Work At Home Business Options

Archive for December, 2009

First of all, Happy New Year! As we finally close the holidays and the 2009 year…it’s time to reflect on how our businesses did in 2009.

When I look through my 2009 business year stats, I look at how many parties booked and how many of them were a success? I like to make sure that I am increasing my party bookings and reducing cancellations.

I also take a look at my advertising and marketing efforts. What worked and what didn’t work and I draft up a new advertising and marketing plan for the new year.

Another important thing to look at is over all team growth. How did your recruiting and sponsoring go? Did you increase your team size more in 2009 than what you did in 2008? How did your downline team do with their recruiting efforts? If you are not pleased with your team growth, its time to draft up a new recruiting plan.

How were your over all customer sales? Did you have increased sales in 2009 compared to 2008?

The longer you are in your Direct Sales business…the more growth and sales increases you should see. If you are not seeing increased results, it’s time to make a new plan.

During the 2010 year, I will be posting a lot of tips on how to effectively recruit and sponsor new team members, effective online and offline marketing tips and how you can get better organized and focused with your home business.

For now…enjoy your holiday!

~ Shelly ~

3 Steps To Starting A Digital Photography Business by Mindy Benkert

If you are never in the pictures, because you are always behind the camera, you should consider putting all of your experience to work in a digital photography business. Digital photography is becoming more and more the norm for the way that our memories are being recorded and preserved, and times have surely changed. A century ago, only the really rich people could afford to preserve their memories with photographs, but today, almost everyone has digital albums of pictures that were taken at various events.

If you are good at taking pictures, maybe starting a home business in digital photography would be a very profitable endeavor. People often pay huge sums of money for a photographer for their wedding, graduation, or other party; why not get paid for something that you already like to do?

Step One: The first step to starting a digital photography business is to make sure that your equipment is functional, high quality and up-to-date. No one is going to pay for blurry images.

Step Two: Research the legalities required to start a business in your state. You may be required to register your company name with the secretary of state.

Step Three: Take the time to create a professional appearance.

A few ways to do this would be:

- Have a logo professionally created

- Create a website

- Order business cards with your logo

- Have letterhead printed with your logo

- Create a portfolio of your work

When you have completed these steps, you are ready to find a few clients. You may have to work for a reduced fee to gain a couple of clients, but once you provide great work to them, they’ll recommend you to their friends and you will have people pounding down your door! When you are working with your clients, you are going to want to include some of your best pictures and make a portfolio. This can be a digital album of the work that you have done. It can be on disk, DVD or paper. It is really important that you have something to show prospective clients, and even more important that your portfolio reflects the quality of your work.

When thinking about your digital photography business, one thing to consider is whether or not you can add something special or unique. Perhaps, you can offer to make a digital album of their wedding, adding music, video, and special backgrounds to their pictures, to make a virtual slideshow on a DVD. Or, if you are talented with computer programs, perhaps you could retouch some of the photos that are going to be printed and enlarged, so that the bride and groom look their very best.

If you are a good photographer, and people always look their best when you are behind the lens, consider starting a digital photography business. The only thing better than being able to capture people’s memories, is being able to capture and preserve their memories well.

Mindy Benkert is a successful business owner and mom devoted to helping others find their perfect Home Business. Visit her site today to find yours!

Article Source: WAHM Articles

From Black Friday and right up until the Christmas Holiday, we scour the newspaper ads and the Internet shopping ads looking for the best pre-holiday shopping deals. Now that the Christmas Holiday is over, its time to grab some post-holiday shopping deals and pack them away for next year.

I like to go out and hit the retail stores the first few days after the holiday and once I am in the store, I immediately head to their seasonal section and snatch up gift wrap, gift bags, to and from tags, ribbons, bows and other gift wrapping essentials. At most retail stores, you can now purchase these items for 70% to 90% off. This is also the best time to snatch up your holiday greeting cards for next year!

If you are like me, I love buying tree ornaments and using them in gift baskets or as package toppers. You will want to hit the trim-the-tree section next and snatch up some Christmas Tree ornaments to pack away for next year. When I am purchasing the ornaments, I look for ones that have no year or date on them…no one likes getting an ornament that is dated 2009 when you are giving it in 2010.

After I am done in the seasonal section of the store, I head to the holiday gift section and look for pre-packaged gift sets. I specifically look for bath and bath gift sets and foodie gifts. You can give them as a gift next year or break them down into smaller individual gifts or stocking stuffers.

Example: When I was out earlier today, I purchased 5 bath and body gift sets and each one was marked down to $3.50 per set (originally priced at $15.00 to $18.00 per set) and contained 5-6 products in each set. You can take the gift sets apart and break them down into smaller frugal gifts.

If you received any gift cards this year from Santa, now is the time to redeem them. Yes…I know the stores are busy with everyone trying to get their post-holiday sale items…but in reality….you can get a lot more with your gift card if you redeem it now because all of the retail stores are having big after the holiday clearance sales.

Now you might be saying to yourself…where am I going to store all of my post-holiday bargains? That is easy….head on over to the house wares department and purchase some plastic under-the-bed storage containers. Last year I found some on clearance for $3.00 each and I have 8 of them laying under my queen-sized bed. These are also handy for any little gifts that you might pick up during the year to use next holiday season.

The best time to go out and snatch up the post-holiday season shopping deals is the first 3-4 days after the holiday is over. Be prepared to stand in long lines, have a hard time finding close parking spaces etc. However, going out early in the morning and taking your patience and good cheer with you…will help you get through the shopping day.

Happy Shopping!

~ Shelly ~

When it comes to having a home based Direct Sales Business, there will be times that emergencies can affect your business schedule. Do you have a back-up plan in place? If not, why not? In my personal opinion, you should!

I have an emergency plan in place in case of a personal emergency. I have a local consultant who is with the same company as myself (my downline of course) who will go out and do parties for me if an emergency should arise. I do the same for her.

She gets to keep the sales from the party but I get the party bookings or we split them…we both work well together so nothing has ever been an issue between us.

I believe it is important to have an emergency plan and a back-up consultant just incase something happens and you can’t make the party or event. If you just cancel and try to reschedule, you could irritate your party host and in turn, lose business…so it’s better to have a back-up plan in place with a fellow consultant who you work well with.

So, if you don’t have a plan in place, make it a goal in 2010 to draft one up. You never know when you might need to use it.

~ Shelly ~

Here are some recommendations in keeping your computer safe while you’re on the Internet.

If you like to use Internet Explorer 7, make sure your security settings in Internet Options are at it safest. Follow these steps:

Click on Tools then Internet Options
Click on the Security tab, then click on Custom Level

You will see: Active X Control and Plug-ins
The following should be Disabled

Automatic prompting for ActiveX controls
Binary and script behaviors
Download signed ActiveX controls
Download unsigned ActiveX controls
Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe

Scroll down to Downloads
Automatic prompting for file downloads – Disable

Enable Pop Up Blocker

Scroll down to Scripting
Allow paste operations via script – Disable

Click OK, when done to save the changes.

I recommend using Firefox for your browsing needs. It’s a great standalone and safer browser than Internet Explorer. There are different themes and extensions which you can use to customize it to your needs. You can even view sites in IE with Firefox by downloading the IE extension.

Some telecommuting companies specifically ask for Internet Explorer so make sure you don’t completely get rid of this browser.

Each time you visit a website, a cookie is installed on your computer. There’s nothing wrong with it, but there is a concern for Internet privacy since it can be used to track your browsing behaviour.

Here are my recommended and basic software to download. All are free.

CCleaner – It’s a quick click of a button to delete your online activities. It clears cookies, Internet history, temporary files and more.

Pop Up Stopper – For Internet Explorer you can use Panicware Pop Up Stopper. Although your computer already comes with a pop up blocker, it doesn’t hurt to use two. In Firefox, I recommend downloading the Ad Block Plus extension.

Spyware Blaster – Works like an anti-virus program, but it’s an anti-spyware program. It prevents the installation of spyware and other potentially unwanted software.

Zone Alarm Free or Pro – Depending on your needs. The free firewall version works very well.

AVG Free – Free antivirus program. Other popular free antivirus programs are Avast and Avira.

Some other recommended sites to bookmark are:

Trend Micro – It is a free online scan for viruses and spyware.

PC Pit Stop – Free computer checkup and diagnostics can help you detect and fix many common PC problems.

Shields Up! – Internet connection security for Windows users.

During the year its always important to give back to others around you…this ‘giving’ can be to friends and family members or to complete strangers who are in need.

When it comes to giving, it is even more important to give back to those in need during the holiday season.

As I sit here this morning having my bagel and coffee, I am reflecting back over the entire year and remembering everything that I have done for those through out the year.

We have donated clothing (adults and kids) to those in need. We have donated a bag of groceries every month for the past 12 months to a single mom with 4 children. I have taught crafting and cooking classes to local troubled teens in our area 6 times this past year.

We have done a lot…including volunteering to mow grass, cleaning and home maintaince for local seniors in our community who can’t afford to hire outside help.

As I sit here sipping on my coffee this morning, I am very proud of the ‘good deeds’ my husband and I have done all year long to help others who are less fortunate than ourselves. This brings a smile to my face and a warm feeling in my heart.

Have you remembered to ‘pay it forward’ this year? Have you done something special for someone in need this holiday season? If not, the year isn’t over yet and there is still time for you to do something special for someone else.

~ Shelly ~