In today’s world, who DOESN’T want to make money from home? The 2 primary things at your disposal are that the economy calls for this but also that technology has never made it easier for us! You can literally reach the globe and have things become viral today via Facebook and the power of social networking. It is almost harder to believe that despite these things, the majority of people that get involved STILL fail for some reason. So how do you pick and choose which home based business is proper for you?1.) Your “Why” – You will need to CLEARLY determine what is motivating you to want to work from home. If your “why” isn’t strong enough, typically you won’t succeed. I’m not talking about “I need the money” type of why. I’m talking about a true passion or desire to succeed at something that you feel you can/will make a difference with. Unlike punching a clock and exchanging your time for money (usually piddly money), working from home REQUIRES consistency and drive to the fullest. You will not continually display this on a consistent basis if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing and believe it has a purpose for you and for your customers.When I quit my “job” and started marketing online full time, I was torn between the “Should I or shouldn’t I” phase. I was making enough money online to justify it but my fear of “what if?” set in. I figured out that my “Why” was due to overwhelming medical bills and having NO chance to pay for them until/unless I did something different. My “job” was capped and my income was capped. Home based businesses are notorious for not “capping” you, your potential or your income. Quite attractive when your “Why” is strong.2.) Skill – Let’s face it. There is a certain amount of skill required for a particular business opportunity. This is something that I deal with everyday with my students. They want to get into internet marketing but they “Don’t know how to build websites” and many other excuses. Guess what? Either did I! That’s the beauty of these businesses is that although skill might be required, it CAN be learned and improved upon.I am now building sites, landing pages, sales funnels, blogs, installing plugins, etc. If you would have mentioned these to me years ago, I wouldn’t have even known what they were! So rejoice in the fact that whatever your opportunity is, it WILL require skill that you can improve upon!. The smart “go getter” will pick an opportunity where they are already skilled if possible OR be willing to dive in and learn and not be intimidated by it!3.) Experience – It isn’t likely that you will have experience in whichever opportunity you decide to get involved in and that is normal I think. When I bring experience up, I am referring to being realistic about YOUR personal experience level with this opportunity you are considering. In other words, just because Ralph down the street is achieving success does NOT mean that you will. Draw your OWN conclusions from your OWN experiences, NOT from Ralph’s experience.These opportunities are generally only going to share results from their highest achievers. I believe that means the 1 or 2% that actually achieve tremendous success in this opportunity. They are the ones that do the sales pitches and the infomercials and such because they don’t want to tell you about the other 98% that never made a dime. Be realistic and draw YOUR conclusions. Don’t allow outside influence like this distort your perspective of a particular home based business opportunity. Only YOU can draw this conclusion.4.) Start Up Fees – Many opportunities will ask for and require payment for many different things and reasons. This is normal and shouldn’t scare you away. Businesses require money to start up and require money to build them. However, do NOT blow your budget for any opportunity. If you wish to start or join an opportunity that requires more money than you currently have or can spend, SAVE the money and get involved then. Reason being is this…..you will learn to resent your decision and the opportunity when you don’t see immediate results. It is common for the opportunities to insinuate that if you spend xxxx amount NOW, you can recoup your loss by working the system.Sometimes this is true and I believe it is always possible but it certainly is not probable. If they try to persuade you to move forward when you resist, I would say that is a red flag. Start up fees should be paid and disbursed and forgotten about. Move forward in your decision and give it an honest effort. This leads me to my next helpful tip….5.) Seed Planting – When a farmer goes out and plants seeds, they don’t do this so that they can come back tomorrow and see results. They plant the seeds knowing full well that the results might not happen for quite some time. This is how I always treat home based business also. Many get started, they plant some seeds and get some things accomplished, they don’t see immediate results and the bail out. This is a HUGE problem and one of the leading causes of failure in these home based business opportunities in my opinion.You need to generally give these opportunities adequate time to develop and you need to be smart enough to stick it out for the harvest! You certainly wouldn’t want to be involved in something that yielded immediate results because THAT would most likely be some kind of bogus scam. Instead, moderate results and/or dismal results that continually get better are what you’re looking for. The harvest is waiting and you certainly can’t enjoy it if you bail.In closing, I’d like to simply point out that it is my opinion that ANY home based business CAN generate a good living for the right person. It is usually the person behind the opportunity promoting it that causes the failure. Self sabotage and “re-inventing the wheel” are SO common. Instead of doing what you were taught, you decide to skip this or talk yourself out of doing that…and the next thing you know, you don’t have anything to show for your efforts.However, your efforts weren’t done properly so of course your results weren’t good. Now that I have reached the level of success that I have, I can honestly say that there has never been a better time to get involved in home based business. The decision to do this has changed my life completely in all ways and it has done the same for thousands in this poor economy.I strongly suggest that while evaluating ANY home based business opportunity, you FIRST evaluate yourself because it will most likely be YOU and only YOU that create the failure. We are self sabotaging humans and our loved ones are notorious for not being supportive in these ventures. Surround yourself with others that are successful and ask for help. If you are willing to do the work and go through the motions properly, most that are successful will be more than happy to help you.They should appreciate that you are striving to learn but do NOT expect them to offer advice and then watch you decide to NOT do what they said or to “modify” it and do it YOUR way. Your “Why” simply needs to be strong enough to do any of these things. If it were as easy as it sounds on paper, nobody would work for anyone and we’d all be working from home. If you don’t have determination and drive to be successful, you won’t. It’s not rocket science! I encourage you to go for it. It sure has made ALL the difference in my life!
Home Based Business Services – Stop Throwing Money Away!
If you’re looking for more home based business services to help you quickly and efficiently build your business, then you are going to want to read this article from top to bottom. In it, I am going to show you how to stop throwing money away, and how certain types of home based business services are not “serving” you or your business…and are basically serving only to drain your bank account.
Most people when they look for home based business services, end up spending their money for business card services, vehicle magnets and related things. So the very first thing I want you to do, is to stop throwing your money away by constantly putting your money into things which, from a long-term perspective, aren’t going to benefit you or your business.
Although these types of techniques can build a business, the process is painstakingly slow and full of constant rejection. Think about the numbers associated with utilizing these techniques and this type of home based business services.
Even if you used these home based business services and they garnered you 10 calls and 1-2 closes a week (translating to you recruiting 7-8 people per month). Not only are you working your tail off to get them, but you have to worry about retention issues. After a few months, these prospects are likely to be dropping off faster than you can get new ones.
When you are encouraged to use these kind of home based business services – the ones that by nature have you marketing your company (instead of you) and leading with the business opportunity (instead of with the benefits) — that is the half of the equation that they never seem to tell you. While these things may work to recruit people, they are MUCH more likely to recruit people who are likely to drop out within a month or two. It makes it so much harder to get to your goal, because you are spending so much energy having to recruit enough people to make up for the number of people who are dropping out each month.
You need to understand how to take advantage of much larger marketing platforms than these home based business services can create for you, so that you can expose your business to a much, MUCH larger pool of prospects. This is best done using the Internet.
With that said, there are a couple of things that must be in place for that to be effective. First, you need some sort of lead capture page. The ONLY objective with that lead capture page should be to get the contact information (the email) of people who are already looking for what you’ve got.
Second, you need to drive traffic to this page, so that you can build relationships with these people (so that they ultimately WANT to buy the things you have and WANT to be in business with you). In doing this, there are really only a couple of home based business systems you need.
Pick up a GoDaddy or HostGator account. Either one of these options will be fine, and the only fees you will be looking at incurring are ~$12.00 a year for the hosting package and ~$15.00 a month to host an unlimited number of websites. The other service that is really essential to get the process moving is an autoresponder. Good ones to check out are GetResponse and AWeber. Both run about $20.00 a month.
In conclusion, stop spending money on various tools and home based business systems that are likely not to provide you any great or long-term results. Take those funds, and instead apply them to the part of your business that will give you a great return on your investment.
Adult Learning And Direct Education Online – Thomson And Others
In the area of offering direct education online, Thomson Direct was an early pioneer. Founded by Thomas J. Foster in 1890-long before online education was possible-Thomson started by providing home learning programs for coal miners. By completing the lessons at home in their off-work hours, men could learn the engineering and management principles to advance in their careers. Many mining superintendents and foremen owed their positions to distance learning from Thomson. Since then, over 13 million students have used Thomson distance learning for career advancement.
Today, Thomson Direct has become PennFoster Career School, an international career education provider. PennFoster, Phoenix University and Kaplan University are three examples of schools that specialize in direct education online.
Many schools offer distance learning, direct education or online classes. For most colleges and universities, distance learning is an add-on to their traditional programs. Their primary mission evolves out of traditional brick-and-mortar education.
A few schools, however, exist to provide direct education to adults. They are unique because:
* They do not provide traditional classes. They only provide education through distance learning formats.
* They are designed to teach adults. Adult education is different than traditional education. Direct education online classes are formatted differently than traditional classes. Classes are taught the way adults learn best.
* They are career-oriented. These are not personal interest classes. These schools offer classes to help adults advance in their careers. Career-oriented classes could lead to a college degree, or they could be continuing education classes, professional certification classes or skill-building classes. Working adults sometimes need formal college education, and sometimes they need job-specific training.
When you’re looking for direct education online, Thomson and its descendents are good choices. One way to tell if you have found a good provider of adult education is to check to see if the school is accredited, and who provides the accreditation it. If the school offers high school classes, it should be accredited to provide high school classes. If it provides college classes, it should be accredited by a college accreditation organization. Other accreditations that a direct education online provider might have are accreditation as a distance learning provider or continuing education provider accreditation.
Direct learning online is a good way to find education that is designed for adults who want to advance in their careers