Winning at Working on the Web

Winning at Working on the Web
Copyright © Ali Brown

http://www.alib.ws

In today's world of rising gas prices, longer commutes due to the rising cost of housing, not to mention the sky rocketing cost of child care, an online home-business seems the perfect solution for working from home, running your own business and satisfying the need to care for our children. For many it is. Make no mistake, however. An online home business is just as much work and perhaps even more than a storefront business in the local mall. It takes as much forethought and as much business planning. It probably won't cost you nearly as much money - if it does, you've either not done enough research or you've chosen the wrong business.

What can be frustrating about an online home business, however, is the LEARNING. the technical stuff. Finding the right hardware - well that's kind of a now brainer - after all this is an "online" business, therefore you have to be "online". For the uninitiated that means not only do you have to own a computer, but you have to make an effort to learn a bit about it. You need to have a Web site set up, you need to learn the language - yes, you can now breathe a sigh of relief, it's not that you couldn't "get it", you just haven't learned the language yet.

We have a solution! If your aren't a geek, and even geeks won't admit they are, you can still do a good, solid business on the net. There are numerous "business in a box" opportunities available today, many of which are very good. They offer a system complete with the tools you may need to get your started. I will offer a word of caution here, though, you want to be sure you have good support to implement these tools.

You want to give some though to the type of business you wish to operate. Do you want to have a store? You might think about starting an online home business selling e-books, or print on demand books – especially in the areas of self-help or how to. There are a ton of manufacturers have ready made small ticket items that they offer for "distributorships", some of whom will even help you set up your Web site. Many even have drop ship services, so you don't need to go out and buy a huge inventory when you are starting your online retail business - this can be a real plus.

Do you want to join the Multi-Level/Network Marketing world? You'll find a multitude of MLM opportunities with an online presence and tremendous resources to help you get started.

Do you want to offer a service? You might sell consulting services, information about entertainment and local or regional getaways, or offer products in an online auctions like the infamous eBay. There is also a lucrative online home business opportunity in writing and publishing on the Web.

The most important things to know about your online home business BEFORE you start one is what your startup costs will be, as well as how you will generate the income you are looking for. Will it be through commissions, will it be through direct sales, etc? You want to know how much you can anticipate making. You really need to have some idea of what your workload will be. You want to have some first hand knowledge of the quality of your products or services you are offering. This may seem like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised to know how many people know nothing of what they are offering.

The bottom line, is that an online home business should be about doing or selling what you believe in and enjoy being a part of. You must become passionate about it. That's what makes it rewarding. Make this part of your PLAN and you will be successful.

About the Author:
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To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://alib.ws
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The Best Learning Tool

-- http://alib.ws

I set out today to talk about failure - yes -- I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but folks resign yourself to this right now, you cannot become successful in an online business without failure, and lots of it.

Like I say, my quest today was to give some insight into the weighty subject, but Donovan has done it so well and has graciously given permission for this article to be republished to share with all us neophytes that may be in need of a good strong dose of cyberspace reality.

The Best Learning Tool.
Copyright 2006 Donovan Baldwin

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."
-- Thomas A. Edison

What do these people have in common? Walt Disney, Winston Churchill, Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Joanne Rowling (Author of the Harry Potter books), just to name a few.

Well, I'll give you a hint. You might say they all attended the same school. Took some of the same courses, in a manner of speaking.

Every one of them is famous today, and is considered to be the model of a successful person. However, at times in their lives, and not just during the early years, they had pretty much either failed, or had not achieved anything of note in their lives.

They all attended, in one form or another, the school of hard knocks. But, they learned in that school, and they eventually accumulated enough knowledge, enough common sense, enough experience, enough guts, maybe, to rise to a point where their names have been recorded as a part of history.

Oh sure, circumstance played a part. Had not World War II happened along, Winston Churchill would have remained a has-been rather than becoming one of the world's most famous statesmen. Had Abraham Lincoln caught a fatal disease in his youth, we would never have known his name, and how much of our world would be different?

We have to look at our lives and our circumstances in this light. I AM here now, and I CAN make various choices. One of the choices is to do nothing. One of the choices, however is to take a stand, give it the old college try, go out swinging...pick your literary cliche.

In the world of network marketing and internet marketing, those with experience and "success" can almost to a person tell story after story of failure, embarrassment, defeat, rejection, and depression. I've never met a person yet who joined a program and was making appreciable amounts of money in just a few days. I've HEARD about such things, and I am sure that there are a few who have either had the skill or luck to create a huge network business practically overnight. However, it doesn't happen to most of us.

What DOES happen to most of those who sign up for a network marketing program is that while we AREN'T experiencing overnight success, we DO experience failure, embarrassment, defeat, rejection, and depression, not to mention other "...slings and arrows of outrageous fortune."

This combination of negative pressures without any offsetting positives (I'm talking about income) in the early stages of a network or internet business causes most of the so-called "failures" and drop-outs in the networking world.

The sad part is that most of these people do not truly become "failures" until they actually give up. Yes, some will never be successful, but that is true about anything from brain surgery to law to flipping burgers. Some people are just not going to be good at certain things. Some people are going to be in the wrong place at the wrong time almost every time, but that does not mean that they are failures or should be branded as such by themselves or by anyone else.

Temporary failure, if we can see it that way, is not just a course in the school of hard knocks, it is a coach. Just as a coach may pit a boxer, wrestler, or entire team against a tougher opponent in hopes of teaching them to overcome such 0pponents, failure gives us the opportunity to learn new skills and to unlearn old, useless skills. Those who continue to grow through this process are the ones who will eventually be labeled "successful".

It is necessary to see the obstacles that a new marketer faces as training experiences, not as an insurmountable or immovable objects.

The sad part is that so many people recruiting for network marketing programs go out of their way to play up the potential gains of the business while failing to prepare the new player for the difficulties of the game. Many of us who have achieved varying degrees of success in network marketing or internet marketing can tell many of the same stories.

We tried all kinds of programs, methods, and techniques. We bought, or bought into, all kinds of books, programs, software, and miscellaneous mumbo-jumbo. We did it because we were ignorant, and perhaps a little greedy, but eventually we learned, and eventually we succeeded.

I now make a living off the internet, the mystical target, the six-figure-income. However, beside me is a bookcase full of books, on top of my work station are all kinds of software, loaded onto my computer are many programs, tucked into nooks and crannies around the room are folders full of papers. Among all of these are many things that I use to promote and grow my business, but, to tell the truth, I could probably dispose of ninety percent of it and never miss it. I have spent so much time following the wrong paths, and so much money (my term is "accidental tuition")
buying things that did little or nothing for me. And yet, I cannot truly regret all that because I never gave up the idea that some day I would succeed, and each "failure" just was another lesson learned. Eventually, all those lessons reached the point where one day my wife looked at me and said, "You know all those ads you use to read to me about making a six-figure-income?"

I replied, "Yes. What about it?"

She said, "You are."

I had graduated from the school of hard knocks, at least for the time being, but I did not graduate because I was brilliant. I graduated because I didn't give up.

Wow! Me and Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln.....! Okay, I'll shut up now, but I started with a quote and I'll end with one.

"The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."
-- Walter Bagehot


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Donovan Baldwin is a Dallas area writer and internet entrepreneur. A graduate of the University of West Florida, Pensacola, and a member of Mensa, he creates website content for his own use and that of other webmasters. He offers home based internet business opportunities at http://www.donovanbaldwin.com/

Choosing the BEST Home Based Business

Copyright © Ali Brown
http://alib.ws

Best Business from Home for You

Okay, you've decided you want to work from home. You have also decided you want your own business, tax advantages, flexibility, be my own boss, all that stuff. Now you need to decide WHICH home business.

In finding the best home based business for someone who dreams of being an entrepreneur - I'm talking about YOU here, there is no hard and fast list of "bests." You know the old saying "One Man's treasure is another Man's garbage" - well that applies in principle here too. There is little value in deciding to go into business doing something you HATE doing. (That's usually what started us on this quest in the first place - the thought of doing something day in/day out, everyday, for the rest of our lives and knowing we hate it and doing it for someone we really don't life very much.)

So it is now time to take inventory.

- What skills do you have, or can learn in relatively short order?
- What resources do you already have or can get in relatively short order?
- How much time can you spare now or free up in relatively short order?
- Does your home based business need to be something you can do in the middle of the night when the kids are finally sleeping and the house is quiet?

The success of your business may not hinge entirely on the above, but let me tell you, if you can develop a business that is in sync with skills you already have (and don't mind utilizing) you will find the road to success will have a lot less potholes.

Now you need to take an honest, objective look at whether there is truly a market for your skills and resources, who and what the competition is, and how saturated is this market. Deciding to expand the market for pet rocks because you and the children really like to gather and paint them, may not be the most lucrative business venture.

So the best way to approach this journey is to determine what you love to do -- things that you look forward to doing, that makes time fly, that you would gladly spend many hours of every day doing. Now, assess your training, skills and knowledge of various industries. Putting the dream task list with the skills lists together should create some level of crossover. The things that end up on both lists are the ones you really want to take a serious look at. If, for example, you have a real flare for scrap booking, know how to create exceptional memory pages and have experience in teaching, you may find a scrap booking franchise may be of interest. Alternatively, if you are swamped during the day and can only find time to devote to your dream business is when everyone is settled for the evening, and you have computer skills and spent the last 10 years of your life working for a marketing firm, then on-line marketing might be the answer to your prayers.

Okay - we've found the industry or decided on the products or services for, our definition of, the best home based business - lets go get started.

Whoa here horsey, our work is not done yet. Now, our chore is to determine that this brain child of ours will actually make money - we are not doing all this just out of the goodness of our hearts, after all.
You need to ask yourself "Who will be my customers? Why will they choose my product/service? How often will they need my products/services ? Do I have something that will keep them coming back? Who is the competition? What can I do to set my business apart from the competition - different services, added benefits to the customer? And, the age old question - what should I charge for my services?

This is a biggy - charge too much, you don't get the business; charge too little, you loose credibility!

You need to take an honest, hard look at expenses to determine pricing. Often it can be a no brainer - it's what the market will bear (if you have competition - what do they charge? Can you give better service/product with at least competitive pricing?) Will this price be profitable for YOU taking into account YOUR expenses? If not you have choices to make - change the market, change the product or change the industry you have chosen to market. The harsh reality is - if it doesn't make you money, it's probably not the best home based business.

Doing your homework is the most important aspect of establishing your home based business. The more homework you do the more informed you will be. The more informed you are the less trial and error you will experience. That being said, you must have trial and error - you know that saying - "the best laid plans of mice and men". Stay open-minded, stay enthusiastic, keep focused and don't let anyone tell you it can't be done. For everyone there IS the Best Home Business - you only need to want it badly enough, work for it hard enough and believe you will achieve it deeply enough.

About the Author:
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To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://alib.ws

Working on the Web

Copyright © Ali Brown
http://alib.ws

Once you have decided to take your home business opportunity online the first thing that’s needed is a domain name. It just stands to reason, if you want to conduct business on the internet, you must have a website in order to do business. What’s most important is coming up with a business site name that describes the business well enough so people have some idea what you're all about. The ideal would be that people interested in the type of products, services or business opportunity you offer could type the keywords online and the site pops up. Alternatively, something short,catchy and easy to remember will also serve you well.

For example, a business that offers online writing services might choose the name www.onlinewriting.com or perhaps www.writingfortheweb.com. Note, the name you would really like to have may already be taken and, while there are other choices like ".net" , ".org", ".biz" and so forth, you want to exercise caution here - this is generally not a good idea for building an online home business. Why? Well if you were to decide to use www.onlinewriting.net (because onlinewriting.com was already taken) most people taking a shot in the dark when guessing the site address will find the competition before they find your site because the ".com" is the extension most commonly used. Therefore, it's important to brainstorm a bit, step out of your comfort zone for a bit and be creative, choose some alternatives, even if it means exercising literary license and perhaps intentionally misspelling the name, (ie. katclothes.com instead of catclothes.com).

Now you need to be prepared to market this home business online and there are a few basic marketing rules to keep in mind. The first is to keep the URL short. A URL can be as long as 63 characters, but no one should have a business domain name that is anywhere near that long. The shorter the better when it comes to a business Web address. (If you've already chosen a name that is 62 characters long, don't despair - it's possible to redirect it to something much shorter)

The second important item to remember is to keep it logical – something people would naturally think of.

The third rule of thumb for online home business marketing is to register every common variation of the business name you can think of. If the business is about cleaning widgets and the domain is www.cleaningwidgets.com , then it would be wise to also register www.cleanwidgets.com , www.widgetcleaners.com and perhaps even www.cleaningwidgets.net. This prevents confusion and perhaps even paying for advertising that actually benefits the competition.

The last online home business rule I will go into today, which increases your opportunities for exposrue online, is to register common misspellings of the company name. www.cleaningwigets.com might be a good idea, or www.cleenwidgets.com and perhaps kleenwidgets. Remember, the object here is to get your site recognized and seen more than your competitor.

There are several sites, such as register.com which will let you know if the domain name is available However, it is good to note that many resourceful souls register domain names not intenting to use the name themselves. They will register the name and hold it in anticipation of someone else wanting to use that domain name. They then have the opportunity to sell it at a hefty profit. So, if there is a domain name you feel is just too perfect for your business that has been taken, keep in mind it might not actually be in use, you may be able to purchase it if nothing else will do. Approach the owner and see what the asking price is, what's the worst that can happen?

Planning is the most important process you will need to undertake when establishing your online homebased business. So take your time, dream a little. For that matter, dream a lot. You will be happy you did!

Ali Brown
http://alib.ws
About the Author:
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To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit: http://alib.ws

Can I "Work" from home?

Can I "Work" from Home?

Copyright © Ali Brown
http://alib.ws

If you are considering a work at home job or business situation you really need to look at it realistically, considering the disadvantages as well as the advantages. Here are some work at home issues that should be seriously considered.

"Working" at home allows you to save money on food, clothes, gas, parking, and auto insurance. Statistics show that the cost of the average work commute costs approximately $10,000 a year. Depending on the length of time the worker or entrepreneur spent commuting to work each day, she or he may have another 10 or more free hours each week if working at home.

A work at home situation can have its drawbacks, however – one must carefully consider his or her temperment and the likelihood that a home business will be enjoyable. Discover a "WHY" for your home job or business. There is a direct correlation between your "WHY" and the success of this endeavour. If you want it badly enough, you will make it happen.

Starting part-time, with a goal to ultimately quit "the day job" or ("commuting job"), is often a solution while developing the skills necessary to be successful. Obviously discipline and flexibility are a must for the home job/business to flourish. When reasonable boundaries are set for family, friends and neighbors, a work at home atmosphere will result in the reduction of stress, improvement in morale, improvement in work satisfaction and increased motivation. This reduces the interruptions, allows for greater focus on work which means improved productivity not only in work volume but reduced time to get the same amount of work completed.

Working at home or home business, particularly online can, however, result in loneliness if one doesn't make concerted efforts to get out of the house and mingle socially. It is necessary to surround yourself with a supportive environment of like minded individuals that are only as far away as your telephone or instant messenging system - mentors who have been there, done it before, and are willing to share their experiences and solutions.

We no longer have to conform to the notion our personal commitments need to take second place to the "almighty buck". Don't just think "outside the box", take a step out of it and enjoy the freedom to "work" from home. The longer you do it, the less it feels like "work".

Ali Brown
http://alib.ws
About the Author:
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To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://alib.ws

Today IS the first day of the rest of my life!

Copyright © Ali Brown

http://alib.ws

I have spent most of my adult life "stuck" knowing I wanted something more. I wanted to step "outside the box" and control my day, my life, my income. Scary thought, right? Well no more. I am proof it can be done.

Over the past month I have sat the fence, not knowing where to start. Well today is the day. There has to be a start to EVERYTHING, even my blog. I have heard so much about this blogging stuff and wondered if it is really possible for me to have enough to share to make the process worthwhile, then I realized it just needs to be worthwhile for me.

I started on this journey to earn a replacement income from home years ago. I was under the impression - and I'm positive I can't be the only one who was thinking this way - that all I needed to do was create a website. I knew it needed to be a GREAT website, but I thought that was all I needed and all of a sudden my PayPal and bank account would start to swell. You know as though through some miraculous act of the gods or fairies.

Then I was introduced to the concept of TRAFFIC or lack thereof. Well that started a whole new learning process. What a ride! Over the next while I will attempt to put my notes down and continue to update this information, hopefully it will help save someone else a bit of time, not to mention heartache.


Ali Brown
http://alib.ws
About the Author:
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To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit:http://alib.ws