Tuesday

Working From Home - All It's Cracked Up to Be and More

By Susan Payton

I recently was interviewed about my home based business for a local news program. I realize how many people are probably envious that I get to work from my home. I wish I could say it’s not as great as it seems, but I’d be lying. I love working from home. I don’t miss the commute or the stress of finding a parking spot. I have no difficulty separating work and family life. I simply ignore the piles of laundry until I close up shop and can focus on my family duties. Operating my marketing company out of my home keeps my costs low. I don’t have to pay for leasing office space, or the utilities that come with it. I don’t have any full-time employees, so benefits and 401Ks aren’t in my vocabulary. Home based businesses are on the rise, as more companies realize the cost savings advantages of outsourcing work to home-based companies.

If you can dream it, you can do it from home. Here are some tips for starting your own home based business:

1. Do What You Know. It’s important to be familiar with the area in which you do business. It’s also important to like it. Working from home isn’t about “getting rich quick,” it’s about having options. Think about what you are passionate about, and build your business around that.

2. Get a Strong Support Network. Start with your family. They have to be behind you 100% in your entrepreneurial endeavor, or it will be a difficult journey. Make sure your family understands that just because you work from home, that doesn’t mean you’ll be doing chores and running errands for the household! Additionally, find a strong support network of likeminded entrepreneurs. This may be a networking group in your community or a group online. When you work from home, you don’t interact with people every day, so it’s important to have a team of people who can encourage you and support you.

3. Research, Research, Research. Arm yourself with as much information as possible on both your business platform and working from home. You’ll make major adjustments from working in a conventional office, and it’s important for you to know what you’re faced with.

4. Block off Work and Family Time. It’s easy to let work time melt over into family time. Don’t let it. Establish timeframes for when you are in work mode and switch off 100% when it’s time for family. You may close your office door and turn off your computer to add to the “being off” effect.

5. Roll With the Punches. Just like starting any business, your home based business will have some rough times initially. Getting clients to pay promptly enough for you to pay bills is a constant struggle. Get through the tough patches knowing that eventually, your entrepreneurial efforts will pay off! Working from home can be rewarding. It can help you reconnect with your family, be there for your children, and give you something to strive for. While you may give up some things (steady income, higher salary), you ultimately will have the best job in the world, no matter what you do!

For more information on Susan and Egg Marketing, visit http://www.eggmarketingpr.com or email her at smpayton@eggmarketingpr.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Susan_Payton



5 New Ways People are Making Money Online in the 21st Century

By Paul Middleton

There are loads of articles out there (some written by me) telling you how to make money with Affiliates, PPC ads, ebay etc. These methods are still valid but have been around for several years.

This article brings you bang up to date with the latest way people are making money online. All excellent examples of how the Internet has opened up multiple ways of wealth creation.

Selling your Digital Pictures

If you’ve got a digital camera and an eye for a good picture you can make money by uploading your creations to stock photography sites. These sites are frequented by businesses that can’t afford to hire a photographer and will download photos from these sites according to their needs. If they choose one of your photos you will be paid a commission. One photo can bring you multiple commissions so the money can soon start adding up.

Stock Photography sites should allow you to upload your photographs for free so there is no financial risk. Most good sites will have a most popular page so you can see what sort of photographs people are looking for.

A good stock photography website to start at is istockphoto

Lending your Spare Cash.

If you have some spare money you can lend it to people who are looking for a loan using websites that act as a lending and borrowing exchange. It basically puts people who want to borrow money together with people who have money to lend (peer-to-peer lending). The borrowers get better rates than they could get from banks and the lenders get better returns than they could from leaving their money in a bank to earn interest.

Take a look at Zopa for more details.

Selling Your Skills to the World.

With more and more online business starting around the world there is a bigger demand for various skills involved in getting such businesses up and going, running and developed.

Technical skills like web design and programming are in high demand but so are the more creative skills such as graphical design and the writing of articles to be used for website content or marketing.

By far the biggest website that brings the demanders and suppliers together is Elance. Check it out you’ll be amazed at the amount of services that are in demand worldwide.

Create a Video People Love.

Following on from the massive success of YouTube loads of copycat websites have sprung up allowing people to upload and share their videos.

Some of these websites will pay the uploader if their video is popular. For example metacafe will pay you $5 for every thousand views a video gets after it reaches 20,000 views.

Looking on their Top Earners page there are four people who have earned over $20,000 and several more over $10,000 just for uploading their home videos on this site. Not a bad little sideline.

Play an Online game

There are millions of people playing massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) across the globe and this number increases every day.

Millions of young Chinese make a living from mining gold in World Of Warcraft. They then sell it onto gamers who don’t have time to do this but want to develop their character as quickly as possible. This will only be worthwhile for those living in countries where the cost of living is much cheaper than the world average as the return in dollars per hour spent is very low by Western standards.

However with the advent of virtual worlds such as Second Life that has a virtual economy with currency that can be traded for real world currency everyone can join in. Second Life has recently spawned its first “real world” millionaire who made their money by trading in Second Life real estate. The opportunities in Second Life are unlimited – check it out it’s free to join.

Every day new opportunities arise on the Internet for making money the hardest thing is deciding which ones are right for you!


Paul Middleton is a successful Internet entrepreneur. He shares some of his secrets on his website where he shows people how you can make money online working from home. Included are details of how to make money in Second Life.
Article Source:
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Work or Stay Home Mom Dilemma, Why Not Do Both!

By Bee Ryan

Are you a work at home mom? If so, why did you choose to become one? If you want to be a work at home mom, what is your reason?

Why we become work at home moms varies from mom to mom. Some moms want to be home with their kids, but need to generate an income. Some have always wanted to be their own boss or have flexibility in a telecommuting job. While others, like me, want something to call our own and make a little money while doing it.

There are many reasons and thousands of options for moms. The key is to find a work at home job or business that you love and can build and grow. When you love what you do, you cannot help but be successful.

Being able to work from home brings together the two most important factors for moms. Working from home means moms can be home with their kids and not miss the important moments and still be able to contribute to the family finances and focus on a grown up endeavor. Work at home moms can achieve a great sense of pride in themselves by being able to take an idea and turn it into a successful business.

In the past, the choice was go to work outside the home or stay home. There was no in between. Many moms who worked felt they missed out on seeing their children grow up. Moms who chose to stay home, may have felt some regret once their children were grown and they didn’t have the skills necessary to go back to work after being home for so long. Today, this does not have to be the case. Moms can have it both ways by working from home if they so choose. Spending time with their kids and building new skills and a business.

Working from home is a challenge. Finding a balance between taking care of the children, the house, and growing a business is no easy task. It takes a lot of planning and organization, but when you find a system and make it work, it’s the best of both worlds.


Mom2Mom Magazine, http://www.mom2momlounge.com is an online magazine written by moms for moms. Find mom-relevant issues, insights, product reviews, fun ideas, fashion and beauty, family travel, health, recipes, humor and more. Each issue is filled with realistic, quick and easy reads that matter to Moms.
Article Source:
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