A FEW BUSINESS START UP TIPS

Here are a few home business start up tips that I will pass on to you...and hopefully help you not to lose money on start up costs...
Especially if you are looking for a way to work at home with little or no 'out of pocket' expense.
To be honest with you, I recommend investing in a home based business as usually you have access to training and all sorts of tools when you make that investment and it saves you the hassle of trying to figure it all out on your own!
(We do not talk about individual companies on this site but if you are interested in finding out more about getting started in a legitimate home based business, let us know and we can get some information to you.)
On this page I will be talking mostly about 'get paid to do surveys opportunities' out there...
We have tried quite a few different opportunities and after we tried a few, it made us a bit more cautious so that we started doing research before we jumped!
'Get paid to do surveys' work at home opportunities'
A few home business start up tips for those looking at doing surveys online...
You can find those almost everywhere you look!
I will share our experience with you here and although it appears that there are people that are successful at it , I caution you to be very, very careful.
I was determined to find out how these things work, and I am not an emotional type of person but I was in tears by the time I finally got through a couple offers - partly from fear and partly from frustration!
This is what I discovered. Here is how those usually work. There may be an offer to get a free computer by filling out this long survey. So what happens is that someone will PAY YOU to complete a few offers on the survey.
They don't want to go through the hassle of signing up for and cancelling all the offers needed to get the free computer...
And it makes sense - they might need to complete 20 offers to get their computer and if the computer is worth $500 they can afford to pay up to $20 per offer... they will pay less for the 'free' offers and more for the paid ones...and still get their computer for a steal.
If you are determined to give it a try here are a few things you need to watch out for:
make sure to read what the policies and procedures state for completing each offer..
check to see what the policies and penalties are on cancelling your subscriptions and trial offers that you will be completing during the survey
some of the offers will not be valid if you cancel too quickly
Be prepared to spend HOURS doing these offers =)
We thought we were being extra careful , kept very careful notes of everything we signed up for.
We signed up for several offers and got paid $40 - $60 and thought ,"Well, that wasn't so bad"...
But a few weeks later we started getting some really high charges on our credit card.
We had written down all the dates everything needed to be cancelled but in some cases they were only open on certain days, or we hadn't read the policies thoroughly enough and the cancellation time was shorter....
All in all, we made about $40 and it ended up COSTING us over a hundred - so you figure that one out. :)
And I am fairly certain we are not the only ones that have been bit by this so am hoping this will help someone else by sharing our experiences!
If you are independent like I am, then you will probably give it a whirl sometime - and you may be one of the few that really get the hang of it and master it.
Stuffing Envelopes for Pay... Many people still fall for the “stuffing envelopes” home job scam...
Which basically works like this, the company runs an ad, and request a couple of dollars and a stamped self addressed envelope.
They will then send you a brochure telling you to make copies of this same brochure and run an ad just like they did...
When you get a response to your ads , you then send out the brochure and tell them to make copies. Yes, it is a scam!
There may be a few rare occasions that you will come across where you will actually be stuffing envelopes for a company but you will still be required to purchase the stamps and at over 40 cents a pop - it can add up really quickly!
It's so easy to work at home ..it's actually painfully uncomplicated. But so often we complicate matters and get overwhelmed with it all!

written by Viola Bontrager of moms-in-home-business

SEARCHING THE MARKET AND BUILDING YOU OWN WEBSITE

What is it that you love to do? What brings you joy? Do you think you can turn thispassion into a home based business?
These are questions, women need to ask themselves when thinking of a home business.My opinion is that it has to be something you love doing and look forward to everyday because for the most part, you will be spending more time at home than in the outside business world, unless your business involves meeting with people on a regular basis.

Google and yahoo search engines can be used as a tool for finding out how the market looks for the particular business you have in mind. Just type one keyword in pertaining to your chosen niche to see how many people are searching for it. over five hundred thousand is pretty good, but anything above 1 million, you will have to work extra hard at promoting your business because competition is fierce. Under one hundred thousand could mean that it is an underdeveloped market that you could become the QUEEN of. And this also takes hard work.

Once you have decided on your niche market, then you can begin building your own personal site catering to the needs of your prospective customers, clients, etc. There are some sites that are offered for free, but with my experience in dealing with them in the past, they are pretty useless for a home business that you wish to become your main source of bread and butter. I have even tried purchasing sites with ready made templates and I have found that this does not benefit me either, being that I need much flexibility in the way I need to present my site and work my business.

Finally I stumbled across what is called HTML. This is whats called Hypertext Markup Language. The coded format language used for creating hypertext documents on the World Wide Web and controlling how Web pages appear allowing connections from one document or internet page to numerous other. I am currently building a site from scratch using this option. But you may say, I really don't have time for that which is understandable for business reasons. If this is the case, then there are some pretty excellent sources to turn to. One in particular is Sitebuild It. With them you don't need to know HTML, you choose how you want your site to look, and they can even build it for you within your specifications. To learn More Go To:
http://www.sitebuildit.com

DONT BELIEVE THE HYPE

Are you tired of the hype? Have you ever wanted to acquire some long term skills with a home based internet marketing business? look no further. This course offers over 40 hours of video tutorials along with hundreds of ways to earn an income via the internet, while teaching other life long internet marketing skills. The good news is that very little money is required with these taught skills. I was a student of this course and I have spent less than $20.00 after taking the course and recouped twice what I invested in a months time, (seriously) and I have not looked back since. If you are serious about earning extra income and not just looking for a quick buck click link below:

The Best Biz Review

METHODS TO FIGHT SPAM

Industry experts estimate that three out of every five e-mail messages that are sent today are spam. This is not only a nuisance; it is costing us all time and money which could be better spent on productive ventures. Bizwala is committed to fighting spam & blocks a great deal without customer intervention. Our systems are updated daily and we are always working to improve our spam filtering. Though we may never be able to block it all, we can offer some suggestions to combat spam effectively. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: How can I prevent spam from reaching my e-mail account? A: People who send spam compile their mailing lists in many ways. Methods to compile such lists include: Sending spam to e-mail addresses that are most commonly used. A common tactic consists of building lists of targeted addresses that use frequently used words such as "webmaster" or "info" (for example, "webmaster@mydomainname" or "info@mydomainname"). Obtaining e-mail addresses that are automatically "harvested" from web sites by specialized software. Compiling lists of e-mail addresses that are either chosen or generate at random (for example, " joe1@mydomainname", "joe2@mydomainname" or "joe3@mydomainname". This method is becoming increasingly frequent. Because spammers often send spam to undefined e-mail aliases such as aabbcc@domain.com, ccddee@domain.com, mfrds@domain.com, you can combat the receipt of spam effectively by not using a catch-all address . (The catch-all is an alias that is used to receive mail sent to undefined addresses/aliases .) Q: What is spoofing and how can I fight it? A: "Spoofing" occurs when a spammer uses some version of your domain name in the "From" address field. Spammers use spoofing to try to hide their identities and to pass blame for spam to innocent Internet users. The large amount of spam messages -- many of which are sent to invalid address -- result in a significant amount of "bounced" e-mail (that is, mail that returned as being undeliverable). Unfortunately, bounced mail is sent back to the address found in the "From" line of the spammed message. Typically, the "From" line is also an undefined e-mail address not found in your mail settings. To combat receiving bounced mail messages, you can use the "devnull" alias that we mentioned in the previous question and answer. Q: Even if my account is not generating any spam, can the mail server I use get blocked because of spam? Unfortunately, yes. The main cause for blacklisting your mail server depends on where the spammed e-mail is ultimately received and how the ISP who maintains that location reacts to spam and to spam complaints. Many account holders with Bizwala forward e-mail messages that are sent to there hosting account. For example, a message sent to info@mydomainname could be forwarded to myaccount@aol.com or myaccount@yahoo.com. At other times, clients may be forwarding e-mail messages to accounts that are invalid or otherwise not in use. The processing of the forwarded e-mail message is handled by the mail server that your account uses (specifically, the MTA or Mail Transport Agent). Because a Bizwala mail server is the MTA, it is possible that the mail server could be blacklisted even though you (or any other Bizwala client) is not responsible for sending the spam in the first place. In short, you must be careful about where you forward e-mail, how you report spam, and to whom you report it. Note: Bizwala reserves the right to terminate a client's services for violations of our Acceptable Use policy. Unacceptable use includes forwarding e-mail messages to addresses that are invalid (not within the client's control) and/or sending mail with malicious intent. Q: How can I filter spam in my Inbox once I receive it? First, do NOT click any links in the spam or try to reply or unsubscribe to the spammed e-mail message. Often, these links will subscribe you to even more spam lists despite the fact that those links appear to promise that you will be unsubscribed. And, as spammers are always looking for legitimate e-mail addresses to spam, replying to a spam message in any way only tells the spammer that your e-mail address is valid. Second, some e-mail programs have built-in functionality that deals with spam that reaches your Inbox. Outlook 2000 (and newer) is one such a e-mail program. Outlook creates a folder called Junk Mail, where you can move junk e-mail and then review it before deleting. Or, you can have junk e-mail delivered to your Inbox, but color-coded so you can easily identify it. The list of terms that Outlook uses to filter suspected junk e-mail messages is found in a file named Filters.txt. You can also filter messages based on the e-mail addresses of junk and adult content senders, allowing you to move or delete all future messages from a particular sender. You can review the Junk Senders list and add and remove e-mail addresses from it. If you do not use Outlook 2000 or higher, please refer to your mail program's help files for any information related to spam filtering. Q: Are there any low cost programs out there that I can install to help filter the spam? A: Yes. There are many programs available that use a variety of methods to help e-mail end users filter spam. Effective spam prevention should include client-side software (that is, software that is installed on your local computer). Below are some links that you may want to visit: Cloudmark Safety Bar: http://www.cloudmark.comRealize that there are many products on the market that you can install on help filter spam. However, as we are not affiliated with the vendors or authors of those products, we cannot specify which of those products would work best for your specific situation. We ask that you "do your research" in order to locate which product is best for you. Q: The spam that is reaching me is being sent to defined e-mail accounts. What can I do about it? A: If any of your defined e-mail addresses are receiving too many spam messages, it may be well worth it to you to change your e-mail address. For example, if "info@mydomainname" is the recipient of too much spam, it may be a good idea to delete "info@mydomainname" in favor of "information@mydomainname. We realize that this may be a tough decision, but such an action could be a huge benefit as it would immediately reduce -- if not entirely eliminate -- the amount of spam that you would be receiving at your e-mail address. Q: How can I prevent my e-mail address from being added to spammer's mailing lists? A: As mentioned above, spammers use a variety of methods to compile lists. We have created a help document that will give you some useful tips about how to prevent your e-mail addresses from being added to lists. Protect Your Privacy If you plan to enter your information to any Web site, please review the Terms of Service and Privacy Policies of the Web site. If the policies do not clearly indicate what will be done with your information, you should reconsider posting any details to that Web site. Publishing Your E-mail Address on Your Web Site Instead of having a simple "mailto" link on your Web site, such as "Please e-mail me at joe@example.com," consider using an approved form mail script that allows Web site visitors to fill out a form to send you e-mail. Bizwala offers such a script free of charge. This will help prevent e-mail address harvesting robots and other spammers from capturing your address. email support@bizwala.net if you need assistance in setting up a spam deterrent form mail Member Profiles Try to stay away from creating and posting a member profile, on any Web site, for others to see publicly. Spammers are always reviewing such information for new e-mail addresses. Product Registration Many of us register products online. Many times the product registration form has options pre-selected that enable the company to solicit you by e-mail, even though you may not want it. Be sure to review the options you are selecting and any options that may have been selected for you by default. Posting to a Newsgroup Never post anything to a newsgroup with your real e-mail address. Consider cloaking the address or using a "disposable" e-mail address. Consider creating and using an e-mail address from one of the free e-mail address providers. Do Not Reply to Spam or an Unsubscribe Request Never reply to a piece of spam or request to be unsubscribed. Your reply confirms that your address is working and provides the spammer the opportunity to add your address to their list or sell it to another entity. This actually helps facilitate more spam. Report Spam An effective way to help prevent spam is to report it to the ISP or mail administrator where the spam originated. Such reports help ISPs to identify the user or users who sent the spam. Report the spam, including full headers from the spam, to the ISP abuse department or postmaster e-mail address. Federal law strictly limits the information that online service providers may disclose about their users. However, e-mail messages do contain some information about the sender. E-mail headers contain an Internet Protocol (IP) address that corresponds to the sender's Internet service provider (ISP). A line in the e-mail message contains an 8 to 12 digit number, separated by periods. For example: "Received: from [123.456.78.91] by . . ." The "123.456.78.91" represents the ISP's unique IP address for the sender. Most spam headers have multiple "Received: from" lines. If the e-mail message has not been forged then, in general, the first such line from the bottom is the true origin of the spammed message. After you identify the IP address, you can search to determine which ISP provides this person with Internet access. A Web site that attempts to determine the actual computer with that IP address is located at http://www.arin.net/whois/index.html -Article written by Wendy Jo McLeod http://www.bizwala.com

NEW WEBSITE LISTS SERVICES FOR SELF EMPLOYED PARENTS

Self-employment particularly among women, many of whom are mothers, is growing at a fast rate, faster even than men owned business. While many begin their work-at-home search hoping to find a job, starting a business is probably the fastest and easies way to start making money at home. But once the product or service is created, the real work is getting the word out. A new website helps self-employed parents by offering a directory that consumers can use to find products and services.

Our Milk Money was started by two work-at-home moms Ally Loprete and Kelli Shand who wanted to help parents find ways to achieve the financial means to stay home or provide more for their children, and to educate consumers about the products and services found through self-employed parents. They provide a searchable directory of businesses through Canada and the United States from which consumers can find local or Internet based businesses from which to shop or find work-at-home opportunities.

To learn more or find a self-employed parent near you, visit: http://www.ourmilkmoney.com/

FREE RESOURCES FOR THE WORK AT HOME MOM

Free resources for your home office.

Free Fax: http://www.efax.com
Free Long Distance: http://www.phonehog.com
Free Phone Conferencing: http://www.freeconference.com
http://www.easyconference.comeasy
Free Autoreponders : http://www.getresponse.com
http://www.realreply.com
http://www.sendfree.com
Free Webhosting: http://www.angelfire.com
http://www.ocatch.com
Free Online Office: http://www.networkingoffice.com
Email Management (spam protection, etc): http://www.mailwasher.com/
Free File Compression http://www.winzip.com/
http://www.freezip.com/
Free Desktop Post-its ® (lite) Post-It Software: www.freedownload.com
Free Job Time Management Software (lite) TraxTime: www.freedownloadcenter.com
Free & Trial Software: http://www.cnet.com/
http://www.tucows.com/
Free ISPs: http://www.allfreeisp.com
Free Tech Help: http://www.protonic.com/

"TRAPPED"

YOU SAY YOU FEEL TRAPPED!
BUT WHAT TRAPPED YOU?
YOU SAY THAT THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT YOUR IN IS THE CULPRIT, THAT JOB THAT DON'T PAY WHAT YOU FEEL YOUR WORTH.
THE CHILDREN THAT YOUR ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR.
YOUR CREDIT HISTORY.
EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK, IT'S ALL THE SAME.
THAT RELATIONSHIP YOU'RE STUCK IN.
THAT OLD DECREPITH CAR THAT WILL ONLY GET YOU SO FAR.
THAT MARRIAGE YOU WANT OUT OF SO BADLY.
EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK IT'S ALL THE SAME.
THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING OR SOMEONE TO BLAME.
BUT STOP A MINUTE, TAKE A LONG LOOK AT YOURSELF. WHEN DID YOU CHOOSE TO BECOME A SLAVE? WHAT SEED WAS PLANTED IN YOUR LIFE THAT SAYS STOP! YOU CAN'T GO ANY FURTHER? WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS WAITING FOR A BETTER DAY?
ISN'T LIFE TO BE LIVED IN ABUNDANCE AT THIS PRESENT TIME?
OVER 2000 YEARS AGO OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST STATED THAT "I HAVE COME TO GIVE YOU LIFE AND GIVE IT TO YOU ABUNDANLTY"
NOW I DON'T CLAIM TO BE A DEVOUT CHRISTIAN, BUT THE PRINCIPLES THAT JESUS TAUGHT ARE TRUTH IN IT'S PUREST FORM.
WHY NOT PLANT THE SEEDS OF LOVE, JOY, HAPPINESS, ABUNDANCE, AND FREEDOM SO THAT IT GROWS AND MULTIPLIES IN YOUR LIFE.
CHOOSE FREEDOM FROM GUILT AND COMDEMNATION. THAT WHICH KEEPS YOU TRAPPED.
LOVE. CRYSTAL

http://davcry.thebestbizreview.com

"MY JOURNEY"

I have come from being an abused wife in my early twenties to being a happily divorced work at home mother now. It has been long and hard but not in the least regretful because I have learned that life gives you what you ask for, whether it be conscious or unconscious. Our thought life and the words we speak on a daily basis is what forms our life. Our thoughts like anything else in our lives must be tended to and nurtured on a daily basis, just as you would nurture a garden after the seed is planted. Our thoughts can also be compared to seeds. If you plant an onion seed, don't expects strawberries, and if you plant a lemon seed, don't expect oranges. This is why it is so very important to watch what enters into our temple we call our body. For instance; If you continually watch or listen to violent material then it will infiltrate your thought life and will eventually show up in your life in some form because it was the seed that you planted. The same is true in reverse. During my years of being with an abusive man and continually choosing not so loving circumstances in my life, No matter what how much I attempted to get out of the situation, I continued to attract the same thing over and over just showing up in different vessels. This is because of the seed that was planted in my thought life early on. I thought subconsciously that taking abuse from other people made me a strong person because it showed the other person up for who they really were. This gave me a sense of power. So I continued to attract the same kinds of abuse with most people I came into contact with. (This is sick thinking but this was the seed that I planted in my life, unknowingly destroying myself with being a victim) Now because I understand the Laws of Attraction, I have begun to re-invent myself in every area of my life. I no longer accept abuse, I have gotten rid of the victim mentality and I work to stay conscious of treating myself in loving ways in everything that I do. One of my goals was to fire my boss and that is what I eventually did. I wanted to call my own shots and work when I wanted on my own terms and I accomplished this. No it was not easy but my passion for wanting to be a work at home mom was extremely strong and I had to go with it. Now I am loving the life that I live and Living the life that I love.

SETTING GOALS

Do you have a hard time when it comes to setting goals, or are not quite clear how to map them out?

If your answer is yes, then it is time to look this Goliath in the face and slay him, because without goals, you have already set yourself up for failure and your dreams will never manifest in the physical realm. Just as the ant must work his goal to store his food, you as a homebased business mom must work your goal to complete your journey.

When mapping out your goals, remember that they must be clear, realistic, and timely.

When we have well thought out and clearly defined goals, the journey towards success becomes easier, even less tiring. Why is this?

1.) A goal will help you to stay focused.
2.) A goal will keep you realistic in what you are expecting.
3.) A goal will help you to gauge your progress
4.) A goal will prevent you from having anxieties and becoming overwhelmed
5.) A goal will help you to re-evaluate and redefine your strategy to ensure consistency with our objectives.

Never Take Your Eyes Off The Prize

John Maxwell says "obstacles are the things you see when you take your eyes off the goal". Every time you take your eyes away from the goal, you will definitely fall off track. Not being able to see your goal is a recipe for failure.

Goals helps us to complete our tasks within a particular time frame, for us to make progress. Goals reminds us of where we are and what we are supposed to do to get where we ought to be, or else we will be working hard yet achieving nothing.

Goals must be planted in reality.

I hear the term "Jumping Out On Faith" all of the time, but we must remember that blind faith is foolish. It is foolish to go to the grocery store thinking that you are going to come home with $100 worth of groceries when you only left with $20. Stay true to yourself and check regulary for delusional activity.

Goals helps us to navigate properly.

My sister's husband work for the police department and he is always concerned about her safety, so he bought her this electronic navigator to take with her each time she takes a trip in the car somewhere when directions to the destination are not known or clear. Without this navigator, she would just get in the car ride around until she finally got to her destination or better yet, never find it. Not only is this a waste of time but a set up for failure. She would be driving around blindly. This is why setting goals is good.

Proscratination has no place when it comes to goals.

What must be done today, must be done today, and what must be done tommorrow, must be done tommorrow.
To post pone to tomorrow today's task will only pile up tasks uneccesarily. Therefore overworking ourselves trying to make up for yesterday.

Goals help us to cut down the stress level.

It helps us to work smart instead of hard. Yet, finishing tasks by deadline.

I read somewhere that one of the leading causes of burnout and depression is the failure to tackle simple tasks on time. As tasks pile up one after another, we end up having to work overtime and sometimes overnight; pushing our body to limits it was not designed to go.

Goals help us re-think and re-prioritize.

Finally we need to re-think our strategy to increase consistency. Strategies help us achieve our goals in a more efficient manner. Being a work at home based mom, obstacles are bound to get in the way such as life situations. When this happens we must redefine or tweak them a little. They must also line up with our desired goals. Discarding old ones and inventing new ones if necessary. Goals helps us to set up priority tasks, making the journey easier, one step at a time.

CHOOSING A WEALTHY MINDSET

Choosing Wealth as a mindset is something that one is going to need in order to become prosperous. In other words, there is no wealth with a poverty mindset. One will remain in poverty until their mindset is changed into a wealth consciousness. Get rich and business ideas are a great starting point, but without the foundation of having a wealth consciousness, one will remain poor. Think about it for a moment. Over Eighty percent of the population is living in poverty or just above. Even the ones that are in the rat race to keep up with the Joneses while the Joneses are trying to keep up with the rockefellers. The way in which they think will either keep them in debt, and continually overworking for their money.

One must concentrate on passive or residual income. This is money that works while your not. To start, you must utilize the earned income to move you towards passive income. Starting a business is a good way of moving in the right direction. However, there is no magic button in starting a business my friend. It takes planning, development and most of all persistence. This is where most of us fall to the waste side. The quickest way to start a home base business is to first think about what you want to do and how much value will it contribute to the world. For example, if you want to make Two Hundred Thousand dollars a year, find out who's doing it. Mimic what they are doing. That in itself will cut a lot of time and wasted energy from your learning curve. Next, what value will it bring. Will what ever you want to do bring enough value that will warrant Two Hundred Thousand a year? For example, when I go to pay my electric bill. Think about all the people who need electricity and are willing to exchange money for it. Reasons, They are providing you with lights so that you may see, electricity for your stereo so that you may listen to music, and other devices that need this service. That's value. One must learn that there is no free lunch, and even with a free lunch, you must take action to eat it.

Your work is cut out for you in developing your business, but you must be in the right mindset. Your creator can only do for you what he can do through you. Let's say one wants to start a shoe store and he only has a budget for a shoe shine stand. He or she must work that shoe shine stand until it produces enough to expand into a shoe department that sells shoes. Remember the old saying "You must crawl before you can walk". You must grow in everything you do. There is no such thing in not having enough. It is enough for everyone. When one is looking for Prosperity, it is like a fish in the Atlantic ocean looking for water. It is all around you. But you must be open to receive it.(by Randy Gage author of Prosperity). Learn how he went flat broke and was in debt and is now a multi-millionaire within three years. This is what I did when I got sick of being in poverty. I watch The Secret, then it led me to research on prosperity. All other things were attracted to me just from changing my thoughts. I got rid of the lack thinking of poverty mindset and adopted prosperity thinking into my everyday life. It is not quick fix. It takes time to undo what you have been doing for years. Start looking at your bills as blessings you have already received. Because that's all they are. Now, once your mindset has changed, you can go into business giving value and not trying to make a quick buck that you won't be able to keep anyway. That's why the laws of chances don't work. Gambling, winning the lottery. If winnings are made and that money is not producing anything of value, one will loose it all. That is not true prosperity. So there is the light switch. It is up to you to turn it on!

"CHOOSING THE RIGHT HOME BUSINESS"

As the internet continues to grow and expand into almost every industry, it can be difficult to determine which home business opportunities will produce a lucrative income, or simply be a waste of time. Choosing the right home job or opportunity can be an easier process, and you can start by choosing a niche topic or industry that you have an interest in. I like to think of this as job hunting. There are so many options, for example: sales, marketing, affiliate products, work at home jobs, (please be careful when it comes to work at home jobs), there are so thousands of scammers in the internet world just looking for easy money. You can also strike out on your own if you possess a really good imagination and desire to succeed in internet marketing.

Here's what you need to do to choose the right home business opportunity:

1. Decide if you want to sell a product or a service. Products take the form of retail or consumer goods that are sold through an online storefront. Sometimes this is connected to an affiliate program, but not always; many home business owners choose to stock inventory and sell their items through eBay listings or other classifieds in order to make the sale. If you are choosing a service as a business, you may need to learn more about how the industry is doing online, and seek out additional education or training to sharpen your skills. Deciding if you want to sell a product or service is a fundamental step in your business planning, but will help you close the doors to some home business opportunities while opening up the doors to the one that suits you best.

2. Decide if you want to be an affiliate. Affiliate programs are a great way to generate a residual income since you're rarely involved with developing a product and selling it yourself. As an affiliate, you join a network of other sales people to promote a particular product and will earn a commission on each sale. Affiliate products in the digital world have become increasingly popular over the past few years as more people turn are interested in buying eBooks, podcasts, and informational services. You can set up a storefront just like an online retailer, but will link all products sold with your affiliate codes instead. Affiliate sales can be a very profitable home business opportunity and entrepreneurial venture, but you do need to remain consistent and maintain a steady marketing plan and program.

3. Consider selling information yourself. Many people turn to the web to sell knowledge and tutorials about a particular subject. Seek out your passion and turn it into a profitable home business opportunity by creating your own website. A website that can draw a large amount of traffic has a lot of potential to make money from advertising, and you may also be able to sell affiliate products through it after building a steady flow of visitors. This is a valuable home business opportunity for you if you can update your site regularly and really focus on your niche topic. Becoming an expert on a niche subject or industry is a great way to build a steady stream of visitors to your site which can lead to subscription lists, newsletters, and many opportunities to sell a product or service.

4. Decide if you would rather work as an independent contractor for companies who specialize in this area. Let's say a Virtual Assisstant for instance. You can decide how many companies you will want to contract with therefore, you can decide what your income will be, but you will need to put the time in for them. The good news is that if you are very organized, this can be done without having to sit at home all day and there are some very good online schools that can be taken advantage of in order to break into this field.



5. Set your income goals. Sometimes deciding how much you want to make over the course of a year can help you narrow down your search. For example, if you only want to make a part-time income while working a 'day job,' you would choose online business opportunities that do not require a daily commitment. This includes any retail stores or sales-oriented sites that require you to fill orders and track inventory. If you do want to focus all your energy on making a full-time income, then a complete affiliate sales and marketing program, or information product selling and services may be a good choice. Finding the right home business opportunity can take time, and sometimes it's even a matter of trial and error. Still, you can narrow down your search with a few simple questions and focus on these key areas for the right fit

"EMPLOYEE OR SLAVE"

As I contemplate on the last job I held as a temporary blue collar working which was at the time, a transition from being a permanent employee in the work force to a work-at-home calling my own shots mom. I can't help but to wonder what kind of position I held. Of course, I knew what my job title and responsibilities were but I also was very curious as to how I was looked upon by my immediate superiors.

First off, I was not assigned to any permanent area within the department in which I worked , but could be horded off at any time to wherever I was needed without any say so in the matter at all. This was not all that bad being that I do understand the business aspect of things and how business operations must be ran so this part of the job was reluctantly accepted.

Secondly, I was subject to work up to 16 hour shifts on a daily basis if I was told to do so with negative repercussions such as being fired if I did not comply. This was a great inconvenience for me being that I had a large family at home who needed me on constant and ongoing basis, but if I wanted to maintain my employment status I had to decide to neglect my family's needs.

Thirdly, If I ran across any issues with on the job working conditions, coworkers, supervisors, etc. I as told in an indirect way to just deal with it. I had no voice or rights in the matters fo addressing or solving any issues that affected me as an employee. For instance. there was more than one instance where supervisors and managers actually walked away from employees while they were still talking or asking questions in regards to their well being as employees. This happen to me me on an occasion and it made me feel like less than a human being, never mind an employee.

There was also what was called blackout dates where for at least two to three months out of each year, employees were forced to work six days a week for more than eight hours a day with no vacation, sick, or personal time being granted and this was mandatory.

With all of this going on, I became increasingly depressed each day. I began to snap off at my husband and children on a daily basis while they ate hot dogs and ramen noodles, and my health, energy, and peace of mind began to deteriorate. This is when I made up my mind that I was no longer going to be an employee or would the appropriate term be "slave"

I quit my job with only one month of savings, yes it was serious. and I started my own work-at-home business with a commitment to help other women along the way suffering from the same plight I managed to escape from. Now I am living life on my own terms, being my own "Master" and no longer putting up with the pain of being a a slaved employee.

Now every decision I make is my decision, I wake up when I want to, I take a lunch when I want to, I work as many or as less hours as I want to in a day, and I solve my own issues and I must say that going from slave to master requires great strength, persistence, faith, desire and stamina but the rewards are well worth the struggles of getting their

"MY QUEST FOR A SCAM FREE HOME BASED BUSINESS"

In my quest for a perfect work-at-home opportunity, I have come across hundreds of ads promising the moon, stars and the sun all at the same time and overnight. Because I am a very cautious married mother of 5, I have been very reluctant to fork over my husbands very hard earned money just to get sucked into dreams of grandeur.

I have found that most of these kinds of ads promise thousands of dollars overnight with only the click of a button. Well, what about learning the nuts and bolts of Internet marketing?, What about being able to acquire a lifelong skill that no one can take away from you and being able to use it at will whenever you need it. This is what I decided that I wanted for myself so that I could escape the trap of being an employee, living just above the poverty level, and retiring in that same kind of poverty.

I decided that I was going to search for a program that truly is interested in teaching potential Internet marketers how to fish instead of giving it to them to keep them coming back for more. Isn't this the same thing fortune 500 companies do to their employees, only give them enough to come back for more. Well, even though I lost a little over $100.00 dollars with other programs that had rich content but no rich future on my behalf, I refused to give up. I finally came across a program that promised teach me every thing I needed know in the world of "Internet Marketing" until eventually creating an "Internet Real Estate Market Empire", but I would need to roll my sleeves up and get to work, and that it could be done using free resources on the Internet. They even told the "Get Rich Quick Dreamers" to stay away from there program, that they prefer people who want to learn a real life long skill.

After having seen this I was blown away an immediately invested in the program. This was a little over a month ago and I can say that I am still 100% satisfied and I hope that the other programs out there in the Internet world can be as straightforward and no-nonsense at the one I found. Now I am ready to share what I have learned with other exasperated "Internet Marketing Hopefuls".