Archive | March, 2015

Ideas for a Home Business

By Lowell on March 26, 2015 in Blog

Although not all businesses have to be related to computers and/or the Internet, it is highly recommended to pursue the Internet as the way and the means by which you market and advertise any home business. You will find that everything is less expensive, much faster and easier and more effective in that you can reach so many more people.

For example just a guy that made videos of his dog misbehaving has gotten over 25 million hits! Too bad he is not selling anything. He should think of something with a response like that. Some things that come to mind that would work well with a site dedicated to those videos could range from pure kitsch, like a framed portrait of the dog which could be sold as tee shirts or refrigerator magnets, to something substantial like treats for pets and pet accessories (pet beds, leashes, training books, or toys). This would be called ‘monetizing’ the site. It is likely animal lovers or people who have pets would be interested in the video and would be the best target market for pet products. It’s a natural!

So that is just one example of taking almost nothing and making a business around it. Other examples can be something like a recipe for which you receive compliments and maybe even is something passed down in your family for generations that people always love. You could make something like cookies, candies or cakes and package them up and sell them. For example gift baskets for the various holidays that include a dozen cookies, a decorative mug and some little packs of coffee, tea or cocoa. This of course involves shipping and packaging that will allow everything to arrive in one piece. You could create an expensive or even free site (blog) to advertise your gift baskets. If you have a digital camera you just need some good pictures of the baskets and the ingredients.

You would need to factor in all your costs for materials and shipping (and of course a profit) and create order forms. The cheapest (free) way to accept payments would be to get a free Paypal.com button for your site – that way you can accept credit cards through Paypal without having to incur all the costs of having a payment gateway, (“cart”) etc. (all the credit card companies charge a monthly fee even if you have no sales).

So you could apply this type of ‘theory’ to almost anything you can think of – arts and crafts – for example soap and candles, or other crafts like jewelry or decorative gifts – anything you enjoy doing or even what interests you like your hobbies – sports, etc. – you can build around anything and they actually say that you do best with what you like to do so why not make some money while you are it?

If this is all more involved than you had anticipated, you might also consider just selling the recipe! This would go nicely with a blog where you do share some recipes for free and/or discuss various baking techniques and ingredients (just keep the prize ones to make money. Again, how you might monetize a blog about baking might be to get a line of bake ware – pans, mixers, etc. In this case you might want to get a free store from Amazon.com so that you could list their products and they would handle the payments for you and pay you a commission.

Whatever you decide to do, just create a plan, do some research and then cook something up!

Going Along With the Plan = Staying on Target

By Lowell on March 25, 2015 in Blog

In the long-run, the worst time to be an ‘individualist’ or ‘non-conformist’ would be when trying to learn something new or navigate in strange waters. It is very difficult to follow instructions when one is ‘going their own way’. Usually when we are impetuous in this regard, we end up wasting time and resources when we need to do everything over again, since it wasn’t done correctly because we didn’t follow directions.

While being ‘out of the box’ is seen as (and is) mostly always intelligent BECAUSE it diverges from the norm, when learning an ‘art’ or a ‘science’ it can only be logical for us to see at least how something COULD be done (and is). So being really smart AND sensible is staying in the box just long enough to see what is going on with people who know how to (and who are) actually doing something successfully.

They say to gain the mindset of a successful person (and to become one) one of the things that we can do is to hang out with successful people. Get to know what they are like. Pick up on their ‘frame of mind’ – How do they perceive challenges? What are their little anecdotes? What are their strategies and techniques? What’s their ‘Why’? What traits do they have that make them believable or trustworthy to you?

While it would be totally icky to copy or mimic anyone else – it wouldn’t be so bad to let some of their good “luck” rub off on us by having an open mind as to what they are willing to share to help us grow. As they say, ‘the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’, there is no shame in needing to learn how to do something and being able to follow directions if only initially.

If you are starting a business you will find that there will always be ‘trial and error’ but if you can learn from ‘those that have gone before you’ you will reduce the cost of your time and money if you can focus on the right target(s) and take the correct actions.

For management (which you are becoming if you are starting a business) it makes no sense ever to go into a new company and pull the rug out from under it. Even if they are there specifically to improve performance or to mitigate all out failure, they would first need to learn how things are being done to see what works and what doesn’t work. Only then should he or she start to change anything.

So bottom line is no matter how much you think you know and how many really bright ideas you might have, if there is training offered anywhere, take them up on it especially if it is free. You can’t know too much. However starting a business inevitably is more about taking action with what you know than just knowing it.

With that said, you can get in a maze of never believing you know enough to get started and this is a classic big mistake. It’s actually self-sabotage in a way… So take things in stages – take small steps and when you are sure of your footing then it is time to get aggressive to reach your goals. It is very much like a ‘fight’ – you have to be very determined, courageous and undaunted to start a business. The more you learn and have experience, the more confidence you will feel in the process.

You can do it, and you know it!

Can’t Find a Job? Make Money At Home!

By Lowell on March 24, 2015 in Blog

Long gone are the days where we could depend on finding a job automatically, or that people could just up and quit a job because they felt they could find something better – whether it was more money or more interesting, better location, people could pick and choose when it came to a job. Nowadays the people are more likely to just feel thankful that they have a job at all and learn to live with what they can’t change.

We never know what jobs will be cut and they don’t usually give a lot of warning so as to limit the ability to retaliate by sabotage, etc. It is becoming more and more common through a couple of the job recessions in recent decades, that even higher education does not make you immune to the cycle of losing a job and not finding a replacement anytime soon. The big difference is job elimination. It is not just people moving in and out, being promoted, demoted, retiring or whatever — the position is gone. Not being filled anymore – outsourced, off-shored, eliminated, merged, workforce reduced.

It is surprising then that more people do not see the Internet and making money at home as a viable alternative to depleting all of their reserves (savings, investments, etc) just to pay the bills while looking and looking for a job that is not there, going on many unfruitful interviews that are just a waste of time. It is sad but even people that are willing to take a step backwards in salary or title just to work are turned away because employers feel that they will leave if something more along their own line becomes available.

It is said when there are so many unemployed that if an employer was looking for a girl riding a purple horse with polka dots that one could be found, so there goes the angle of just giving the job to someone who needs it even if the qualifications are not exactly matched. It is really, really a ‘cruel world’ when it comes to being unemployed. That is precisely why people need to take control of their own destiny and create their own income.

There are so many things someone could do to earn money with their computer or otherwise from home. The possibilities are really limitless. If you take stock of all of your skills and experience, and even your interests, you can come up with several different ways to make money without investing much at all. The ideal time to investigate the possibilities is when you still have a job or at least when you have the time and some resources such as unemployment insurance and/or severance pay to tide you over.

It is important to take a few days just to get over the shock and resolve all the feelings you might be having if you suddenly find yourself without a job to go to Monday. It is best if you feel good about yourself and positive about your prospects so that you will be motivated to take swift action to land on your feet. If you are so inclined you might do both – interview for jobs and pursue starting your own business from home.

Any port in a storm, it would also be ideal if you could work temporary jobs as a consultant to stretch your unemployment insurance further, etc and this is another way you may find out about available jobs. Maybe you will decide to work part-time your first year or so of having your own home business. This is ideal because it is likely you won’t make money right away while you are developing your ideas. Whatever unfolds, just know that ‘when one door closes another one opens’. Make it a better one!

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Archive | March, 2015