Internet Marketing & Home-Based Business

Archive for the ‘Entrepreneur’ Category

Who doesn’t want to work from home and make good money? I’ve worked for other people, I’ve worked for myself, I’ve worked in an office, and I’ve worked from home. I’ve made good money, and I’ve been flat broke. And I’ve got to tell you that the combination of working from home and making good money is awesome!

Unfortunately, this isn’t easy to do. There is a simple reason for this — lack of knowledge. Just not knowing how to do it is enough to keep you from finding the success you want. But there is good news. There is a program out there that helps a lot of people make money — all from the comfort of their own home.

Maverick Money Makers

This program was created by a guy named Mack Michaels, when he was fed up with working all the time, making too little money, and feeling burnt out overall. What’s different about this program is that isn’t not just some book and video course that you buy, and use (or forget about). It’s more of a coaching program.

It’s a program with video and a supportive community. Personally, I learn more by doing, after watching an example. Sure, I can read instructions, but watching those instructions is so much more beneficial. I’m up and running faster. Doesn’t that sound interesting? Doesn’t that sound like something you can actually learn from and implement?

This is a really interesting program, and something that you may be able to use to earn some serious cash. Think of what you can do with serious cash. What kind of lifestyle do you envision for yourself? Take a look at it, and if it’s right for you, take the first step. Check it out here:

Maverick Money Makers

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to work at home, or at least generate some extra income on the side? I thought so, too, and so I searched for ways that I could do that. My first idea was to sell goods on eBay. Unfortunately, that’s just too expensive for someone with no budget. After doing some research, I decided to start my own online store.

The problem I had with eBay was that I had to pay every time I listed a product. It didn’t matter if it sold or not – I still had to pay the listing fees. It wasn’t long before I started to feel those fees adding up. I asked myself if there was a way to have products for sale online without having to pay money to offer those products.

This gave birth to the idea of my own online store. It wasn’t long before I had one up and running. I was surprised by how easy it was to get going, but I was disappointed in the sales. So I dug deeper, and did more research. Before long, I was making money. I had my own home-based business that generated cashflow with only a little bit of work each week.

It’s not exactly easy, but it’s not really hard, either. Running your own online store can be a great way to earn a little bit of extra money on the side, and then – if you want – grow that side income into a full-time revenue stream.

Running an online store is how I got started in doing business online. Actually, it’s how I got started in business all together. I wasn’t happy with my career, so I started to look for a way out. I wanted to stay at home with my newborn daughter, and still earn enough money to support my family.

If you are looking for a home-based business, but you really don’t know what to do, or where to start, try running an online store. It’s fun, it’s interesting, and the rewards can pay for a new toy, a vacation, or for the future growth of your business.

Here are some tips to help you get started.

1) Create a store using open source software. Your online store doesn’t have to break the bank just to get it online. There are free software solutions out there that rival those costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

2) Sell products that you like. While there are valid arguments for selling certain products based on their own inherent “sellability,” I recommend starting out with items you personally like. That way you will be interested in what you are selling. This will make it more fun, and could make you more successful, too.

3) Learn everything you can about running and marketing an online store. There is a lot of information out there, and you have to sift through it all to find tools and techniques that will work for you.

4) Don’t give up! You might go for a whole year without having a single sale. I went six months before anyone would give me money for what I was offering. I made some mistakes early on, but I learned from them, and learned how to do the right thing. If I can learn how to sell stuff, you can too.

Starting a home-based business is a great experience. I highly recommend it. If you are having trouble deciding what to do, try starting your own online store. It only takes a little bit of work to get it going, and the rewards can far outweigh the investment of time and effort.

To get a jump-start on learning how to create and run your own online store, check out Online Store HQ.

If you are currently working as a copywriter, or if you are looking to start a career as one, I’ve got an article you need to read. It’s on Copyblogger, which is one of the net’s top sites for quick, up-to-date information on copywriting. And it’s got a nice focus on working in the information age, and using the power of the Internet.

Anyway, here’s the article. Read it:

10 Tips for Kicking Ass as a Freelance Writer

Take a look at this first video preview for my upcoming online store training course. I don’t have a name for the course yet, but I’ll think of something. Check out this video and spread the word!

Working from home presents many dangers to the solo entrepreneur. I’m going to outline seven of these dangers, hoping that you won’t make these mistakes. You see, I’ve recently moved to working from home full time. Before this, I did a combination of on-site contractor work and working from home. Now that I am at home full time, I’ve come across some trouble spots that could affect your business.

Read these, think on them, and see how these dangers fit into your own situation. If you haven’t yet made the transition to moving from your office to your home office, these items are of special importance.

1. You will be able to wake up when your body is ready to do so. What’s better: Getting enough sleep every night, or sitting at your desk at a certain time?

2. The TV calls. That television is just sitting there, calling you to it with movies, your favorite DVR’d shows, or your gaming console of choice. It’s there and it’s hard to resist. What’s the harm in a little indulgence? NOTHING. Well, so long as it doesn’t interfere with your daily cashflow. I watch TV or play a little bit of my current video game when I’m eating or just taking a break to clear my head. And I do that whenever I need to, not on someone else’s clock. Honestly, what’s the harm in goofing off in front of the TV if that’s what you need to do to maintain your own personal efficiency.

As a side note, I once knew a guy that — I swear — had the word “efficiency” confused with the phrase “work constantly without stopping no matter what.” Now that’s a seriously messed up outlook. If you need to give the TV some attention to give yourself a break and maintain efficiency, do it.

3. Hygiene. What’s the point? When you don’t have to be anywhere, why shower or brush your teeth? Until you can’t stand your own smell, is there really a point? OK, a couple of things come to mind: Cavities, fungus growing in weird places on your body, and burning holes in your clothing from your stench and the aforementioned fungus (also bacteria). Basically, you will become gross.

Don’t worry, though. You can shower and brush your teeth whenever you want. I usually wait until mid-morning. I get up, take some coffee, goof off, work some, then clean myself up. It works. Don’t neglect your personal hygiene, but keep in mind that you can do it whenever you want.

4. You will be tempted to buy things with all that gas money and lunch money you no longer have to spend. Those two things add up to a lot. What are you going to do with that extra money? Go out to eat every day anyway? Blow it on a new $60 video game each week, and then buy a bunch of candy just because you can?

No. Although all that is tempting, you should instead invest that money in your business. Either just save it as operating cash, or spend it on marketing.

5. You’re going to have time on your hands. Crave interruptions and useless meetings? You won’t find any here. When you work from your home office, you don’t get distractions or time wasters. You just get your work done and then live the lifestyle you want with all the “free time” you create by cutting out the nonsense.

6. Your stress levels will decrease to unheard-of levels. Never before has your stress been so low. This can cause some people to panic, as they are used to being in a state of “near-stroke” all the time. If you find yourself panicking, don’t worry. Just take a moment, watch some TV, take a nap, and forget about it. You’ll feel better. Not having to deal with all the crap associated with the modern workplace can drastically reduce your stress levels. Your body may react…strangely, but don’t worry. It will pass. There is hope, and you can learn to live with your decreased stress levels. People do it every day. You can, too.

7. What are you going to do with all that earning potential? That’s right, now that you are working from home, you can remove that earning cap previously placed on you by your corporate overlords (aka your “Boss”). How much you earn is up to you, and how much you pay yourself is also up to you. There are no limits except those you place on yourself.

If you haven’t yet broken free and started to work from home, make it your primary life goal. It’s so much better on the outside. It really is.

This is going to be largely theoretical, but bear with me. This should make sense to you by the end. You get paid at your job, right? Are you losing money by being there, getting paid?

Maybe.

How can you lose money while you are getting paid? Simple: If you could be making more outside your job, then you are potentially losing the difference between what you could be making and what you are making. If your earning potential is more than what you are currently earning, wouldn’t your time be better spent elsewhere?

Let’s run some numbers to put this into perspective. We’ll say that you are the following fictitious employee in this example situation:

• Job: 3D Computer Animator
• Status: Employee of mid-sized company
• Pay Rate: $20 per hour
• Time on the job: 8 hours + 1 hour lunch + 45 minute round-trip commute

$20 per hour for 8 hours is $160 per day. But your day isn’t just 8 hours long. Once you add in your lunch — which is part of the work day — and your commute, your day ends up being 9.75 hours long. When you look at the total time of your work day, you are really making $16.41 per hour, instead of $20. If your commute was an hour each way, your hourly rate would be even less. Remember, your commute and lunch break are really part of your work day because they are part of your daily money-wheel routine.

So, if you are making $16.41 per hour, how are you losing money? Well, literally speaking, you aren’t losing money, but you are losing potential earnings. I’ll explain.

Say that you hear about a guy who does the same thing you do, but he gets paid $100 per hour. When you find out about this, you want to know all the details. Since you’re only making (let’s round up) $17 per hour, you find the possibility of making $100 an hour very interesting. Upon further research, you find out that this individual works as a freelance computer animator, and he’s so busy that he turns away work.

Even more interested now, you dig a little deeper and find out that there is a whole market for independent computer animators. Furthermore, they make anywhere from $30 – $150 an hour, and sometimes more (I have no idea if this is accurate…remember, this is just an example). Even at the low end, freelance computer animators make more than you do. And this is where the concept of earning potential fits in.

After doing some research, you determine that your current skill level warrants a rate of $55 per hour. This puts you somewhere in the mid-range as far as rates go. If you were to go freelance, your starting hourly rate would be $55. Right now you are making $17 an hour, so this jump in pay — even when taking taxes into consideration — is big.

You then decide to test the market to see if jumping to freelancing full-time is a viable option. You create an online portfolio, business cards, and join a couple of freelance job sites. After a bit of work, you manage to land and complete a few small jobs. You have some extra cash in your pocket, and you’re feeling pretty good about it. After seeing the volume of work out there you’re capable of completing, and at your current rates, you determine that it’s a viable option.

The following week, while sitting at your desk, a thought strikes you: “I’m losing money right now.” Technically speaking, you aren’t losing money, because you’re making $17 per hour. What you are losing is the potential earnings of $55 per hour. This nets you a total loss potential of $38 per hour. That’s a lot of money that you are potentially losing.

You’ve already proven to yourself that you can make more money per hour by working freelance. Theoretically, every hour you spend at your “job” loses you $38. Could you use that time more wisely? Is keeping your current employment the best thing you can do for your own financial security?

Based on these example numbers, I feel safe saying the answer is no. Ultimately, it’s up to you. You’ll have to decide if your earning potential is enough of a change to push you to take action. I encourage you to take a long look at your situation to see if you could be better off by yourself. If you could be earning more, what would the smart move be?

My own experience is this: Working freelance got me more money per hour than working for someone else.

Anyone ever tell you to get a job? Have you ever said those words to yourself? I have before, but not any more. I’m going to share with you just a little bit of the outlook I’ve developed over the last few years…relating specifically to getting a job.

You see, I have rejected the system. I’ve done this for one simple reason: It doesn’t work for me. So, why not adapt to it? I am pretty flexible. But I’m not going to adapt to that way of life. Why should I let someone else’s seemingly arbitrary idea of how my life should play out run my day to day existence? I reject the system.

What about you? How do you feel about a “job?” My mom — well rooted in the Industrial Age — is alwasy asking me about benefits and insurance. What’s the big deal? Why should I have a job to get health care? Do I really need some corporate “parent” to take care of me? My mom always asks, “what about benefits?” when I tell her about running my own company. She’s always talking about health insurance.

For those of you wondering, yes, there are plenty of ways to get affordable health care without resorting to getting a job or going on welfare. But that’s a topic for another post, so I’m not going to go into it now.

What I want you to do is to change how you think, and how you react to certain situations. Don’t count on some company to take care of you. Instead, take care of yourself. You’re not a child any more. In our society, we have become dependent on some institution — someone is always going to be there to take care of us. They give us a check, they give us health coverage, they give us this and that…but for what? A just-barely-enough paycheck?

I reject the system.

Change your mode of thinking. When times are tough and you need some money, don’t say, “I need to get a job,” or, ” I need a better paying job.” You should be saying things like, “I need to start my own company,” or, “I should expand my product line to increase my monthly cash flow.”

What I’m suggesting to you is self-reliance. Take care of yourself and dictate your own future.

Say you’re a blogger, writing about whatever interests you. Then you hear about some people making money with their blogs. Why not you? That’s what crosses your mind, but does the thought go any further?

Can you make money with your blog? Can you create a network of blogs designed to both inform and engage the reader and pull money in your direction?

Yes.

But how? My first foray into Google AdSense netted me about $2.46 after the first 6 months. My dreams of making money were quickly dying. But then I learned a few things. I learned that there’s more to blogging that writing stuff no one cares about and throwing Google ads around it.

Real money – serious amounts of money – can be made by blogging. But you’ve got to know how to do it, and you’ve got to have the right system…a system set up from the beginning to pull prospects and money to your blogs.

The funny thing is that everyone can do this, but not a lot of people will. Do you know why? Because it takes some work. Making money with blogs isn’t a scheme, and it’s not life of luxury (well, not at first…). It’s work. But you can get paid handsomely for that work, and enjoy what you do every day.

I’ve just finished reading Blogging to the Bank by Rob Benwell. It’s pretty good. I’ve been blogging for a while now, and I still learned some stuff. If you haven’t been blogging for long, or if you’re totally new to blogging, then this book is definitely for you.

You can take the concepts in this book, apply them to your own situation, and start making some money. You might not make money right away, but you can do it. You can create a blog, or a network of blogs, that turns a profit for you.

Wouldn’t that be nice? I remember when one of my sites started turning a profit. It was small, but it was greater than the operating costs, and I loved it.

To get that sense of joy and the satisfaction of a job well done – not to mention the cash! – just go get Blogging to the Bank 3. I really don’t think you’ll regret it.

Get the book. Use it. Profit.

Starting with the next Cube Escape podcast episode, I will be adding training tips. What I mean is that I will be picking out a particular industry / job / business area and discussing how you can break into it.

Some people really want to be stylists, but they don’t know what to do. Others want to be freelance web developers, and some want to run their own video production company. But they don’t know where to start.

I’m going to be talking about some industry areas that I think fit well into the Entrepreneur / Self-Employed arena. I’ll pick one out for each podcast, and then talk about where you can find the training for that industry. This won’t dominate each podcast episode. It will be more like a “training tip” in each podcast.

Training is important. Whatever you want to do, you’ve got to have skills. I haven’t yet decided what industry I’m going to talk about in the next podcast, so you’ll just have to listen to find out.

I’ve been cooking up ideas the last couple of days. And these are ideas that will directly benefit you! As you know (or maybe not if you’re a first time reader), I’m all about helping you move from employee to entrepreneur. I want you to run your own company.

That’s what all this upcoming content is going to focus on. But it’s not going to focus on starting up just any kind of company. If your dream is to open up your own restaurant, or massage therapy clinic, or something like that, this stuff won’t apply to you directly. Of course, you should still check it out — you never know where you might hear an idea you can use in your own life.

This upcoming content is all about starting a business tailored for the Internet. So stay tuned! I’ve got episode 11 planned and will be recording it soon. Then episodes 12 and 13 will be all about Internet business. And you’ll also hear about this new “how-to” course I’ve just started working on. It will take me just a little bit to put together, but I’ll let you know when it’s ready.

And if you want in on the early notifications and discounts, sign up for the Cube Escape Newsletter (over on the right). Don’t wait around…take the steps you need to take to get control of your future and start your own successful company.

Keep your eyes peeled for that next podcast!