Online Marketing - Dennis Koray: June 2007

Friday, June 29, 2007

Working a Joint Home Based Business

Working a Joint Home Based Business

Sometimes a home-based business is not just something a mother does to spend time with her children. It can be an idea husband and wife develops in order to have something that they can do together. How well they can work together depends upon the strength of the marriage and the couple in general because some people cannot work together and live together at the same time.

What kind of business is typically that of a couple? Men are not typically the in-office kind of people unless they come from an executive background. It is more likely to find a married couple working in the construction or remodeling business with the husband doing the work while the wife handles the accounting and paperwork end of the business. Another business that is becoming more popular with husbands and wives is that of operating a web building and hosting business. Quite often what happens in that kind of business is that one of the team works on the website building while the other team member will recruit writers to write the content for the client sites that they build.

It's important to remember if you are considering operating a business with your spouse that it means you will not have any time away from each other, especially not if the business is one that is done solely in the home such as accounting or other types of computer based businesses. Many people are even working at home today as credit card processors, data entry clerks, secretaries, and even lawyers. The opportunities for working at home have increased substantially with the introduction of the internet, and with gas being so high, more couples are choosing to work at home together. Of course, you have to be aware of potential problems that can arise unless you separate the business from the personal side. If you are working with your spouse, you should work as if he or she was just any other business partner rather than your spouse. Working together in a professional capacity will help keep the premise of spending all day and all night with your spouse.

Teamwork can be quite satisfying as long as you work with each other and not against each other. No one should be totally in charge unless you choose to separate duties such as the actual project work and the office work, and whatever you do with division of duties should be agreed upon by each of you. Make your home business pleasurable rather than allowing it to breakdown the marital bonds. Learn to work together as a team, and you will accomplish what many couples don't: making your business a huge success without straining the relationship.

About the Author:
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Dennis Koray is a webdesigner and passionate online marketer
since 2001! To find his best home based business ideas and
opportunities visit his website at:
http://www.DirectMatches.com
To visit his primary business please go to:
http://www.denniskoray.ws
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Thursday, June 28, 2007

How To Make Ends Meet When You Own A Business

How To Make Ends Meet When You Own A Business

Although owning your own business may be the "best thing I ever did," it has its
drawbacks, especially in the early days. Many people have unrealistic ideas about
business ownership, thinking that it's going to provide them this six figure income right
from the first day, especially those who buy into a franchise or established retail business.
When they find out that they aren't earning the income they thought they would, they
begin to worry that they have made a mistake in judgment and worry about making ends
meet. Pre-planning solves a great deal of stress that is involved when building your
business during its early creation.

The reason many new business owners have trouble making ends meet is because they
fail to plan properly for the days that are going to yield less income. On average, it takes
a new business anywhere from three to five years to turn a decent profit. That is true even
of a franchise since those early days will involve more income going to the franchise
corporation than the franchise owner, so you have to make sure that you plan for that.
How can you plan for those early lean income days? One thing you can do in the very
beginning is make sure that you save more money before you invest in a business so that
you have enough cash set aside toward your living expenses until you start earning a
profit from your business. If you are leaving a position with another company to start
your own business and are entitled to any kind of severance package such as unused
vacation or sick time, retirement buyout, or other benefits, put those aside in a special
account in case you need them to assist with personal expenses until your business is
profitable enough to operate on its own.

One option that some people do not even know exists is that of a loan for operating
capital. This means the business owner can borrow money to see him through until the
business becomes self-supporting. Even those who know of this option fail to utilize it
properly by setting their goals too high, being over-confident about the time frame for
building the business to a profitable level, and then have to return to the bank for more
operating capital. This should be included in your business plan, and in order to make
sure that you have set realistic goals, sit down with a financial advisor or accountant in
order to assure that your business plans includes realistic goals for income generation.
Making sure you have all of the working capital you need before you open your business
saves you not only from hours of worry but also save you the potential of having to
prepare another business plan when you require additional funds.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Tips For Marketing Your Home Business

Tips For Marketing Your Home Business

Anyone who starts a home based business has high hopes for success. Many feel that with just a few simple ads the business will boom and take off into a major business. However, many find that customers are actually few and far between when it comes to a home based business. With the following tips you can help to market your home based business and turn it into a success.

While family and friends can be helpful when it comes to a home based business you should also look to expand your network. To do this consider the places where you can find good customer. Some ideas include local civic associations, regional trade shows, professional conferences and chamber of commerce meetings. If you have an online business then you may want to consider checking message boards to help build your online mailing list.

Whenever you find someone and the situation calls for it, talk to them. Everyone has the potential of being a customer if you just talk to them. The possibilities are endless and it gives you something to do instead of just waiting around for a bus or airplane. Just striking up a conversation can bring you in a lot of additional business.

Even if you don’t have an online business, one of the best advertising methods is online. Whether you are selling a local product or not, online is a way to get in contact with millions of potential customers from the comfort and convenience of your home computer.

When discussing you business it may be a good idea to leave out the fact that you have a home based business. Although a great many companies are starting up home based aspects of their companies many people still view these businesses as unprofessional. Rather focus on the product or service you are selling since this is what is important and this is what the customer wants.

Depending on the service you are offering consider doing a few local demonstrations. This can help increase the publicity for your business. Or you can offer to do a local service featuring your talents for free such as decorating a local restaurant. This way you can increase your popularity and possibly gain further sales later.

For the top marketing techniques consider attending meetings that focus on your business industry and talking with people about their successes and problems. This can help you learn what to do and what to avoid for your business. Another option is to read any trade publications for your business industry. Getting into the industry allows you to find someone that you can go to with a specific question or problem that you may encounter with your business. Just always remember to follow up with the individual and thank them for their help so they know you appreciate it.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

The Three Golden Laws of Home Business

The Three Golden Laws of Home Business

Starting, running, and turning a profit out of a home business does not have to be the tall task that most people make it out to be. While it certainly isn’t easy, it doesn’t have to be overly difficult either. With a little bit of forethought and planning, even the hardest, most complex of things can become relatively simple.

There are three golden laws in running a home business. If followed, these laws will help you create a dynamic home business, one that allows you make a decent living. If ignored, these laws will ensure that your home business does not rise above average operating results.

First, plan all the way to the end. You must have a concrete vision for the business. Where will it be five, ten, twenty years from now? What sort of scale will it have? What will it be doing differently, and what things will remain the same? Try to envision all the obstacles that may come up and prepare plans to meet them. To be sure, you will be unable to foresee all the crises that will occur. But mentally, you must be prepared for them as they come. Circumstances should not catch you completely off-guard; you should have a measure of preparation against ever-changing situations.

Second, work hard – and make your people work hard as well. With your home business, everything will start with you. You must work to become the greatest, most capable individual that you can become. Spare no expense in your education, within reason, as long as such education is helping you prepare for the future. Then, be sure that you work as hard as you can, learning all the ins and outs of the trade of which you are in. A good work ethic is important to success, and you should not neglect it. A corollary to this is that you should hire people who are just as hard-working as you are. Be sure to set targets for both yourself and others, and measure what gets done. Give reward liberally to those who achieve.

Third, utilize the power of personal networks. There is an old adage that says “It is not what you know, but whom you know.” While we may rebel against what this truism may imply, the fact remains that worldly success depends on a high degree to the number and quality of people who are kindly disposed towards you. Your personal network, as well as the networks of the people who work for you, should be utilized to their full potential, in terms of advertising and sales efforts. Treat those in your personal network well, provide the necessary services, and they in turn may promote your business to those in their networks.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Taking a Closer Look At The Profit Angle

Taking a Closer Look At The Profit Angle

Some people engage in a certain home business out of whim. It is uncommon for people to start a home business simply because they feel that this business is right for them. Unfortunately, in business, gut feel may not be enough to keep you going. More often than not, your gut feel does not really turn into reality. To really stay in business, you need to study your profit angle closely. You need to ask yourself “is this business going to be profitable?” and “how will this business become profitable?” “What will it take to make this business profitable?” If you can honestly answer these questions, then, you are closer to your dreams of making your home business a success.

Projecting future profit

To be able to make a sound projection of profits, you will need to formulate a sound business plan. In your business plan, you must make a realistic projection. You must be able to identify the expenses that you will mostly incur in the course of your business and then determine how much goods and services you will need to sell to be able to recover your cost and earn some profits. You can do your comparison by making a projected income statement.

Now, if you have no idea how to make a projected income statement or a projected financial statement for that matter, don’t start fretting about it. Making a project income or financial statement is not exactly rocket science. It is just a projection of how much money you need to earn in order to be able to pay for your business expenses and at the same time earn enough money as profit. If you are not familiar with accounting methods and process, make a research on how these things are done. Yes of course you can formulate your own methods of computing things but then your methods of computing might not really be the right way to do things. Besides, it is always easier to follow an established method of computing for profit making up something of your own.

If you do not have any spare time to learn how to make a project financial statement, you better buy a simplified computer accounting program that will allow you to create projected financial statements. The good thing about these types of simplified computer accounting programs is that you only need to input some values into the questionnaire and the program will run on its own. If you want to change your projections, you simply change the values in the questionnaire and the program will automatically adjust the figures in your projected financial statement. Most programs will allow you to change the figures as many times as you would like. This means that by spending a few dollars on a computer program, you get the work done in just a fraction of the time it would have required you to perform it had you done things manually.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Setting Up Your Own Home Based Catering Business

Setting Up Your Own Home Based Catering Business

Are you one of those people who love to cook? If you love cooking, you might want to put your talents to work and set up your own home based catering business. The good thing about setting up your business at home is that you get to earn money while keeping an eye on the kids.

Formulating your business plan

Before to start your business, be sure that you have a sound business plan. Always bear in mind that your business plan is very important if you want to succeed in your business. You don’t really need a complicated business. All you need is a list of things that you need to do to get things started, have a business goal, a timeframe and a budget. Now, don’t runaway yet, it’s not really as complicated as it sounds. You don’t need to have a PhD to write your business plan. To make a simplified business plan, just get a piece of paper and divide it into four columns. The first column should be allocated for particulars where you will write all the things that you will to do, the second column could be for time frame where you get to write the time and date when you will need to perform the task that you listed in your column for particulars, the third column will not be for your expected expenses and the fourth column will be for your expected output.

When formulating your business plan, make sure that you list all the things that need to be done, preferably in a chronological order or in your order of priorities. For instance, since you are setting up a home based catering business, you will need to get cooking equipments. On your fist column, you may write there purchase of equipments and cooking utensils. Make sure that you identify all the equipments and utensils that you need. You may write then according to your priorities. On the second column, write when you will purchase these things. In case you are not planning to purchase all your equipments all at the same time, write the different target dates you have. For your third column, estimate how much money you need to get you equipments. You may also write in your business plan as to where you intend to get the money from.

The fourth column of simplified business plan can be a bit tricky. Here you will make some business projections. If you are buying equipments, you will need to project how you will be able to recover the cost of your investment. Be realistic in your projections. Always bear in mind that it will not do your any good to be overly optimistic. Always be conservative when making projections. It is always better to exceed your projected income than to fall miserably below it.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Running a Retail Website: What You Need To Know

Running a Retail Website: What You Need To Know

Of the many potential home businesses, a retail website is one of the best. Running a retail website isn’t the easiest thing to do in the world – but neither has it to be the hardest thing you’ve ever done. Whatever the goods and services that you are selling, there are ways and means to make it work just a little bit better. Here are some tips that can help you improve your retailing efforts – and, by extension, your home business.

Create a niche site. If you want to make it big in the retailing business, you should have a site, or a group of sites, that cater to specific customer groups or to specific products. A “supermarket” set-up on a retailing website, wherein everything is thrown together, simply will not work. People can easily get confused in such an environment. Confusion can lead to frustration, and frustration can lead customers to simply give up. A niche site must be focused, targeted, and relatively easy to navigate.

Make your site easy to navigate. Everyday many people are getting on the internet for the first time. Some of these people are going to go on your site. If these people cannot navigate your site, then chances are nil that they will buy something from you. Make it a practice to review the layout of your site from time to time. Is it simple enough? Imagine yourself going around the site for the first time. Is the overall arrangement conducive to persuading people to make purchase?

Advertise, advertise, advertise. You can’t expect anyone to buy from you if they don’t even know that you’re in business. You should advertise in every possible way. Over the internet, this means giving out links and reciprocating people who link their sites to yours. It means writing articles that can extend your visibility. It means getting optimized for the search engines. However, you can also advertise conventionally. For instance, you can post banners and give out flyers and stickers. You can spread your business information by word-of-mouth as well – which is arguably the most effective way, anyway. A shining recommendation from a friend can do more than a thousand stickers.

Sell quality products. The only way to make money in retailing is to keep people buying from you again and again. And the only way to do that is to provide goods and services that are well worth the money. Remember that people must feel satisfied with their purchases, else they probably never will purchase anything from you again. If you have excellent products, people will find their way to you, even if you don’t expend as much effort advertising them.

By applying these basic tips, you should be on your way to creating a great retailing website.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Reasons to Have a Home Business

Reasons to Have a Home Business

If you are thinking about starting up a home business, chances are that you don’t need to be convinced. However, you have to be sure that you are doing the home business for the right reasons, and that you aren’t going to be surprised by anything that might happen while you are working with your home business. Make sure that you are doing it for the right reasons, and you are going to be more likely to be happy with the way that your home business turns out.

Reasons

There are many reasons to have a home business. You need to make sure that you are doing it for a good reason, and that this is going to fit into your life. You shouldn’t decide that you want to open a home business, for instance, if you simply want to work at home. There are many ways that you can work at home without having your own home business, and so if you simply want to have the freedom of working at home, then a home business might not be the best option for you. However, if you really have the drive and ambition to not only work at home, but to be able to create a business from scratch, then it is something that you should consider.

You should also not open a home business simply because you are angry with the way that your boss is running your business. A good reason to open a home business might be that you have new and innovative ideas for whatever field you are working in, and this might be why you want the home business. However, if you are simply doing it so that you can do what your boss does, only try to do it better, you are not going into the business for the right reasons.

You should be opening a home business because you want to make a difference in the field, and also because you truly enjoy what you are doing and think that you are going to be able to do it very well from home. These are all reasons that you might want to consider starting a home business. The idea of working form home and being your own boss should simply be something good that goes along with it. Remember that no matter what, once you start a home business it is going to be in your life, and it is going to be something that you have to plan for in the future. This means that a home business is something that you need to think through and plan carefully before you decide it is for you for sure. This is very important to remember.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Passing Your Home Business On To Your Kids

Passing Your Home Business On To Your Kids

There is something that is part of a home business that you might not have thought of, and that is where you are going with your business in the future. Remember that although you are around right now to run your home business, like any business, you should be hoping that you are going to continue to be successful and that you are going to continue to move foreword in whatever you are doing. If this is the case, you should be thinking about the future of your business and what you plan on doing with it. Remember that you might want to pass it on, in the end.

Passing On A Business

When it comes to whether or not you want to pass your home business on to your children, you have to think about it in the same way that you would think about passing on a regular business to your kids. There are several things that you have to think about, and you have to make sure that your family knows what you want to do.

Interest

First of all, you want to make sure that your family is interested. You don’t want to expect your children to take over your business if they aren’t interested in it, or if they have no idea what it is all about. If your kids don’t seem like they are interested, you might be better of selling your business before your retire so that you know your business is in the right hands. Remember, when you sell your business, you want to make your children happy and you want to keep your business running. If you don’t think your kids are going to be happy running the business, it might not be the best thing to do.

Responsibility

Another thing that you should keep in mind is that you have worked hard to get your business where it is, and you are going to want to be sure that it gets passed on to someone who is going to be responsible with it. This is one of the most important things that you have to think about when you are considering whether or not to give your kids your home business. Remember that if they have shown interest, and you think that they are going to handle your home business in a responsible way, this might be something that you consider doing.

In the end you have to remember that you are the one who has built up your home business, and this means that you are the one who has a say in what happens to it when you are finished being in charge. Make sure that you have made your intentions clear, and make sure that you feel good about what is going to happen to your business later on down the road.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Managing Your Home Business (So It Doesn’t Manage You!)

Managing Your Home Business (So It Doesn’t Manage You!)

The Problem of Time Management

If you already manage a home business, then you are also probably aware of how it can consume most of your time. Most likely, this happens against your will. After all, there are probably many things that you want to do with your time, such as spending time with your spouse and your children, going out with your friends, listening to music, reading some books, or what not. And yet, the task of managing your home business seems to take up all of your time. What can you possibly do?

What was described in the first paragraph is a classic example of a time management dilemma. Millions of people, not just home business owners, feel that they are not in complete control of their time. This tends to make people miserable, since most people want to feel in control of their lives. After all, what is your life but a measurement of your time? As long as you are unable to spend your time in a manner that you wish, you will never be truly happy, no matter how much money you earn or how many accolades you receive.

Managing Your Time Properly

Set your priorities. The cardinal rule of time management is this: Set your priorities. In life, there is probably nothing more important than setting your priorities, since they will set the stage for just how much time you will spend on each area of your life. You must clarify in your mind exactly what you want in life, and determine to spend more time on those things that you feel are most important.

In the immortal words of Goethe, “Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.” If your home business is the most important to you, then it is only right that you use most of your time on it. But if it isn’t, you should begin to scale back on the time you spend on it. You can either 1) get someone else to do the job for you; or 2) scale back on the amount of work you are already doing. Remember: You own your home business; it doesn’t own you.

When you work, work. Time management gurus tell us that most people don’t really work all the time that they work. This means that they may be putting in 8 hours at work, but they’re not really working for all of those 8 hours. They may spend an hour here chatting with officemates, another hour there for lunch, and another utterly distracted. This causes work to pile up and problems to surface at a later time.

To avoid this, work all the time you work. While you should definitely take creaks whenever you need them, make sure you are not kidding yourself and taking more than time than you need to. By focusing on the task at hand, you will get it done quicker and with less effort, freeing up more time for the other things you want to do.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Making Scrapbooks For Fun and For Money

Making Scrapbooks For Fun and For Money

If you are one of those creative and enterprising people who love to work on scrapbooks, you might want to turn your hobby into a very lucrative home business. There are endless possibilities when it comes to scrapbook making. Note that a lot of people love to have some really nice custom made keepsakes for different occasions. However, due to the fast paced lives that we have, most of us could not find the time to sit down and assemble our mementos into a scrapbook. Since there a strong demand for scrapbooks in the country today, one can easily earn a good living by doing the things that he or she truly loves.

Setting up your business

To get started with your scrapbook making business, you will need to clear out a space in your house where you can work undisturbed. If you don’t have an extra room in the house which you can turn into an office, just find a quite corner with good ventilation and lighting. You might want to work near a window so that you can take advantage of the daylight. To get started, you will need a working table, some glue, pencils, pens, coloring materials, scissors, cutters, paper punches, trinkets and lots of paper.

If you have children in the house, you might want to invest in a filing cabinet with a lock where you can keep all your stuff. Children are usually attracted to colorful trinkets and papers so it is better to hide your scrapbook making materials. There is really no point of quarrelling with your kids about papers and scrapbook making materials.

Once you have everything that you need, start by making some samples and take digitals pictures of your creation. Post the pictures of your creations online together with their short descriptions and their prices. Once you have everything in place, you can start marketing your products by sending out e-mails to friends, relative and colleagues invent them to take a look at your products. You can also ask your friends, relatives and colleagues to invite their friends to take a look at your site. You may also send out press releases to free public relations websites and join forums to invite people over to your site. Although there are really no guarantees that press releases and open invitations at forums will generate you some business, it can still help your site gain some mileage.

To help you get your first batch of customers, you may want to offer some perks to your would be clients. For instance, you can offer 50% discount to your first 10 clients and offer 20% discount on repeat orders. The good thing about giving out discounts is that a lot of people will be enticed to buy your product to avail of the discounts.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Keeping Up Appearances At Your Home Business

Keeping Up Appearances At Your Home Business

When you work form home, it is very easy to simply get out of bed and go to your work in your pajamas and not worry about what you look like. After all , if all of your clients are in different locations, and you aren’t seeing anyone, what is the harm in being lazy and not dressing up for work?

Be Professional

There is no harm in your business, per say, if you simply go to work dressed in whatever you feel like, but the harm is going to lie in the long term affects that you are going to see on yourself if you don’t’ dress for work. Now, you don’t’ have to be wearing a fancy suit or a glamorous outfit, but even if you are working at home all day, part of what you need to be doing is getting dressed for work.

IF you are working at home in whatever you wore to bed, you are sending yourself the message that it is okay to be lazy and that it is okay to simply slack off and not do what you should be doing. You are also sending a message, if even to yourself, that you are not professional and should not be treated as such. If you do this for a long period of time, your business is going to start to feel like just something else you do at home, and you are going to lose site of the fact that you are actually running a business.

There are some things that you can do to make sure that you always stay professional and that you keep this in your head at all times, which will make your business run much more smoothly.

First of all, be sure that you dress for work each day. It doesn’t have to be as fancy as you might if you worked in an office building, but you should be able to feel like you are at work, and you should wear something other than the clothes you would wear if you were simply at home.

Also, you should set hours for yourself to be at work. Working from home is something that can be great, but it can also turn into something that means you have to be at work all of the time. If you set yourself business hours, and stick to them, you are more likely to treat your business as a business, and not as something that is taking over your life. Something else that you have to be sure to always do is to answer the phone and emails in a professional manner, so that whoever you are communicating with will know that you are taking yourself, and your home business, very seriously.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Keeping Sane With Your Home Business

Keeping Sane With Your Home Business

There are many things that you have to think about when it comes to running your home business. One of the biggest things is to make sure that you don’t get sucked up into your home business, and that you are able to stay sane and keep it together to your family. Remember that they are probably part of why you have decided to have a home business, so you have to be sure that you are doing the best that you can for them and providing them with every opportunity to live a great life.

List Priorities

One of the most important things that you can do for yourself to keep your head clear and to keep sane while you are having a home business is to make a list of your priorities and see if you can stick to it. This is something that you should do before you even start to think about having a home business, because once you have gotten started you are going to find that you have a lot more to think about. There are going to be more offers than you think you can handle, and there are going to be a lot of decisions that you need to make. The best thing that you can do for yourself is to keep your list of priorities and to stick to it. If you say that you are going to only let your business get so big during your first year, and you make sure you stick to this, you aren’t going to find yourself with a business that is out of your control right away.

Keep things Separate

Another thing that you should do when you are trying to keep sane with your home business is to be sure that you are taking time away from your business. It is very important to start off your business by working very hard, but you also need to keep your family and your private life as something completely different, or you will find that you end up in trouble by going crazy with your home business.

A good way to keep things separate and to try to stay sane is to have office hours where you are working, and the have hours where you are not working, you are simply at home with your family. This is always a great way to keep your business and your private life separate, and if you are going to be successful with your home business, it is something that you need to be able to do, and you need to be able to do it well. Remember that if you can do these things, you are going to be able to be much more successful with your home business, and you are going to stay sane.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

How To Start Your Own Scrapbook Making Business

How To Start Your Own Scrapbook Making Business

Making scrapbooks is one of the biggest industries in the country today. According to studies, the scrapbook industry earns about $3Billion each year and this figure keeps on growing. Since scrapbook making can be done in the comforts of your home, this can be a very lucrative home business for creative people. The good thing about the scrapbook making business is that it does not really require a huge amount of capital. If you are creative and you know how to make use of whatever materials that are available, you can already create good scrapbooks.

Learning the art of scrapbook making

Starting out a home-based scrapbook making business is easy especially if you are naturally creative and artistic. However, to make sure that you are on top of everything, before you start your own scrapbook making business, you must first learn all that you know about this hobby. First, you must know the different techniques of scrapbook making. Read books and magazines about this business. You may also enroll in one of those scrapbook making classes. Practice what you have learned and then improvise. Always remember that scrapbook making is an art. Be creative. Always remember that the more unique your scrapbooks are, the more clients you will have.

Getting supplies

If you want to engage in the scrapbook making business, you must know where to get good materials. Locate a good supplier of paper and trinkets in your locality and make sure that you have enough supply of good materials all the time. If you are planning to do a lot of scrapbooks, better buy your materials in bulk and get some discount. On the other hand, if you have no time to run around town and shop for papers and trinkets, you can just go online and take a look at those sites that are selling scrapbook materials. The good thing about buying your supplies online is that you get to save a lot of time and effort. Just make sure that you order your scrapbook making supplies form reputable online stores or else you will soon find yourself with some materials which are substandard or worst, your credit card could get high jacked and you lose a lot of money.

Marketing your product

The best way to market your product is to create samples and present them to your friends and relatives. You can start by asking close family members friends if they want to have keepsakes are custom made. You may also display your designs during family gatherings and special occasions so that people will have some ideas of what you can do. If your designs are really good, a lot of people will be calling you about their scrapbooks sooner than you can imagine.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

How To Start Your Own Home Based Meals To Go Business

How To Start Your Own Home Based Meals To Go Business

If you are one of those people who love to cook, you might want to explore the possibilities of selling meals to go in your community. A lot of people are not really eating right these days. In most cases, familiar thrive on processed and instant foods because everyone is too busy to prepare a healthy meal. By offering home cooked meals to go, you will be able to help others eat more healthy foods and at the same time earn some money to contribute to the family coffers. If your neighbors and friends love your cooking, you will most likely have a lot of people knocking on your door and asking for a decent meal.

Getting organized

If you happen to live in an apartment building where everyone leaves the place in a hurry everyday, you might want to offer some breakfast, lunch or dinner to go. However, before you do so, you better check with the building administrator if these things are allowed or lese you will get into trouble. There are many apartment buildings that do not really allow these things because this could be a source of fire hazards. On the other hand, if you have your own house, offering meals to go will not be much of a problem. In most cases, after complying with government regulations, you can start your home business immediately.

Organizing things for your food to go business is not really that difficult especially if you have a computer with internet connection in your home. You can start by asking the people in the building for their email or instant messaging address. You can send your menu for the day to these addresses and ask them to send you a message as to what they will have for breakfast, lunch or dinner. For your neighbors who do not have internet connection, you can just put a cork board outside your door where you can post your menu for the day. You may also provide for some paper and a box where your clients can write their order and then drop them in the box. Furthermore, having a business phone is a must. Some of your clients may want to call you to place or cancel their orders. Never rely on your home phone for this purpose. Always bear in mind that the home phone should only be used for personal transactions and the business phone should dedicated solely for entertaining clients.

Set a specific time and place where your clients can pick up their food. Make sure that you are already and waiting a few minutes before your clients starts arriving so that you will not have difficulties getting things in order.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

How To Start Your Own Home Based Accounting And Bookkeeping Business

How To Start Your Own Home Based Accounting And Bookkeeping Business

Are you own of those people who are tired of being confined inside your windowless office cubicle? If you have been feeling claustrophobic in your small cramped cubicle with nothing but the computer filled with accounting files, now is the time for you to get out of there and look for something that will not really drive you crazy. There is really no point of torturing yourself and getting all your nerves worked out even if the job does pay the bills. Always bear in mind that you are not here in this world simply because you need to pay the bills! You have to live your life a little and have some fun.

Now, just because you are miserable with your present job, that doesn’t mean you have to dash out of the door right thins very minute and never look back. Much as we hate to think about it, we do need to pay the bills, eat and have a roof over our heads. If you really want to quit your job, you better look for alternative means of income first. Much as you would like to get away from your workplace fast, you will need your day job to keep you afloat while you set up your home business. To inspire you to work hard on your home business, set a target date when you will quit your job. Keep your target in mind and strive hard to build your business.

Since you are an accountant, you might want to start offering your services as bookkeeper or accountant to small business around your community. There are probably a lot of small businesses around your community that needs your services so start calling on people who might be in need of accountants or bookkeepers. If you know some people who are into home based business, give them a call and ask if they need your help. You will be surprised at how many people actually need accounting and bookkeeping services.

Another way for you to advertise your services is to print some brochures of describing your work experience, the services that you are offering and your professional fees. Distribute your brochures together with your business cards to family members and friends and ask them if they know somebody who might be interested in your services. More often than not, someone in the family does know somebody who is in need of accounting services.

It may take you sometime before you can finally build a good accounting and bookkeeping business. If things are not moving as fast as you would want it to be, be patient and don’t stop trying. Sooner or later you will be able to get enough clients and generate some good income.

Monday, June 11, 2007

How To Start Your Own Dog Care Home Business

How To Start Your Own Dog Care Home Business

Do you love dogs? If you happen to love dogs, you might want to start a dog care home business. A lot of dog owners don’t have time to groom or walk their dogs that they will often rely on pet care businesses to do the job for them. Considering the number of dog owners in the country today, you will not really run-out of clients who will ask to groom and walk their dogs.

Setting up a dog bath

The first thing that you will need is a place where you can bath and groom dogs. If you live in a house with a big lawn, you may want to set up a place where you can bath dogs. Never attempt to bath dogs, especially the big once inside your house. Dogs love to wiggle around and shake their hair during baths thus creating a huge mess. Playful and rowdy big dogs are adorable but when they start running around your house in their wet coats, things will not really look very funny at all so keep them out of the house. There is no point of wasting a lot of energy cleaning after a wet dog.

When setting up a dog bath, a tub or a huge basin, a garden hose, some dog soap, shampoo, a brush and some cotton towels. You don’t really need something elaborate when bathing dogs. Certainly not those pet washers that torture the poor things. Some experts believe that using pet washers where you simply put the dog inside a box and turn on the water cause emotional trauma on the dogs and must not be used at all. Well, who wouldn’t be traumatized if they were put inside a closed box with water gushing all over the place? If you want to bath dogs, forget about the pet washer and do things the old fashioned way. Dogs love it when you brush their coat and massage them. Besides, bathing a dog the old fashioned way could be a lot of fun for you too.

Setting up a grooming area

For grooming dogs, select a quite area inside the house. Of course you can set-up a grooming area outside of the house if you want to but grooming a dog inside the house is lot better. First, most dogs are less playful when they are inside the house than when they are in the yard, second, there are less distractions inside the house and third, it would be easier on your part to store all your grooming stuff. For grooming dogs, you will need the following materials; a table, towels, cotton, mineral oil, eye ointment, nails clippers and a brush. You can easily get all these stuff at your favorite pet shop.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

How To Start A Pet Based Home Business

How To Start A Pet Based Home Business

Are you one of those people who love animals? If you are one of those people who love animals, you might want to set up your own pet based home business. The good thing about selling products for pets is that you get to have some fun by doing the things that you really want to do and at the same time earn some good money. Besides, if you have kids in the house, they will probably have as much fun as you do. Kids and pets belong together so you will not really have any problems asking your kids to help out in your home business. Getting your children to help in your home business is a great way of teaching them how to be responsible.

Setting up your business

Setting up a pet-based home business is not really difficult. You don’t need to have a big space to keep all your stuff. If you open an online store where you can sell your products, you will only need to keep a few things in your house. You can just run to your supplier any time you need something. Since you will not need to keep a huge amount of inventory of pet products, you will not need a lot of money as capital investment. A few hundred dollars for your computer with internet connection and your initial inventory will be enough. For your web hosting, you can just use one of those free sites for a start to save on cost. There is really no point of wasting too much money on web hosting when you can have something for free. Besides, those sites that are offering their services for free are not really that bad.
Selecting your products

There are lots of pet based products that you can choose from. If you want to specialize on organic products for pets, you might want to take a look into organically grown food for dogs as well as toys that are made of biodegradable and organic substances. The good thing about selling these types of products is that you get to help save the planet at the same time. Besides, according to experts, organic products for animals are a lot safer because they do not contain any harmful chemical additives. Healthy pets make great companions.

When planning to sell organic pet products, you should first locate a good supplier of these products. Find a supplier of organic products near you so that you can just simply to go their place whenever you need something for your store. Always make sure that you have steady supply of the products that you sell in your site otherwise you will have many disgruntled clients in your hands. Having disgruntled clients is not really a pretty thing so make sure that you give good service.

Saturday, June 9, 2007

How To Start A Home Business With Limited Amount of Capital

How To Start A Home Business With Limited Amount of Capital

If you are thinking about borrowing a huge amount of money from friends and relatives to start your own home business, you might want to put that thought aside and find other ways of starting your business without burying yourself in a pile of debts. Just because you do not have a lot of money for capital doesn’t mean you cannot engage in a home business. There are many ways of starting your own home business even with just a few dollars.

Offering Services

One of the best ways to do away with the huge start up capital is to start a business that will only require your talents and your time as capital. For instance, if have some special skills and trainings on dealing with children with learning disabilities, you can set up a tutorial service. There are many people all over the country that are offering home tutorial services for kids with learning problems and they are earning good money. On the hand, if you have some bookkeeping skills and you have some experience in this area, you might want to offer your service to the small business around your neighborhood. You will be surprised at how many people really need your services.

Use your present resources

Using your present resources as capital for your business can help you save a lot of money. For instance, if you have a big house with a lawn, you can turn your house into a child minding center or a day care center. There are a lot of parents out there who need a safe place where they can leave their kids while they go to work or do some shopping. A day care center is not really hard to promote in the neighborhood. Once the people in your community learn that you are offering this type of service, they will start coming to your doorstep.

Working Online

There are many online businesses that do not require you to put any capital at all. For instance, if you are a good writer, you can offer your services online. The good thing about working as an online freelance writer is that you can work anywhere you are. As long as you have a computer with internet connection, it doesn’t matter if you are working inside the mall, the coffee shop or by the beach for that matter. On the hand, if you have no writing skills, you can always join one of those online affiliate marketing programs and earn commissions from the sales generated from your site. Most online affiliate marketing programs do not require you to put capital to get started. The good thing about these online affiliate programs is that they give out big commissions. If your site generates a lot of traffic, you will most likely earn a handsome income out of these affiliate marketing programs.

Friday, June 8, 2007

How To Set Up A Simplified Accounting System For Your Home Business

How To Set Up A Simplified Accounting System For Your Home Business

A lot of home businesses fail because they lack the necessary financial system to track down the flow of their money. More often than not, home based business owners are not really very keen at keeping their books of accounts, thinking that as long as money keeps coming in, they will be alright. Unfortunately, things are not really that simply when you are engaged in business. If you want to stay in business for a long time, you will need to keep track of your financial flow for your own use and for taxation purposes. Note that if you do not keep track of your income, sooner or later the IRS will be unto you and you will get into big trouble.

Setting up your own simplified bookkeeping system is not really very complicated. If you like to keep your records in your computer, you might want to buy accounting software or just simply use whatever programs that will allow you to make a spreadsheet in your computer to record your daily transactions. However, you have some money to spare for an accounting program, it would be better to have one. There is a number of easy to use accounting software being sold in the market today. The good thing about these accounting programs is that you do not need to worry about balancing your books of accounts. You simply input all your data in one page and the program will run on its own. Most accounting programs will automatically perform the different accounting process and will immediately update your statements of accounts. Retrieving data from an accounting program is also easy. All you need to do is to go to it archives and select which ones you want to see. For instance, if you want to know how much your net income is for the month, you simply pull-out the income statement page and you will see your income instantly. Another advantage of using a computer accounting program is that you get rid of all the papers and ledgers in your workplace.

Now, in case you are not comfortable using your computer to balance your books, then you just have to you things the old-fashioned way. What if you do not know anything about accounting processes? Never mind if you are not good in accounting and balancing statements of accounts, just keep a simplified records of your transactions. A three column worksheet will do nicely. You can easily find this type of worksheet in the bookstore. When dividing your worksheet, you can have one column for all the money you received in connection with the business, another column for all the money that you spend for your business and the third column will be for your running balance.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

How To Select The Perfect Home Based Business

How To Select The Perfect Home Based Business

Today, many people are taking advantage of the flexible work and turning to home based businesses which means there are plenty of opportunities and options for those who want to start a home based business. One of the first steps towards having success with a home based business is making sure you have a good home computer with internet access. However, after this it can be difficult to decide between the abundant opportunities available for those starting a home based business. It is often more a matter of finding a business that works for you since all of the home based businesses can bring you profits as long as you work at it. So how can you determine which home based business is best for you?

The first step you should take is identify what you are specifically interested in doing. While a home based business can be fun, it can also be boring if you find yourself doing something you don’t like to do. You should then look at your interests and find which ones will match with the schedule you and your family has. If you have a family or young kids then you may not want a business that requires meeting with clients or one that requires you to work during the day time. Make sure your management and time plan for a specific home based business will be able to work with your family schedule.

Consider whether or not you are willing to learn. There are many opportunities on the computer that you may be interested in doing, but without additional learning you may not be suited to the job. However, with today’s online learning it can be easy to take seminars online without having a conflict with your work schedule and family schedule. It may also be a good idea to follow this trend of online learning and start selling educational products since you will have a large market to work with and growth potential for your home based business.

You should also consider the company you are going to work for. Most of the companies that have home based jobs will want a payment of some kind. These payments can have a variety of variations and it is important to make sure the company is known for their honesty and integrity before going with them. Make sure you look into the companies history and profile to make sure they are a good company to go with before starting your home based business. Consider looking for success stories and if possible talking with others who have already worked with the company in order to get adequate information about the company you are looking to work for.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

How To Move A home Business Online

How To Move A home Business Online

If you have had a home business for awhile, chances are good that you have a great local following that provides you with most of your business. This might be great but you might feel as if you have reached a ceiling as far as your payment goes, and what you are going to be making from your home business. If you feel like you can’t go any farther with the local responsibilities that you have, you might want to move your home business online. This is something that you should consider if you find yourself wanting to grow, but don’t’ find the avenues for it locally.

First Steps

First, you have to decide if you are going to benefit from being online. Remember that if you move your home business online, you can expect more business right away. So you have to decide whether or not you are going to be able to handle more business, and if you are, you have to decide if it is going to be worth it. If you have the time and the resources to be able to handle a jump in business, then you might be ready to move online.

Next, you have to find a good web hosting site and get a website that you can use. What you do here is going to depend on how good you are at websites. IS this something that you can do on your own, or is it something that you are going to need help with? The decision is up to you, but you have to be reasonable about what your skills are online, and whether or not you are going to be able to maintain and build a website. If you feel that you can’t do a very good job you should hire it done. Remember that online today there are lots of great sites, and you are going to have a lot of competition. This means that if you are going to have a site, you had better make sure that it is good.

After you have a good website, you have to concentrate on how you are going to market your business. Be sure that you are finding lots of places to advertise your website, because remember that it isn’t going to advertise itself. You have to put the time into getting your name out there, but it is worth it because after you have done so, you’ll find that the business continues to grow. It can be something that is really frustrating, but in the end, it can end up making you the proudest business owner who really knows how to get the business going. If you are confidant, then you can move your business online, and you will see great success.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

How To Market Your Home Business

How To Market Your Home Business

Everyone knows that marketing a home business is one of the most tricky things about having one. You have to be sure that you are doing it correctly, because no matter what your business is, chances are good that there are a lot of people who have home businesses that are going to be able to compete with yours. Because the internet is open to everyone all over the world, you are going to find that it often comes down to people choosing the business that markets themselves the best.

Make Your Mark

So, how can you make your mark on the world and be sure that you are noticed? First of all, you have to have something that no one else does. Chances are good that other people have your same idea, unless you have come up with something that no one has ever heard of before. So, this means that there has to be something about your business that is unique, whether it is in your web site, the way that you do business, or the product that you are offering. You have to be sure that you can easily say that you have something no one else can offer, and that when you say this, you can actually mean it. If you can do this, you are going to be on the right track.

Market Market Market

Another thing that you have to be sure to do is to market yourself. No matter what you are doing, there is a place somewhere that is going to be able to market you. You have to rely on yourself and do your own research, and figure out where you can best market yourself. If you are just starting out, a good thing to do would be to search online for your product or service, and see what comes up. See what your competition is, and then figure out what they are doing to market themselves. Then, see where you can get your name out there and how you can make yourself known in the world where you want to be.

Another thing that you have to do is to get creative about how you market yourself. This could even be the thing that sets you apart from all the rest. If you can be sure that you really know what you are doing, you might be able to find your way to the top of something, and you might be able to be more of a success than you ever thought it would be possible for you to be. Get out there and market yourself, in the best way possible, and see if you can bring yourself to the forefront.

Monday, June 4, 2007

How to Have Success with a Home Based Business

How to Have Success with a Home Based Business

Profitability is the main key to success with any home based business. A home based business can operate for a long period of time as long as you make it profitable. However, since many businesses don’t have a profit to start with this is often the first goal of the home based business owners, and you should reach this goal as soon as possible. To achieve this goal you need to focus on business growth, be careful with your expenses and focus on what you are offering.

Focusing on growth is a key way to build your home based business profits. In order to influence your results you need to have the right mindset. If you don’t have a profitable mindset then you are likely going to stay where you are. Rather focus on growth and have the mindset to notice opportunities when they come along that can lead to gain, then take action on these opportunities right away before they are gone.

Next you are going to have to consider you expenses. All businesses have some expenses when they first start out even home based businesses. Make sure you set up a budget that includes room for advertising, a phone line, office supplies and anything else that may be necessary to the specific home based business you are considering. On your list mark down the expenses that are necessary to operating your business, these should be items that you need in order to make your home based business profitable.

You will likely run into some expenses that you don’t really need to operate your home based business. These are the expenses that don’t help your business grow and only take away from the profits of your business. Carefully consider if you truly need these expenses and if they don’t help with profitability then you should cut them for something that will actually help with the growth of your business.

However, you can only move your business so far by restricting your expenses. You also need income in order to gain profitability from your home based business. Promotion is the key to developing any business and gaining profitability. Basically you need to focus on making your business known to people.

You can’t expect to do business with you if they aren’t aware of your company. While this may seem like an obvious point, the fact is that many home based businesses fail simply because individuals don’t spend enough time promoting their business.

If you have more than one product that requires promoting then consider focusing on just one main product for your business. This way you can focus most of your attention on marketing one product and once you get interested customers you can tell them about the additional products. This will make it easier to operate your business and you will also have better results from your actions.

However, these tips don’t just apply to those who are starting a new home based business. You can still use these tips to help you move your business in the right direction if you have been working on it for awhile and just can’t get it to work for you. By using these tips you will be able to have success with your home based business no matter how long you have been in business.

Sunday, June 3, 2007

How To Hang On To Your Home Business When The Going Gets Tough

How To Hang On To Your Home Business When The Going Gets Tough

Not everyone can put up a successful home business. Beginners usually find themselves at a loss especially in the first few months of operations. More often than not, when the going gets tough an entrepreneur would opt to forget about the whole thing and give up the home business. If you are one of those people who are having trouble getting started and are about to give, hold on a little longer. Things could change for the better if you give it a little more time. Never give up on something until such time when you feel that you have exhausted all your options and still things are not looking better. To help you get through the worst parts of setting up your home business, here are some tips for you.

Conducting Evaluation

When things go wrong, as they most likely will during the first few months of your business operations, take time to evaluate the past events that led to your present predicament. It is always worthwhile to retrace your steps and learn what happened along the way. In most cases, the past events could help you analyze the many aspects of your business and could help you see your business in another perspective.

Conducting an evaluation is the best way to determine what went wrong in your business. Once you know what went wrong, you will be in a better position to find solutions to your problems. When evaluating the causes of your problems, make sure that you look into all the aspects of the situation. Go to the roots of the problems. For instance, if you product fails to sell, you must not just assume that your product is no good. It is possible that you product is good but you did not advertise it enough, the packaging is bad and the price is unreasonable. Take a look at all the possible angles why your product did not sell as you expected.

Studying options

Once you know what caused your business problems, you must now try to find solutions. Make a list of all your available options and rank them according to viability. Choose the best option and implement it accordingly. If the first option does not work, then go on to option two. You can use as many options as you like until you finally find the right one. However, you should also know when to stop. Note that there are cases which are simply too far gone for you to do anything. When you are confronted with situations are beyond help, it is best to simply walk away and let things be. There is really no point of beating a dead horse.

Ask for help

When you feel that there are things which are out of your league, do not hesitate to ask for help. Do not pretend that you know anything and that you can everything on your own. Always remember that somebody out there may have some good ideas that you could borrow.

Friday, June 1, 2007

How to Handle the Unexpected with a Home Business

How to Handle the Unexpected with a Home Business

No matter what type of business you run it is always important to make sure you protect your financial interests. Even if you have a personal home based business you want to make sure you are protected in case you experience a sudden growth or change. Preparing for unexpected events can be one of the toughest things to consider when running a home based business. However, there are three things you can do to help give you peace of mind when it comes to running your business.

The most important step is to make sure you have the proper business insurance. Make sure your business will still be able to make money even if you become injured or ill and cannot work for three months or longer. Even one month without earnings from a business could hurt someone financially.

For the home based business owner there are various types of insurance that you could look into purchasing. To find the best insurance for your business it is a good idea to talk with a professional and they will help you determine which insurance option will fully cover your business.

Speaking with a professional is also important since the requirements for business insurance will often change depending on the state you are living in. There are some companies who won’t sell you a policy unless you have been in business at least three years so they can estimate your future earnings based on your historical earnings.

If your business calls for customers to visit your home then you will likely need to purchase liability insurance as well. For those selling products it may be necessary to purchase product liability insurance. For those who work with services such as pet grooming or walking it may be beneficial to purchase malpractice insurance.

Another important aspect of being prepared for the unexpected is making sure your family is ready should you die unexpectedly. This is why it is important to make sure your will is up to date. This isn’t something a lot of people like to do, but it is very important since the reality of life is that anyone can die unexpectedly at any time. Having an up to date will can take care of both your family and your business in the event that you die unexpectedly.

With a home based business even a short term absence can cause issues. It may be a good idea to have an operations manual on hand so that someone can easily fill in for you should you need to take a leave of absence for some reason. A good operations manual should contain contact information, banking access, policies, procedures and any information important to the operation of your business.