proportion to your efforts, but you have the power of leverage and networking working for you as well. You have exactly the same opportunity as anyone else to get promoted to the top positions. Now this is fair.

But isn’t Network Marketing an illegal Pyramid Scheme? I hear you ask.

Though Network Marketing and pyramid schemes do share some similarities, there’s a very important difference that makes the latter illegal. In pyramid schemes, income is generated solely on the process of recruiting others into the pyramid. Sometimes a product of service of questionable value is involved (that is never retailed to the general public by the way), but generally what you’re buying is the right to recruit others into the scheme. This is illegal. Also, in pyramid schemes, those who get in first and who are at the top win, while everyone else loses. In a legitimate Network Marketing company, on the other hand, distributors are paid only on product movement, not on recruiting, both at wholesale and retail. There’s also compensation based on training and managing of your marketing team. And unlike illegal pyramids, in Network Marketing, no matter where you’re positioned or when you join, you can advance to the very highest income levels and even make more money than those above you in the network.

In all business and government structures, the pyramid is the foundation. It contains the hierarchy of, and indeed shapes the role of, all who participate in the organization.
Whether it is the president of the United States and his vice president, Congress, and all the way down to the local government employees, or Microsoft, where one guy sits on the top, followed by his vice presidents, all the way down to the mail clerks, the pyramid structure is ubiquitous. The first thing we should agree on is that there is no inherent problem with the structure of a pyramid.

In government and in business there are several features of the pyramid that are found consistently:

1. The further away from the pinnacle, the less power an individual has, and the less money he or she makes.
2. There is usually one person on the top and that position is typically unattainable to others in the organization. If someone lower down in the structure does assume that top position, it is still reserved for one person at a time.
3. Normally those at the top like to stay at the top. Those toward the top may have incentives to move up higher in their organization, but there is typically no incentive for those higher up to help advance those who are lower down to surpass them. The order of the hierarchy is somewhat sacred.
4. At each level in the organization job titles go along with salaries. Normally a person cannot assume more money or more power without the “permission” of someone above granting those advancements. Normally, people have little control over advancing. One cannot typically “self-advance.”

Going back to pyramid schemes versus legitimate network marketing, the contrasts and similarities need to be examined. One of the bad images of pyramid schemes stems from the fact that if there is no viable product, or just money is being moved around, the people at the bottom really do get a raw deal. If only money is being passed around, by the time an individual rises to the top, the money may simply have run out. This is bogus, illegal and frowned upon by the Direct Sellers Association, and the Federal Trade Commission. (Both the DSA and the FTC oversee and ordain legitimate network marketing companies.) Contrast this with MLM compensation plans in which income is only paid out to those who qualify with enough volume during that pay period.

In a pyramid scheme, the payout runs out because no such limits are set.

In a good Network Marketing company the product is so good it can stand on its own. So this is the way the money is made: From the product, not from recruiting. These are the features of a good Network Marketing Company:

1. Each distributor can surpass the level of anybody who came into the organization before him or her, if the new distributor’s performance is greater than the one already in the business.
2. Each new distributor is encouraged to become a CEO, or the top of his pyramid, by the encouragement, leadership, and training of those in his support team. Those above the new distributor in the organization are motivated to elevate the level of everyone who is newer in the business.
3. There is no glass ceiling, no job title with a fixed and limited salary attached to it. The system does represent financial freedom because the model for business growth and the ability to generate income are inherently limitless. The rewards, incentives, acknowledgements, etc. at every level above the new distributor, all the way to corporate, are authentic, on-going, effective, and inspiring.
4. There are no barriers such as race, education, gender, previous experience, etc. Anyone who does the work gets to the top. (Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and of The Business School for People Who like Helping People has been a strong advocate of network marketing. He tells a story of having been the top salesman at Xerox; he was not promoted because he lacked a college degree.)
5. There is no single top position. There is unlimited room for these so-called top positions.
6. People can “self-advance.” We give ourselves a raise based on performance, not on politics, nepotism, returning favours, or anything else.
7. No one’s earnings are limited to his or her own efforts. Through the process of leveraging ourselves, the bulk of our commissions come from other people like you and me, who want a better life. It is a business of teaching other people to teach other people, to teach other people, etc. It is an ethical, high-spirited, method of distribution, product consumption, and compensation.

Network marketing represents what we all crave: financial freedom, and time freedom. The opportunities for leadership and self-development are as great as the chance to make a lot of money. Whether or not you decide that this is for you, it is hard to beat this model for building an asset that will pay you over and over. Network marketing makes sense; it is the only viable model for creating financial freedom for the average person. And it is fair.

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In order to establish an online home business, you need to have several components in place. Let’s review what they are.

Having the most advanced computer technology with the most memory and storage space is needed. Software, peripherals and other home office systems should be a part of your inventory. In addition, a room which has no distractions is essential in properly maintaining your online home business.

Depending upon the type of online home business you are interested in takes a great deal of research, planning, and thorough knowledge of how to use the internet to your advantage. This would include using search engines to increase your ranking; possible use of affiliates to promote your service or product; engaging in online dialogue on forums where people who have their own home business are successful and can offer assistance.

If you are setting up a website, you need to find a company that will cater to all of your website needs including: hosting, email service, tools and resources you can use to make your website up to date, user friendly, and offers additional innovative methods to enhance your site as well.

As a website owner, the key to your business is visitors choosing to look for your website because you have something quite unique to offer. This may entail hiring an independent company to promote your website on all of the search engines; send quality content to websites who use articles to highlight your website; and sufficiently inspect your website to ensure the keywords are used to their maximum viability. While this service may cost quite a bit of money, consider that having to do all of this work yourself may take quite some time.

If you cannot afford this type of service, you will have to begin by writing as much contact for your website as possible to promote your product or service; then submit articles to a variety of sites as indicated above. You will have to work with all the search engines, who offer a myriad of tools and resources to help you bring as many visitors to your site as possible. This can be done by using ads on your site which will enable the search engines to find you based upon the specific keywords you use.

An online home business takes time. However, you can be assured that within one year you will have established your site and begin reaping the rewards. But remember, you have to have a plan; a niche that is unique, and one that will ultimately garner traffic. Once you obtain the traffic, your ranking on the search engines moves up, and eventually you can find your site on the first or second page of any search engine. This is the key to establishing a successful online home business.

Ken Shorey is owner/webmaster of EZ-Work-At-Home.net. Visit his site to learn how to ez-work-at-home.net make money online working at home.

Looking for a way to make extra money, meet lots of interesting people, spend quality time with your family, enjoy the great outdoors … and do it all without missing a day of work? Or maybe your goal is to make two or three-day weekends the only working days of the week. You may be able to do all of that and more as a Swap Meet/Flea Market marketer!

You can find regularly scheduled Swap Meets and Flea Markets in cities and towns of all sizes across the nation, each attracting many hundreds, even thousands of bargain hunters. They may be held at the local drive-in theatre, in large parking lots, warehouses, parks, and community centers - just about anywhere there’s enough room to put up some booths and bring in a crowd. The majority of the time these meets are held on weekends, although in some locations you can find them starting on Thursdays and running four consecutive days. Swap meets and flea markets are fun, profitable, and can be a great launching pad for your business. Many people who began with Swap Meet sales have gone on to open Gift Shops, or run sizeable Mail Order businesses.

A SWAP MEET BY ANY OTHER NAME…

According to our FAR HORIZONS Business Coaching staff, there are actually three distinct types of Swap Meets.

Note: (In the interest of simplicity, from here on in when we say “Swap Meets,” we′re also referring to flea markets, craft fairs, and similar events as noted below).

1.Outdoor Swap Meets

These usually run the gamut in terms of merchandise. Here, you can find anything from high end stereo systems to fashion jewelry to families clearing out Auntie Emma’s garage of old tools, toys, and various parts and pieces from who-knows-what. Ordinarily these events attract folks looking for some bigtime discounts and bargains.

2.Indoor “Malls”

These usually attract a more professional class of marketer. The displays tend to be more organized in appearance, and the merchandise is generally of a consistently higher quality throughout the meet. Rather than tables there may be booths, and each marketer tends to specialize in specific product categories.

3.Craft Fairs

These may be held indoors or outside you′ll find them in parks, or as part of a local carnival, fund-raiser, county fair, or other similar event. Usually the marketers show their wares from booths, and the offerings can vary from homemade to high-ticket, (or homemade and high-ticket) depending on the location.

WHEN YOU PACK FOR THE SWAP MEET, DON’T FORGET THIS

We’ve heard from scores of successful Swap Meet sellers over the years, and they tell us that the two most important things you can bring with you are:

1. A friendly, upbeat attitude.

2. Willingness to barter and “play the game.”

As one member puts it, “People come to shop at Swap Meets looking for a bargain, and they come because it’s fun. So I keep a smile on my face and I’m always ready to enter into the bargaining game. I have my ‘bottom line’ price in mind, and I don’t go below it - but I’m always willing to give a little on the original asking price. That way my customer feels good about the purchase, and I still make a nice profit. We both come out winners.”

Whatever type of Swap Meet you choose to begin with, there are some simple, basic steps you’ll need to take before the event, during the event, and after the event.

Let’s start with … well, the beginning!

A FEW THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU CAN START

1. First, find out where the local Swap Meets are, if you don’t already know. This shouldn’t be too hard; they normally advertise in local newspapers, and in giveaway magazines you can find in convenience store racks. Smaller meets may not advertise, but if you check with the local drive-ins, or let your fingers do some walking through the phone directory, you should find some.

2. Next, scout the meet yourself. Take a look around, observing the tables and booths with a marketer’s eye. What are the vendors carrying? More importantly, what aren’t they carrying? What are they charging?

3. Reserve a table (or booth, as the case may be). Do this by contacting the meet manager, who will provide you with pricing, along with a list of rules and regulations you must follow when marketing at the meet. The cost for renting space at a Swap Meet varies widely, from a few dollars a day to much more, depending on the meet. Try to begin at an inexpensive yet well-attended meet, so you can keep your initial cash outlay as low as possible.

4. Select your merchandise. FAR HORIZONS’ Business Coaching staff generally recommends you begin with $450-$750 worth of merchandise (meaning your actual cost).

5. Get your other supplies ready.

Depending on the meet, you may need to bring all or some of the following:

1. At least one folding table.

2. A cash box, with some small bills and change.

3. Folding chairs.

4. A clean tablecloth.

5. A large umbrella, tarp, or other type of canopy to protect your customers (and you) from the sun.

6. Some clear plastic to protect your merchandise if it rains (obviously, this applies to outdoor meets).

7. Plenty of business cards.

8. Some catalogs, brochures, New Arrivals fliers, or other giveaways to help promote further sales.

9. Your Yellow Price List, so you know your bottom line when it’s time to haggle.

10. An order book, so you can write receipts and capture names, addresses, and phone numbers of all your customers.

11. A calculator.

12. A rubber stamp for endorsing checks.

IMPORTANT

Do everything you can to capture as much information about each customer as possible. Along with the name, address and phone, try to get an email address, (if you have email capability), a fax number, or even (especially) a credit card number, assuming you have a merchant account

THE BIG DAY ARRIVES …

If you’re well prepared, the day of the meet should go pretty smoothly. Sure, you’ll have some work to do, but it′ll be a lot of fun, too - especially when you start making some sales and putting some cash in your pocket!

Here’s what you have to do on your first swap meet day:

1. Turn off the alarm, get up, shower and get going (well, we told you this was a step-by-step guide, right?)

2. When you arrive at the meet, find your space and set up. Rehearse your set-up at home, so you can plan the most attractive display before you’re actually at the meet. Your program video offers some examples of display do’s and don’ts.

3. Decide on your “bottom line” that is, the lowest price you′ll accept for each item. Our Business Coaching staff recommends one & a half times your cost as a good guideline.

4. Be prepared to take checks. Many of your customers will prefer to pay this way, and sellers report only a very small incidence of “bad” checks. Verify that the address and phone number is current, and it helps to write a driver’s license or ID number on the check.

5. Remember to record the name, address, phone number, fax number, and email (as many of these as possible) of every customer.

6. You might want a partner along to help manage the cashbox while you handle the sales.

HAVE FUN!

WHILE YOU’RE COUNTING YOUR MONEY …

There are a couple of important things to do after one Swap Meet ends, and before another begins.

1. Build your mailing list - Add all the customer names you collected to your customer mailing list. Over time, these will be an important part of your follow-up marketing efforts.

2. Plan/Implement mailings - Depending on the size of your list, you’ll want to start sending your customers some follow-up mailings.

That pretty much covers the basics of Swap Meet Marketing. But the main thing is, have a good time. Many sellers like to involve the family, (including the kids!) and turn weekends into quality time, with everyone working together toward a common cause. Swap Meet marketing is enjoyable, highly profitable, and can be done successfully by devoting just a few hours a week. A number of sellers combine business with pleasure, and travel the country from Swap Meet to Swap Meet. They use the revenues from each weekend to pay for their trip, and for more merchandise to sell at the next meet!

Darren Hendricks has been involved in marketing in one form or another since 1979. He has owned or co-owned 3 successful companies. He is currently owner of far-horizons.info Far Horizons Home Based Business Program

There are home based businesses that make money and still are fun to run. The idea is to choose an area where you know there is a lot of excitement. You may want to sell a product that has been a best seller for years. Or, you could offer a service that answers a real need.

Here are 5 great home based businesses you could start now:

1) Computer Maintenance. This is a booming area. The best way to make money is to work with businesses. Businesses usually want a long-term contract and payment is on a quarterly basis. List your services exactly. Have the business sign your own contract. The business should pay separately for any extra work. According to experts, the biggest problem with office machines is simply dirt.

2) Meal Delivery Service. This is a huge market. People do not have time to shop for food and cook meals for the whole family. With both parents working and the children off at school and soccer practice, who is going to prepare meals? It could be you. You can prepare meals yourself and deliver them frozen once a week. Or you can outsource food shopping and meal preparation and delivery. The Board of Health in your city must inspect the kitchen where the food is prepared.

3) Pet Sitting. Over 60 million households in the United States own dogs and over 70 million own cats. Pets are considered members of the family. Pet owners buy toys, birthday gifts, sweaters, and beds for their pets. They also hire pet sitters to come into their homes one or more times a day to feed and play with their pets. You and the pet sitters you hire must be insured and bonded. Have the pet owners sign your contract.

4) Consultant Service. You can do anything if someone shows you how. People know this and are looking for an expert like you. It is important to focus on what you know and what information you can show others. People are looking for consultants to show them how to make money, lose weight, find a mate, win at golf, streamline their life, and become a Hollywood star. The pay is excellent. The money depends on the area in which you are an expert.

5) Business Outsourcing. In this case, a business would outsource their office to you. Among the services you could offer are telephone answering, mail sorting, fixing appointments, answering mail, order taking, credit card processing, public relations, and ad placement. Bookkeeping and taxes may be add-on services. In turn, you may want to outsource much of the work.

What do you enjoy doing? Think about what makes life fun for you. Whatever it is, there is probably a way to turn it into a money making home based business. Use the 5 home based businesses above as an example of how to start a work at home business of your own. You will be glad you did.

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