Home Based Business

Wrestling with Home Based Business Opportunities!

Wrestling with Home Based Business Opportunities!
by: Daegan Smith

What’s that you say? You say your home business has you frustrated and at your wits end. You say no matter what you try you it seems you’re only making the network marketing companies and those guru guys richer. Well, you’re probably right. But, so what!

Here’s a little story I’d like to relate to you about my own life and it has nothing to do with home based businesses. Though, by then end you should be able to draw a few parallels.

As a kid in the sixth grade I weight 198 pounds and I was teased like most fat kids. I hated it. At that time, I played football and I wrestled (heavyweight of course). I was the worst kid on both teams. I hated sports and I probably hated myself for the most part too. Even the coaches made fun of me. I really felt like I had no one on my side. Life sucked.

That went on for a few years. Then in the eighth grade I got a new wrestling coach. A short Russian man named Alex who was very hard to understand until you got use to his deep accent. I still was the worst kid on both the football and wrestling team, but for the first time in my life the coach didn’t make fun of me. This guy actually looked out for me.

Call it coincidence, but by the end of wrestling season eighth grade year, I had lost 45 pound and actually looked forward to wrestling the next year. I still wasn’t that good, but I didn’t hate the sport anymore. The next year I didn’t play football, but I started going to wrestling camps every summer and I even took notes. I note here, it wasn’t until I went to camp and started to take notes that I really learned the fundamentals of the sport.

Each year I progressively got better from that point on. My junior year in high school I was named to the all county team. By my senior year, I was named to the All-State and All-America team. I even went on to wrestle NCAA Div I for four years in college. Not bad for a fat kid. Get this, my senior year in college I wrestled in the 197lb weight class. That’s less than I weighed as a sixth grader!

I tell you this little story first to take your mind of your home business woes, but second to illustrate a few points to you. One person can change your life if you let them. Finding a good mentor that will support you even at your lowest points is worth more than any amount of money can buy. But, don’t expect that mentor to have all the answers. Go out and learn what you need. Make sure you’re fully versed in the fundamentals. After this your only limiting factor will be you.

One more thing, I started wrestling when I was 12 and I wasn’t that good until I was 18. Developing the proper skill sets that will work for you based on the fundamentals will take time. But if you take that time, the rewards will vastly outweigh the short term growing pains of getting there. If your home based business sucks right now, so what? Wrestle with it!

About The Author

Daegan Smith is the Ex-NCAA Wrestler Turned Webmaster of http://www.Perfect-Home-Based-Business-Opportunities.com – The Internets Top Home Based Business Opportunities and Ideas Free Information Resource!

businesslevitations@yahoo.com

Filed Under: Home Based Business Tagged With: home-based businedd, wahm, work from home

Ebay And Dropshipping, A Marriage Made In Heaven?

Believe it or not, eBay is the ‘BEST’ opportunity you can use right now to make money online in the dropshipping business from the comfort of your own home.

Thousands of people just like you use eBay auctions on a daily basis to sell and buy products on the Internet; now it’s your time to START your own dropshipping home-based business and succeed in the eBay auctions ‘game’!

There are no special skills required for this dropshipping business, all you need is a computer, Internet access and some basic computer / Internet knowledge.

Dropshipping is when you sell products on the Web, forward the orders to the dropship supplier and, in return, the dropshipper ships the product to your customer (buyer).

You act as the middleman between the dropshipping supplier and your buyer. You can take orders by credit card, PayPal fax or any other method you can think of. You can sell via your own Web Site, Yahoo store, or even through e-mails.

Your profit is generated on the difference between your selling price and the price the dropshipping supplier charges you.

Thanks to dropshipping you can start making money ‘instantly’ without any investment in inventory, warehousing, shipping, equipment, employees or office space.

Having products drop shipped by suppliers, allows you to concentrate on truly important aspects like advertising, sales and promotion.

Pay attention! There are lots of companies claiming to be ‘Drop Shippers’. However, a legitimate drop shipper is a factory-authorized wholesale distributor, or sometimes the actual manufacturer of the product. A legitimate drop shipper should not charge you an ‘account setup fee’ or ask you to place a ‘minimum quantity order’.

Make sure you find legitimate drop shippers who have the product(s) you want to sell, talk with them on the phone or by e-mail and let them know that you are truly serious about doing business with them.

Customer support counts in the dropshipping business, so don’t hesitate to contact dropshipping suppliers before you proceed to work with them.

This will help you decide if you really want to do business with a particular drop shipper or not.

To succeed in the dropshipping business you’ll have to LOOK for hard-to-find products that people desperately need and want to purchase.

The key is to sell products with little or no competition.

Do some research for product’s you want to sell that you think will have little or no competition on eBay.

I suggest you RESEARCH for quality products & legitimate dropship suppliers, MONITOR the eBay auction listings to see if there’s any competition and TEST the market (e.g. find out if people really want to spend CASH on the product you want to sell)

Remember! Dropshipping makes it EASY for you to start and run your own home-based businesses on a shoestring budget; and eBay is the ‘perfect’ MEDIUM to expose your product to potential buyers all over the globe!

About the Author:

Ron Keegan runs Megastar Distributors a red-hot Web Site jam-packed with lots of FREE Resources, Tips & Reports on DropShipping & eBay. Pick-up your *FREE* ebook at http://www.Megdis.com to learn more about making-money dropshipping!

Filed Under: Home Based Business Tagged With: drop shipper, drop shipping, ebay, home business, small business

The Right Way to Start a Home Based Business

The Right Way to Start a Home Based Business
by: Daegan Smith

Starting a new business is scary, exhilarating, challenging and at times downright confusing. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the huge number of tasks in front of you. When you get in that state, step back and think, “What can I do today that will get my message in front of my customers?” If you’re thinking about this all the time, the other details will fall into place.

The first thing you need to do is decide on the goals for your business. What do you personally want to get out of it? How many hours do you want to work? How many employees do you want to have? How much money do you want to make? The idea here is to get as clear a vision as possible of what your business will look like when it is established so you’ll know what needs to be done to get there. For a very clear step-by-step method to do this, I highly recommend a program called E-Myth.

Next, do the math. So many people—including me—have learned the hard way that the business they created is not capable of meeting the goals they set for themselves. To help avoid this problem, do some market research to determine how much you’ll be able to charge for your product or service and what volume you’ll be able to sell. Think about how many hours you’ll be able to work in a day and get a rough idea of the maximum amount you could make. Once you have rough estimates for those figures, you can decide if the money you could make or the time you need to put in will be worth the effort. You’d be surprised at how many people spend years working in a business that is just not capable of becoming what they hoped it would, even if everything went perfectly.

Many new entrepreneurs think success is all about developing a great product or service, but actually it’s all about selling it. Before you spend tons of time and money developing your product, make a prototype or develop a clear and concise description of what it will be, and do some market research. Figure out who your prospective customers will be, and go talk to them! Ask questions. Find out what they’ll pay. Consider their feedback and modify your design accordingly. Look at other companies that are selling similar products or services. Find out what they charge, how they market and what their competitive advantage is. Go into their stores and watch their customers. Find out what they are doing and why, and how customers respond. Once you think you have a clear understanding of what the market wants, then move ahead with your product or develop your service.

You’ll also need to decide what kind of company structure will best fit your plans (S Corp., LLC, sole proprietorship and so on).

If possible, work out of your home for awhile or rent the minimum space and equipment necessary to run your business. It’s important to keep your overhead as low as possible, at least until things start to take off. Resist the temptation to rent a nice office and fill it with furniture and equipment. I used to think that was impressive, but I came to realize it was just expensive.

About The Author

businesslevitations@yahoo.com

Filed Under: Home Based Business Tagged With: home-based businedd, wahm, work from home

How to stay motivated while working at home

You decided to work at home for a reason. Maybe you wanted more time with your family, or maybe you have a disability that keeps you from working outside the home. But as loneliness sets in, it can be hard to keep going, and reminding yourself why you work at home just isn’t always enough.

The first thing you will always need to remember is to get out of the house regularly. You can feel trapped if you do nothing but stay home all day. On your days off or when you have time, get out and do something. It doesn’t have to be anything special. If you’ve had too much time with the kids, get someone to watch them and head out with your friends.

In this same vein, take enough time off from working at home. Don’t feel like you have to be on call 24/7. Turn off the computer and get some good family time. Emails can wait and your voicemail can handle most calls.

Is the clutter in your home office getting to you? It might be time to get organized. Take an hour or two or more and get rid of the clutter. File all those papers and reshelf your reference books and binders. Find where all the pens are hiding and put them where they belong.

Do the same for your computer files. Take a look at all those free ebooks you downloaded and decide if you are really EVER going to read them. You’ll probably get rid of most of them. Make sure your files are organized into folders and subfolders so that you can find them quickly. Clean the desktop on your computer screen if it is too hard to find things there.

If you own your business, try not to spend an excessive amount of time on discussion boards and so forth. It’s probably not as productive as working on other aspects of your business. Leave them for when your work is done.

If you are not on some sort of a schedule already, try making one. It can be pretty flexible, but try to set aside regular work hours and play hours. You don’t want to overdo your work hours even when you’re just getting started, but spending too little time working at home won’t help your motivation either.

Avoid negativity from friends and family who just don’t understand how you can make a living working at home. You know you can do it, but it’s hard being told day after day that you need to get a “real job.” When you’re discouraged about your progress, talk to someone who believes you’re doing the right thing. It is very easy to focus only on the fact that it’s hard to get work done at home and your business isn’t earning that much, but it is far more satisfying to look back and see how much progress you have made.

Finally, remember that when you are working at home, whether for yourself or an employer, in a very real sense you are your own boss. There’s no one standing behind you telling you to get to work (unless you have a bossy toddler), so do what it takes to keep yourself moving and on schedule.

About the Author

Stephanie Foster is the owner of Home with the Kids, a resource that knows that there’s more to staying home with your family than just business. From money saving tips to parenting and marriage tips, to work at home jobs and businesses, you can get information and support here. You can visit the site at http://www.homewiththekids.com

Filed Under: Home Based Business Tagged With: learn internet marketing, strategies

Can you build an online home business without a monetary investment?

You see it all the time: Ads such as, “FREE HOME BUSINESS”, “MAKE A PROFIT WITH NO COST TO YOU”, etc. You see these claims in emails and on websites all over the Internet. You see them in your local newspaper and in magazines. Are all these ads just a bunch of lies, or can you really build a home business without a monetary investment? I believe the answer to this depends on a couple of different factors. 1) Is the person seriously trying to build the business and, 2) What are the resources being used to build it.

Let’s look at the first factor – YOU! (No, I am not picking on you.) What type of person can build a business without investing any money? He will have to be a self-starter. There will be no boss looking over his shoulder to make sure the job is being done. He also must be dedicated and have a strong commitment to succeed. Trying to build a business this way is going to take much time and patience. There may be many hours of sitting in front of a computer submitting websites or placing ads in his immediate future. He must have “stickability”. He must decide what he is going to try to build and stick with it. He can’t be jumping from one “sure thing” to another.

The second factor we should look at is the resources being used. Building an online business using free resources can be a very time consuming experience. I have read several testimonials from people who have done it, so I know it is possible. Success mainly boils down to this: having the time to do the research on the many free online resources, and then doing the necessary work required in putting them to good use. Let’s take a look at a few of these free resources and see if they really work.

The Internet offers a wide variety of free resources available to a person trying to build an online business. From free web hosting & html tutorials, to free affiliate programs & advice (some good and some bad).

1) Websites:
a) If you are going to have on online business, you are going to need a website. Various companies offer free web hosting. Normally in exchange for this service, you will have to agree to some type of advertising on your site. Many of these sites will also have certain restrictions of what you can and cannot do with your site.
b) Many of these same free web-hosting companies will also offer a website builder. These WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors are easy to use but are limited in what you can do with them. They do allow you to get a website up and running without learning html.
c) HTML: Learning HTML at first will seem almost impossible. What did you think the first time you looked at the source for a webpage? My first thought was “You’ve got to be kidding!!” Actually, there are many sites on the Internet that offer free tutorials that are perfect for the beginner.
d) Drawbacks: Many free websites are very plain and to be truthful, most people don’t take them serious for a business. Look at it this way: You are given two choices of locations to go out for dinner. The first one is a nice but affordable, sit down restaurant while the other is a guy cooking on a hotplate on a street corner where the only seat is the nearest fire hydrant – which one is going to look more professional to you?

2) Products:
a) If you are planning to sell some type of product on your site, you are going to have to find a place to get these products. There are a lot of companies that will “drop ship” their products for you. It’s really simple: You sell their product on your site, you collect the money from your customer, you place the order for this product from your supplier and they package and ship the product straight to your customer. Most of them will even show your company name as the return address. You pay your supplier the wholesale cost of products sold and you keep the difference between the retail prices you charged your customers.
b) Affiliate programs go beyond the drop ship companies. You promote their products, the customer clicks on your link to purchase the product and the affiliate company will handle the payment, ship the order, and send you a commission check.
c) Drawbacks: Making sure your supplier has the product readily available when your customer is ready to purchase.

3) Advertising:
a) There are tons of places online that you can place free classified ads. Simply do a search on your favorite search engine and you can spend days submitting ads all over the Internet for your product or service.
b) Search engines: Getting your site listed in the major search engines is a must. But once you get them listed, will anyone know you’re there? Think about your own search habits. When was the last time you searched through more than a few pages of results to find what you were looking for? Optimizing your website to get high search engine rankings can be a VERY time consuming affair. There are many resources available to help, but it still requires a lot of time.
c) Traffic Exchanges: You can join one or more of many different free traffic exchange programs. Simply put, you click on other websites to earn credits. When you earn credits, you site is listed on the site and some one else will click on your site to get their credits.
d) Drawbacks: Free advertising can and does work but it will cost you a lot of time in the process.

In conclusion, I would say that yes, a person can indeed build an online business without a monetary investment. But going into it with some foreknowledge of the necessary personal characteristics, process and time investments can aid you in being successful. Be prepared to spend a considerable amount of time. Search out many free programs and make decisions wisely. Even though the program may not cost you money, it will cost you time.

One last recommendation if you are considering trying this method: when you begin to see a profit, immediately invest a percentage of that money back into your business. You’ll soon start to realize that many of the necessary business-building routes become shorter when you buy resources rather than rely solely on the free ones. Your business will still have not cost you anything “out of your own pocket”, as you’ll be utilizing your first profits made from your time investments.

About the Author

Craig Binkley – husband, father and home
business owner assisting in the restoration
of the “traditional” family.
http://www.bornagainbargains.com

Filed Under: Home Based Business Tagged With: small business, small business management, Web hosting Management