Work At Home Business Options

Archive for January, 2011

If you are with one of the Direct Sales companies and trying to build a portion of your business online, it is very important to get involved with popular online social media networking sites like Twitter.com. When new business professionals start marketing their businesses on Twitter, they often make a big marketing mistake by tweeting out massive amounts of business spam messages instead of trying to network and get to know their followers.

When people join social media networking sites, they don’t want to be spammed 24/7 with business messages. They do want to learn more about the company or business they are following along with the products you are marketing…but…they also want to engage in meaningful conversation with that company’s consultant who is doing all of that Tweeting. In the case of Direct Sales…that means they want to engage in meaningful conversations with YOU.

When it comes to marketing your business on Twitter, here are a few important tips that you should know.

1. Try to engage your followers by asking them questions or asking them for their opinions on the products you are trying to market.

2. Don’t make your Tweets all about business all of the time. Mix them up with some general chit chat topics. You can discuss non-confrontational current events or daily life topics with your followers.

3. Don’t have every Tweet contain a link to your web site. That is viewed as link spam and is often reported by followers to Twitter as spam.

4. Offer up some general Direct Sales, home business, networking, marketing, etc. types of tips that you find beneficial that you think other’s would be interested in. You can visit other web sites that offer home business resources and tweet out links to those articles if you are not great at sharing your own business tips. In addition, if you enjoy great inspirational business quotes, tweet out a few of those a day too!

5. Never send out out direct messages to followers with your business information in it unless that specific person has asked you for the information.

6. Never send @ mentions to people who are not following you advertising your products or services. This is considered to be @ mention spam and is reported by followers to Twitter. If people want to follow you or they want your information, they will request it from you.

7. Make sure your profile page is filled out correctly with a working live link to your web site or blog. Many times when I click on profile page links they are broken and incorrect. In addition, you will need a business logo or a photograph of yourself to use as your avatar. No one enjoys seeing the Twitter standard bluebird avatar when they are talking to someone.

8. Don’t bombard your followers with too many tweets! People will quickly unfollow someone who sits on there 24/7 sending out hundreds of messages.

Marketing your Direct Sales business online can be a profitable endeavor if it is done correctly and if you work on it consistently. By following the tips I have outlined above you will have more sucess with your marketing efforts on Twitter.

This article was written by Shelly Hill, copyright 2011, All Rights Reserved.

These days with the power of the internet a direct sales team leader has the ability to recruit and add new members to their team from all over the United States. Once you have built up a national team, you can use that same technology to communicate and train your members.

Over the years I have seen some pretty creative ways to communicate with your members by using the internet that I thought I would share with you today. Let’s take a look at a few of those ideas.

1. Forum Boards: You can set up a public or private forum board for free or get them hosted on your own domain. Forum boards are a great way to for you to post training information, business files, sales notices, etc. so that all of your members can view that information when it is convenient for them. Forums are also a great way for your members to communicate and interact with one another.

2. Email Groups: There are a few online email groups that you can use to communicate with your team. With this type of group the owner of the group would set it up and invite their members to join. The owner of the group can post messages to the group which are then delivered via email to everyone who is subscribed. Members can choose to receive these messages as they are posted or in a daily digest form. Most of these type of groups are free to set up and use. The only draw back to this is most people get enough email and really dislike their email boxes filling up with numerous messages.

3. Facebook Group Page: These days a lot of companies are communicating their customers and clients by setting up Facebook group pages. When you set up this type of group there are some limitations but it is an easy way to communicate with your members and/or fans of your company.

4. Online Webinars: If you are tech savvy, you can look into producing your own sales meeting and recording it. You can then upload it online and schedule a webinar to have with your team. During the webinar members can view your video or slide show presentation and interact with one another in the webinar chat room.

5. Chat Rooms: You can find many different sites that offer free or low cost chat rooms that you can use to conduct your online meetings in plus…some of these chat room providers also offer video chat! If you have your own web site, you can install software on your site and have your own private chat room that members can access at any time.

These 5 methods of online team communication work well for most direct sales team leaders. If you are unsure which method will work best for you, I suggest you talk to other online leaders to see which methods they are using.

This article was written by Shelly Hill, copyright 2011, All Rights Reserved.

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Home Based Business Ideas that Work! by Laurie Neumann

How do you find home based business ideas that will have a good chance at success? Many people desire to own their own home business, but get stuck right here. They don’t know what they can do as a home business that will be profitable. This was where I was years ago when I first began thinking about starting a home based business. I kept getting stuck at the “what can I do?” question.

Think about the following.
• Interests – what interests do you have that could be turned into a business?
• Knowledge and skills
• Education and experience

Just do some brainstorming and write down anything that comes to mind. Then take a look to see if there is any overlap. Maybe one of your interests is photography and you have done some courtesy photographing of family and friends. Could you take your experience and interest and turn it into a business?

After you have come up with some ideas for a home based business, you will need to research the market. Is this a niche that people are actively seeking products/information in? Are they spending money within this niche? These are two essential ingredients when embarking on your new business.

If you are considering offering your products/services locally, determine what group of people would be interested in them and where you would find these people. This is where you want to have information available about your business.

If you are thinking of an online business, check out how many online searches there has been for what you want to offer. You can use a free tool, Google Keywords to check this out. Join some online groups or forums in your niche and be aware of what people are talking about and looking for answers to. Yahoo groups are a good place to start. You can also go to Google, type in your niche + forums and join some of them that are active.

When you are looking for home based business ideas, listen to what others are talking about. What are their challenges and concerns? If you can provide a solution, you might just have a winning idea for a home based business.
There are a lot of home based business ideas out there, and you want to choose wisely so you can have the best chance at success. It takes quite a bit of time and effort to starting up a business, so you want to ensure you are putting your time into something worthwhile.

One of the keys to finding home based business ideas that you will really enjoy and profit from is to put to use your assets (interests, skills, gifts, knowledge, experience, etc.) to solve problems or challenges for people. None of us like problems or challenges, and will gladly pay to have them taken away.

Laurie Neumann has compiled a listing of LEGITIMATE home based business opportunities and resources to help get you started on your own business. Don’t waste your money on the scams that are out there. Grab her guide at http://www.legitimate-homebasedbusinesses.com and be on your way!

Article Source: WAHM Articles

Your Time is Precious by Carrie Wilkerson

As a work at home mom you know how precious your time is. You have very limited time to get a long list of projects accomplished. So in order to get the best out of your day it is best to determine what on the list is a ‘must do’ and what others can simply wait.

Believe me this is easier said than done but with practice you can get a large amount accomplished. This applies to any work at home mom, and doesn’t matter if you have 1 or 6 children or if you have them attending school or are homeschooling them. The tips I will share with you will help you avoid wasting time, which will make an immense difference in your life.

Tips to Avoid Wasting Time

* Delegate, delegate, delegate…who says you have to do it all?
* Finish the project you started before tackling a new one
* Tackle one item on your list at a time
* Focus on the task at hand..don’t let distractions interfere
* Make school lunches for kids the night before
* Teach your kiddos to set out their clothes the night before
* When running errands take a list and stick to it
* Keep your gas tank full at all times, sounds silly but it’s a big time saver
* Schedule your appointments in the early morning hours or after lunch to avoid long waits

Your time is precious, and you really do not have enough of it. There are many insightful words that will remind us of how important our time is and how valuable it is and how we must not waste our time, and so on and so on. But our time only seems important to us when someone close to us is either ill or dying. When we are young, we think that our time is endless and when we grow older we never seem to have enough.

Whatever the case may be…one thing is a fact, your time is precious and what you do today will affect the rest of your days. If you have children, be sure to spend quality time with them, because they seem to grow so very fast.

Remember the saying why put off for tomorrow, what we can do today.

Carrie Wilkerson is the voice of experience. From corporate life to teaching high school to direct sales, she has ‘been there and done that’ professionally and personally. An ‘overnight mom’ to 2 toddlers through adoption, her priorities instantly changed and so did her workplace. She’s now built several businesses and coached others to do the same while overcoming extreme debt, losing 110lbs and having 2 more children, for a total of 4 children, ages infant through 12!

As ‘The Barefoot Executive’, Carrie and her network of experts have quickly become the definite resource for helping women achieve extra income and career goals while working from home. Visit http://www.the-barefoot-executive.com

Article Source: WAHM Articles

When it comes to being a busy mom…we often struggle with finding the time to cook healthy home cooked meals for our family. We spend our days getting the kids to school, working in or outside of the home, running the kids to after school activities, running errands and then once we arrive home again, it’s dinner time.

In our busy lives it is easy to fall into the trap of purchasing take out or hitting a fast food joint and buying unhealthy food to feed to our families. As a mother you can solve this problem by investing in two very helpful must-have kitchen appliances.

If you want to prepare healthy meals at home and do so lickety split then I suggest that you invest in two quality kitchen appliances. Let’s take a look at those two appliances more in depth.

1. You should invest in a good quality crock pot. I suggest a 3 or 5 quart crock pot depending on the size of your family. The one that I own is 5 quart and made of stoneware which is super easy to clean because it can be placed into a dishwasher.

Slow Cooked Meal Suggestions: pork roast and sauerkraut, barbequed pulled-pork for sandwiches, beef stew, beef vegetable soup, chicken pot-pie, chicken corn soup, chili, short style spare ribs, chicken and pasta dishes, chicken and rice soup, chicken and dumplings and Salisbury steak and gravy are just a few delicious meals you can make in your crock pot.

2. You should invest in a high quality pressure cooker. In the old days I felt they were unsafe so I refused to use one. However…the past few years manufacturers have gotten with the program and now you can find very safe pressure cookers out in the marketplace. You can pressure cook your foods in half the time it takes to bake them and not only that…you will find that your meats will be more moist and taste delicious when pressure cooked.

You can do roasts, chicken, turkey, pork, venison and lamb in a pressure cooker in half the time of conventional baking.

If you are looking to get into crock pot and pressure cooking I suggest that you invest in a few good cookbooks that are geared towards each of those cooking methods.

Getting dinner onto your family’s table every night doesn’t mean that you have to spend hours in the kitchen making it. Invest in a crock pot and a pressure cooker and you will find that you can feed your family quickly and easily the healthy meals that they deserve.

Shelly Hill is a mother and grandmother living in Pennsylvania who enjoys cooking, baking and canning. You can visit Shelly’s online foodie and recipe blog at http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com for free cooking tips, cooking articles and recipes

Top 5 Reasons Entrepreneurial Moms Love a Home-Based Direct Sales Business
By Kim Deyoung

Women account for over 75% of the direct sales force in the US. Most of us didn’t start out with direct sales as our career goal. We didn’t graduate with that end in mind. But somehow or another we did discover direct sales and we love it!

I enjoyed coming up with this list of top reasons metromoms love direct sales. It helped remind me of what’s motivating me as an entrepreneur/mother of three. Take a look at these reasons and see where you fit in.

o MONEY

Let’s face it, with the recent trends in the economy-especially at the gas pump-many of us need something to provide financial breathing room. Direct sales gives us the ability to meet and establish our own financial goals-whether that’s a few hundred dollars a month or a more substantial income.

Direct sales has the added benefit of offering opportunities for residual income. Once you have established a customer, you benefit from all future sales!

Direct sales usually requires just a small investment to get started. With most companies, it takes very little capital and very little inventory to be on your way. Plus you get tax write-offs from running a home-based business!

o CONTROL

Direct sales allows us to control our careers. Instead of just a JOB, we enjoy something more meaningful. You get out of it what you put in to it. You make the choice about how much you make along with how much and how hard you want to work.

You can also work around your family’s schedule. As moms we also love how direct sales lets us balance our career with our personal and family life. We’re committed to spending time with our children and direct sales is a perfect vehicle that allows us to earn money, but still have time for a life.

o FUN

There are over 30 industries represented in direct sales, so there is certainly something to fit your interests-from books, to finances, to travel, to gourmet food, to wellness products, to scrapbooking… the list goes on and on. So you can find the one that meets your needs and your personality.

Then there is the social aspect to direct sales. You have access to your own large support network and have the possibility of partnering with your friends for a common goal. Many of us also love the chance to share our products through “parties” and gatherings.

o BEING OF SERVICE

As women when we find a solution to a problem we naturally want to share it with others. We enjoy the opportunity to connect and interact with other women and help them get the products they need.

For those of us who’re very focused on providing great service, this allows us to provide very personalized sales service.

o PRODUCTS

Many of the women I’ve talked with got initially involved with direct sales because they were so enthusiastic about the products. Women love to shop and buy, but not be sold to.

Direct sales allows us to get our products at a reduced price and/or make a commission for sharing something we’d happily buy anyway.

Why should you care about your reasons?

I encourage you to take a moment and reflect on all of the reasons why direct sales works for you-whether it’s the products, the opportunity to share solutions, the ability to balance your career with your family, the chance to make great money or your own unique combination of these reasons. With these reasons clearly in mind you’ll be proud of your choices and eager to share your solutions with others.

Having clarity about what drives you is an absolute key to success in direct sales. I’ll be sharing more tips on achieving this clarity in upcoming teleclasses so stay tuned!

Kim DeYoung (aka “The Metromom”) is committed to helping moms-with entrepreneurial spirit-to be successful in all aspects of life. She provides dynamic coaching and trainings at Metromom.com, an interactive community for moms in direct sales. Order your own FREE CD – “The 7 Deadly Sins Women in Direct Sales Make… And How to Avoid Them” and learn more at http://www.metromom.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kim_Deyoung

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