By the sheer volume of email I received during the year, I know there are many frustrated people trying to make a few bucks in the hottest, latest affiliate, network marketing, home business idea launched during the year. I’ve read about the frustration on home biz forums and in the group clubs. I even started recognizing the same names of people promoting the newest programs. I’ve been tempted several times to write and ask how they are doing and what’s happened with the programs they’ve joined.

Before looking forward to next year, it’s important to look back and analyze what worked for me and what didn’t. One of my favorites quotes is by Albert Einstein who said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting the results to change.”

One of the things that most sticks out in my mind that contributed to my successful year is learning new skills. I believe learning is never done so one of my goals last year was to read books by successful people. Two books that had the biggest impression on me were Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and Richard Brooke’s “Mach II With Your Hair on Fire.”

I also learned new skills by subscribing to and reading several good newsletters.

Phil Wiley’s All My Secrets - http://www.ozemedia.com Cynted Chronicle - http://www.cynted.com/subscribe.html Boogie Jack’s Almost A Newsletter - http://www.boogiejack.com Jim Rohn’s Weekly Ezine - http://www.jimrohn.com Big Al’s Recruiting Newsletter - http://www.fortunenow.com GROKDotCom - http://www.grokdotcom.com Slight Edge Newsletter - http://www.yoursuccessstore.com Dirtsmart Netrepreneur - http://www.dirtsmart.com Achieve USA Home Business Journal - http://www.achieveusa.com

I attribute my successful year to the ability to track my advertising campaigns to find the ones that worked. Having a limited advertising budget, it was critical to get the “most bang for my buck” when it came to advertising. To that end, one of the most useful suite of web promotion tools is ROIbot (http://www.roibot.com/r.cgi?R33095_2002). Because of the quality of the program, the ROIbot reseller program also contributed to my profitability.

Running ads in newsletters was my most successful form of advertising. However, not all newsletters are created equal. My most effective ads were run in newsletters that focused on home businesses. I was the least successful running ads in newsletters that were primarily ad sheets or those that run separate classified ad issues.

The following sites provide lists of newsletters that can be searched for advertising opportunities:

http://www.homeincome.com/search-it/ezine/ http://www.e-zinez.com/cgi-bin/hyperseek/hyperseek.cgi http://www.list-city.com/ezines.htm http://www.site-city.com/members/e-zine-master/ http://bestezines.com/
http://www.lifestylespub.com/cgi-bin/directory.cgi http://ezinecentral.com/
http://ezine-universe.com/ http://ezine-tips.com/
http://list-a-day.com/
http://list-resources.com/

Mike Hill runs a very successful ezine classified ad service that has brought in results. Advertisers can get their ad placed in 20 newsletters sent to 25,000 readers for $10. Visit http://hop.clickbank.net/?glenpalo/cashgalore for more information.

The least successful form of advertising for me in 2001 was the use of “safelists” of opt-in email addresses. Usually, the safelist operators let you email to their database of email addresses for a nominal fee. The fee is either an annual or monthly fee. Some people say they have been successful using safelists. While I did not get the same results, I found that the use of safelists was a good way to test ad titles (email subject).

MyLISTmaker proved to be an exception. Because of the cost of joining MyLISTmaker Gold and, I believe, the quality of the program, the revenue generated from promoting my products more than made up for the upfront cost of MyLISTmaker. Also, MyLISTmaker has the ability to generate a separate stream of revenue for those that actively promote the service. When planning your advertising for 2002, MyLISTmaker is worth a look at http://www.mylistmaker.com/?460019

A number of clickthrough or click exchange programs brought additional visitors to my websites. The basic premise is if you visit websites, you will receive visitors to yours in return. The click exchange programs take several different forms such as popup windows, exit windows, start pages etc. The best collection of these free advertising programs can be found in a downline club called MyECom. I joined and use MyECom because of the extensive list of free places to advertise. There is extensive support through one of the associated groups. For more information, visit http://myecom.net/members/builder7/

In summary, to improve your results, review what you have done in the past. Focus on the methods that bring in the best results. If you did not try different advertising methods in 2001, try new ones in 2002. That way at the end of the year, you’ll be able to compare results.

Glen Palo is a successful small business owner, offering tax preparation services at http://www.tax-preparation-services.com Glen also offers pre-paid legal services to help people save time and money. For more information on how a pre-paid legal plan can help you, visit http://www.prepaid-legal.cc

You usually just groan and say “Honey, go play with your toys or watch tv….”

Well, sometimes that works and sometimes, you have to stop what you’re doing and think of an activity to keep your child busy and out of your hair for awhile.

Children–especially young children–get bored easily. They need a constant string of activities to keep themselves occupied.

One of the more popular activities for children is making art projects. They absolutely love art!

So I’m going to do something special for you and your business. I’m going to share one of my more popular art projects with you. It will give your children a fun activity to do, keeping them occupied for a couple of hours–giving you a chance to finish that business report or project that’s due today.

Enjoy!

=========================================================

“PAPER MOSAIC ANIMALS”

Grade Level:

1st or 2nd Gr.

Materials:

colored construction papers-3 x 6″ in size, in various colors, 12 x 18″ black construction paper, glue, scissors, pencils, erasers, zeroxed sheets of animals, scraps for practice drawings

Procedure:

1)Use one 12 x 18″ black sheet to draw one large animal (rabbits, elephants, turtles, pigs, etc.) that nearly fills the paper.

2)Choose several 3 x 6″ colors for your animal’s body parts.

3)Take one 3 x 6″ color and cut it into 1/2″ wide strips.

4)Next, cut a 1/2″ strip into smaller squares, approximately 1/2″ in size. Now you have a small pile of tiny squares that are about 1/2″ x 1/2″.

5)Use these small squares to fill in a part of the animal’s body. (Spread a small amount of glue where you want the squares to go. Place the squares carefully on the glue, close together.)

6)When one part of the body is filled, choose another part of the body to fill. (If you have squares left, use those squares to fill another part of the body that you want to be that same color.)

7)When you’re ready, choose another 3 x 6″ color and cut it into the 1/2″ x 1/2″ squares. Use these to fill the next part of the body that you chose.

8)Repeat this process until all parts of the animal’s body are filled.

9)Put away to dry.

Alberta Johnson is the Editor/Publisher of “K-6 Art Lesson Plans”, a web site that offers weekly art lessons geared towards Kdg. through 6th gr. children. These lesson plans have goals, objectives, assessments, and color photos. Children have great fun with them, and parents, teachers, scout and club leaders love them, too. Visit our site at: http://www.k6artlessonplans.com

~ Archimedes 287-212 B.C.

Successful businessmen use their marketing experience, education, money, consistency and hard work. Stalwarts among them however, leverage their limited available time for the highest levels of success.

Most of you may not have all these blessings. Most of you, who want to have a home-business or Internet business of their own, and buy all these know-how books, reports and ebooks, will never make it. From many obvious reasons.

Yet, the good news is: You have as much time available in a day to use as the wealthiest person on earth. You can use your time as the lever in your business and make a fortune.

Let’s start from the bottoms up. At the end goal.

Let’s say, you’ve somehow learnt the right skills to earn $50 an hour in your home business. And you did it in a very simple way. So simple everyone can learn it. A 16 year-old, a homemaker or a factory worker. Everybody.
Regardless of their background, financial status or education.

Say, you now earn $2000 per month, part-time.

QUESTION:

Do you think that now you can attract people to become your customers, affiliates, MLM distributors, partners? In fact, people who will refer you tons of business? You bet! Loads of them. Wouldn’t you?

Say, you have a job, living from paycheck to paycheck, and your good friend or someone on the internet says: “Let me show you a 100% proven SIMPLE WAY of how to start earning $50 an hour, and possibly, much, much more down the road?”
You’d shout: “SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!”

THAT’S CALLED LEVERAGE.

You’ll have tons of people who would beg you to teach them the business. So much so, that you will be able to choose the most open-minded, teachable people who can follow directions, and are sure to succeed, regardless of their background.

Like I do. I only work with the most suitable people who qualify, by going through a 3-step screening process!

The market place doesn’t pay for long hours and hard work alone. You get paid for the value that you bring to the marketplace. The ability to earn $30-$50 an hour without any special education or experience, so that it is duplicated by others, is of tremendous value.

The more duplicable your business, the more duplicable will be your income.

“But wait a minute,” I can hear you asking, “how do I create such an incredible lever? A $50 hourly income-story?”

VERY GOOD QUESTION.

I cover it in great detail in other articles. But, let me give you some practical tips.

THE GRAMMAR OF MONEY

In online/offline marketing, we talk about cost per lead, conversion rate,
gross profit, per average sale, promotion cost per sale and the like.

All these are important. They determine the profit per average sale.

LET’S TALK SIMPLE

But you can even do business without any of these jargon. Let’s talk in a way that everyone can understand.

For starters, you want to spend the minimum possible time per sale,
including all your efforts inputs like promoting, presenting and closing.
Online and/or offline. In other words, you create a high hourly income, so that you leverage yourself fully.

You are now many, many times as powerful and result oriented.

WHAT DO YOU NEED?
What do you need in order to earn MAXIMUM PROFIT in MINIMUM possible TIME per sale?

1 BE UNIQUE …
… so your products or service have a demand, less competition, needing less effort and time to sell, etc Unique, caring after-sale service can create a great leverage.(see #3 and #5 below) Great selling tools. Anything that can differentiate you from your competitors, and more sales in less time.

2. GET YOUR POTENTIAL CUSTOMER’S TRUST … … get lots of orders, in minimum time If possible… let them see. Let them try. Let them use. Offer an unconditional guarantee. Build and quote proven, powerful and reputable testimonials.
Start building locally, before you conquer the world on the internet. There’s great leverage working locally and you can use both online and offline advertising.

3. PROSPECTING …
… Maximum leads, in minimum time Use time and cost-effective ways to prospect and develop leads. Foe example:
Locally: Use brochure holders in stores. Those are “quiet salesmen”. Working for you 365 days a year!! (See my article about this incredible tool, how to put 10 holders in one hour, how to follow them up, ensuring an abundance of leads asking for your products.)

Run surveys on the internet, in person or on the phone, to create many more of leads in a short time. One of my favorite prospecting tools.

Advertise carefully on the internet, to get qualified leads in a low budget. Etc, etc,etc.

4. MORE ORDERS …
… in less time
Time-effective ways to PRESENT the product/service and CLOSE the sale.

Use technology to do the talking. Powerful proven selling web sites. Use autorepoder follow-up emails. Powerful teleconference calls. Multi-participants live presentation. Again, minimum time and money. Use ready made tools, at first.

5. MAKE CUSTOMERS SWEAR BY YOU … … for repeat business in quick time Great personal after sale service. Ensure product satisfaction and customers’ loyalty. So you will create loyal customers, who will place repeat orders, get you referrals, and offer even persuasive testimonials to splash around.

6. KISS! (KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID) … … it saves time
Make sure everything you do is simple and duplicable by others. “Simple” doesn’t mean easy. It might take a short time- days, weeks. It might take months. Who cares? You’re going to be financially independent, anyway.

7. ENCASH YOUR DREAMS. Be passionate about your dreams. With your “WHY”. When the WHY is big enough, the HOW is easy. It will keep you persistent, until … you achieve your goals.

8. KNOW YOUR PRODUCT INSIDE OUT. Experience your product/service, so that you become knowledgeable, involved and passionate about it. Your personal product story is a powerful leverage to your business. Especially, in case of noticeable and proven results.

9. LEAD BY EXAMPLE.
Do everything yourself first, before you do it with others’ help. Lead by example!

The long and short of it all is, Make money in proportion to the time you spend. You will then make the maximum profit in the minimum possible time per sale.

Let me tell you a story of leverage.

TOMMY’S MONEY SPINNER

5 years ago, I made a bold claim to my new and young associate. Tommy was 17 years old, when I introduced him to the business. Still a high school student in New-Jersey. I told him, I could generate $100 profit or more within 3 hours …, anytime I wanted.

And I offered to teach him to do the same. He told me to “Prove it!”.

I taught and proved it to him. He earned $1680 in his first 6 weeks. Part time. He worked the business throughout College. Last year Thomas Joseph graduated from Columbia University, and in his last year, he earned over $100,000. Still part-time. Now, young Tommy is full-time, doing the business around the world, using the internet, and is on his way to double his income.

TAKE ADVANTAGE.
USE LEVERAGE IN YOUR HOME BUSINESS.

Jeff Coach is a businessman, writer, marketing consultant and reputable trainer since 1968. Represents a Multi-Billion dollar International company, doing business in over 50 countries around the world.
To see if you qualify for his mentoring program and home-based Internet business, please visit http://www.richering.com

This week’s article is going to be a list of helpful resources for your online business. There are so many facets to this business and so many resources are needed. I hope you find something useful in this column.

***Ezine Publishing and Promotion***

Text Editors
http://www.textpad.com http://softw.subportal.com/sn/Utilities/Text_Editors_Q-Z/9679.html

AutoResponders
http://www.getresponse.com http://www.sendfree.com

Ad Swaps
http://www.ezinelocater.com/browse_specs.php?sid=8 http://www.bizpromo.com/ezinetrades.htm http://www28.brinkster.com/bluesite/swap.htm http://www.myownezine.com/subscribers/index.shtml

Ezine Announcement Lists mailto:4All2Promote-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:Announce_Lists-subscribe@topica.com mailto:eAnnounce-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:FindLists-subscribe@topica.com mailto:List_Announcements-subscribe@topica.com mailto:listyourgroups-subscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:AnnounceYourGroup-subscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:Join-My-List-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Ezine Directories
http://www.list-resources.com http://www.ezineworld.com/index.php3 http://www.cumuli.com/ezine/ http://amazines.com/

Ezine Content
http://www.ezinetrendz.com/publishers.htm http://www.ideamarketers.com http://website101.com/freecontent.html

Misc. Resources
http://personalizedpartyfavor.com/freenocatch.htm http://ezinexchange.com/index.html?m=62065191 http://www.myownezine.com/tutorial/index.shtml

***Affiliate Programs***

Affiliate Marketing - Downloads A Guide to Success in Affiliate Marketing http://www.myownezine.com/ebooks/success1.exe Affiliate Marketing Success Tips http://www.myownezine.com/ebooks/successtips.exe Affiliate Marketing 101 This book comes in pdf, so right click and then click “Save Target”As” to download
http://www.myownezine.com/ebooks/aebk0002.pdf More resources
http://www.myownezine.com/affiliatesuccess/index.shtml

Programs to Join
http://www.affiliate-programs-guide.com/ http://www.associateprograms.com/index.shtml http://www.myownezine.com/affiliates/index.shtml

***Writing and Submitting Articles***

Articles on writing articles mailto:getideas@getresponse.com mailto:yesarticles@getresponse.com http://www.ezinehub.com/articles/96.html

Article Sites and Lists http://www.connectionteam.com http://www.ezinearticles.com http://www.ideamarketers.com http://www.marketing-seek.com http://www.articlecentral.com/suggest.asp http://www.articlecity.com/article_submission.shtml http://www.bestparentingresources.com/Article.html http://www.boconline.com/sub-art.htm http://www.businesstoolchest.com/articles/submit.shtml
mailto:publisher_network-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:article_announce-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:PublishInYours-subscribe@onelist.com mailto:Free-Content-subscribe@onelist.com mailto:ArticlePublisher-subscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:PromoteYourArticle-subscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:Her-ArticleDepot-subscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:articlestream-subscribe@topica.com

***Website Design and Promotion***

Design
http://www.pageresource.com/ http://www.htmlhelp.com/ http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/ http://php.resourceindex.com/Complete_Scripts/

Promotion
http://www.addme.com/ http://www.apromotionguide.com/ http://ftos.searchking.com http://dmoz.org/
http://www.ezineuniversity.com/resources/index.html mailto:linktogether-subscribe@yahoogroups.com http://www.iwr.com/free/reciprocal.htm http://www.zensearch.com/submit.shtml http://www.klickonusa.com/ http://www.cyberpowersearch.com/ http://www.thefreesite.com/amazsubm.htm

***Fr~E Downloads*** http://www.freewarefiles.com/ http://www.downloadalot.com/index2.htm http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/

***Online Networking***

Discussion Groups
mailto:CommonConnections-subscribe@egroups.com mailto:Computer_Help_and_Discussion-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
mailto:Ebook_Talk-subscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:hbj_chat-subscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:ideasbypost-subscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:newbies911-subscribe@topica.com mailto:TheWAHMConnection-subscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:HTML-on-the-WEB-subscribe@yahoogroups.com mailto:Webmaster-Talk-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Message Boards
http://www.momtomomchat.com/boards.html http://zineadz.com/forum/ http://www.internetbasedmoms.com/bb/index.php http://www.friendsinbusiness.com/board1/ http://www.webwondersnews.com/forum/ http://www.ablake.net/forum/ http://www.AuthorZone.Com/forums/

***Business Helpers***

http://www.123webmarketing.com/ezineprofitproducer/ezineprofitproducer.exe
http://www.rimdigest.com/101.exe http://www.ntelligenz.com/ http://www.onlinewebcreations.com/ http://www.nameboy.com http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt8/spamfilter_phrases.htm http://tinyurl.com

***Misc. Resources***

http://www.myownezine.com/ebooks/tipsws.exe http://www.sba.gov/ http://www.entrepreneur.com/ http://www.webmasterfree.com/software/356.html http://www.onlinewebcreations.com/ebooks.html http://cooltext.com http://www.ChangeDetect.com http://www.gobcl.com http://www.stickysauce.com http://www.myownezine.com/ecourses/index.shtml http://www.ecommercedealers.com/wpp/free/webprotect.zip

You should be able to find something in this list that
will help you with your online business. Thank you.

****************** Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com Learn to publish and promote your own ezine. mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com Sign-up for the FR~E MOE Ezine Publishing Ecourse mailto:moe-mini-course@getresponse.com You can contact Terri at mailto:ter02@newnorth.net

*******************

If you are working on the Internet, but don’t have a lot of extra funds available, you can save some money by using a free adtracker instead of paying to download one or even paying a monthly fee like some services require.

One free ad tracking option is BusinessWorldList.com
The site is actually a safelist that you can subscribe to. Once you subscribe, you have access to the member’s area. From there, you can click on the tracking link and it will allow you to enter two different urls that you want to
track.

The great thing about BusinessWorldList is that you don’t need to have your own website. If you are a member of an affiliate program, you can enter your affiliate url. It will automatically create a new link for you to use. For example, the url that I wanted to track was:
http://www.workinathome.50megs.com
and it created this tracking link:
http://businessworldlist.com/cgi-bin/ads.cgi/workinathome_1000
This is the link that I would now use when promoting my site.

One problem that I have found, however, is that the tracking link is rather lengthy, so I like to use a service like tinyurl.com. With tinyurl you simply enter the long url and it will create it into something shorter. For example, I entered my businessworldlist tracking link :
http://businessworldlist.com/cgi-bin/ads.cgi/workinathome_1000
and it shortened it to: http://tinyurl.com/lyue

The good thing about using tinyurl to shorten your
businessworldlist tracking link is that your original url will show up in the browser. In my case, the browser will show my original website:
http://www.workinathome.50megs.com.

No one will know that you are using an ad tracker to track your ads, and it eliminates the problem of a long and hard to remember url.

BusinessWorldList is a great tool because it shows the websites where your visitors are coming from, not just the number of clicks your site receives.

It also shows other pertinent information such as: the browser the referrer used, their operating system, and their IP address. In addition, you can also see the number of unique clicks your site receives. This has helped me to get a better idea of how many unique visitors I get a day versus the total number of hits to my site.

Whether you are just starting out, or if you have years of experience working on the Internet, a free ad tracker is a great alternative that can help you effectively track your ads and increase your success.

Author Laura Kneiss has established a career on the Internet working for an honest and reliable company. You can learn more about this company at: http://tinyurl.com/lyue

Just think about this… a local store can easily cost thousands of dollars before you can open it’s doors. This involves property lease or rent, insurance, display shelves, office furnishings and supplies, equipment, advertising, stock, more. When you finally do get it open, money left for working capital may be very low. This makes it difficult to meet the on going expenses until the business can survive on it’s own. The market is limited to just your area. So in comparison to that…

As a ‘Netpreneur, the world is your market; expenses are less.

That is true, everyone knows it. But too many people believe the empty promises and schemes that are rampant on this new frontier; just like the old gold rush days you read about. “There are no free lunches” still holds true. Advising you what business to get into on the net is not intended here, that’s a whole other subject we can get to later on. Let’s assume for now that you have some venture ideas in mind.

Actual profit is rarely immediate, but that is always possible.

While not impossible, usually those over night results we hear about took a very long time (maybe years) preparing for that particular night. This is certainly not meant to discourage any one. It is just meant as a help in making decisions about how much faith, risk and will power you’ll invest in your ventures.

This simply means, if you can’t have that much faith and will power for a business idea, or if you aren’t ready to learn and take a little risk to test waters, you had better look for some thing you can feel more confident about. When our money is involved, no matter if it is only a small investment, those are decisions that do become much easier. In fact, I have found that it is better to have some money invested because it will keep us motivated and focused when there is some risk and our “eye is steadily on the prize”.

There’s a valid point to holding off expense as long as you can.

Even when you are ready to “go live”, it’s usually quite a while before we see enough money made. Costs add up during that time, usually monthly, for websites, hosting & promotions. So that expense as well as any product investment needs to be recouped as a first goal. Set your goals like steps on a ladder to your ultimate goal at the top. It’s easier to go step by step in a systematic way. It is very exciting and keeps you going to reach each next step on that ladder.

To make money, you MUST make it easy for people to buy.

This means good clean website design and navigation. People want to see quickly what you’re offering, if it will benefit them, how it will be delivered, how much it costs, and how you are going to back it up. Be sure your site loads fas. Never use any applets, cutesy decorations nor script that does not relate to one of those five factors. Every headline and sentence needs to make them want to know what is next. It must hold their attention until the buying decision is made.

You MUST accept “Plastic Money” on the internet.

I don’t know if your product is tangible (shipped), an intangible (downloadable) or subscription (recurring billing). But whatever it is, buying needs to be easy, fast and securely done. Having a merchant account of your own is the best way if you have a great deal of buyers. It can be very expensive to set up, even if some companies offer full service, including a shopping cart.

But you have to pay monthly fees and usually have a volume requirement to meet to earn the lowest prices. Also you need to have a business checking account… more monthly costs. The advantage is the low bank commission percentage you will have to pay on your sales. You need ($?) sales to break even.

You don’t have to pay that much if you do this:

I prefer to go with a third party provider. They’ll handle all the bank card transactions for you. There is little or no set up cost and no monthly costs. It is true that a commission percentage you pay them is higher than your own arrangements would be. Third party providers will usually ask around fifteen percent of the sale price. But you only pay if you are actually selling your products or services. You can quickly see how much less you have to sell to break even, or just “catch up”. Even when the business does get going, you may want to stay with the third party provider, because…

You can start your own affiliate program at no cost too.

Think how fast your business can grow with others selling for you. A two tier afiliate program is another benefit given to you and managed for you by some third party providers. They will update the stats for both you and your affiliates and pay them out of the proceeds that they’ll generate for you. If you think about how much time and money, plus the expertise, it would take for you to implement all this, you realize: Not only can a good third party provider do all this for you at a low cost, it frees you up to promote your business and affiliate programs.

Who are they? My favorite third party providers are:

For tangibles, www.ccnow.com is my choice, which does have a monthly fee of about nine dollars. Their commission is lower, only about nine percent, which compensates. They give a full shopping cart and handle auction sales as well. There is not an affiliate program provided for their merchants yet. There are no set up fees.

For intangibles, there is a third party provider that has a set up fee of about fifty dollars, but no monthly fee. You can have up to fifty products, or more by special arrangement. Commission is about fifteen percent. They’ll handle an affiliate program too. Clickbank: http://www.clickbank.com

For intangibles, like downloadable ebooks and recurring billing (subscriptions), like Right Stuff Co PrivateSite for webmaster information, we use GloBill. There is no set up and no monthly fee. The Commission is about fifteen percent. They do provide an excellent two tier affiliate program. Support is good & their service is great. They have no minimum payout for affiliates; if they earn it, they get paid, twice per month. It is motivating for affiliates to get money into their hands quickly. This is true, even if it is only a small amount in the beginning. www.globill-systems.com/

I’m not suggesting you do this forever, just until your business is stable; can pay for your own merchant account and affiliate arrangements and show a nice profit over the costs. There will be more profit then, since your commission percentage outlay will be lower. You should be able to get where you want to be much faster without worrying about having to recoup the huge getting started expenses.

Plus (heaven forbid) if the business does not work out in the long run, you have not lost much more than time & advertising. Other capital investment money you have is still available for promotion or additional ventures. Maybe, down the road you will want to have several businesses up and running when you take the leap into managing your own customer payment and affiliate programs. Accepting credit cards is one success key.

Helen Raymond has an entrepreneural background, both offline and online. Marketing promotions include the NetSearch eZine, http://www.rightstuffco.com/netsearch/ and wholesale ebook sales at http://www.rightstuffco.com/freetosell/ She is active in business help for members at http://www.RightStuffCo.com

Anyone who has a home-based business or is contemplating starting one needs this book on their reference shelf. If you’re like most home-based business owners, you have had numerous questions about when and how you can take tax deductions for your home office, supplies and equipment. You’ve probably wondered what paperwork had to be kept, what information it needed to show and how long you have to keep it as well, right? On top of those questions, there are the formidable IRS forms that need to be filled out properly in order to qualify for the deductions and avoid being audited. If this is you, get this book. You will not be disappointed.

Gary W. Carter, the book’s author, has over 20 years of tax experience. He has worked as a revenue auditor, tax practitioner, and seminar leader on tax issues as they pertain to home-based businesses. In this book, he shares his expertise brilliantly with easy to understand, step by step explanations, examples and instructions.

Carter’s combination of historical tax facts, court cases that have set precedence, and changes that will take affect in the coming years serve to give you a much better understanding of the entire system and your options within that system. His layman explanations of tax audits, accounting systems, record keeping, and “business” as it is defined by the IRS give you a wealth of information to belay your tax fears, and empower you with the knowledge you need to get the most out of tax time.

The very first chapter in the book covers IRS audits. It tells you how audits are done, what to expect and what rights you have. I was surprised to find the process is actually simple, direct and fairly non-threatening. From chapter two and on, Carter delves deeply into the information of the most importance to home-business owners. Topics include the legal definition of a business for tax purposes, allowable deductions and how to record and calculate them, business entity formations and the pros, cons and red tape associated with each, and more.

Chapter three is devoted to the legal entity structure of your business. It goes into more detail than I have yet to find anywhere else – and it uses language understandable by even the general public. If you’ve been reading advice that strongly suggests forming a corporation for legal and tax reasons, and struggling over whether the benefits of this move will outweigh the red tape that comes with it, you will love this chapter.

Now in all honesty, reading chapter three the first time through was slightly overwhelming due to the sheer amount of information available. I admit I skipped or glazed over a few parts because I couldn’t get my head around them, however I learned so much and answered so many of my own questions that it was well worth it. If you are overwhelmed as well, sit it on your reference shelf and refer back to key areas as you need to – the information will be immensely helpful whether it is your first or tenth time reading it.

The book continues in this massive information manner throughout. Additional chapters tackle accounting methods (cash, accrual or hybrid), explaining how each works, what the IRS rules are concerning accounting methods and which may be the best for you.

Allowable deductions are also covered in detail. One chapter is completely devoted to Transportation deductions and another explains the most common other business deductions such as computers, books, magazines, meals, insurance and retirement plans.

One chapter explains how the sale of your home plays into your home office tax reports, another details the payment of state, local, self employment and social security taxes, and another even tells you which records you should keep and for how long.

Throughout the book, explanations are given as to which IRS forms need to be filled out for which purposes. Carter even devotes one entire chapter to explaining Form 8829 (Expenses for the business use of your home) line by line. At the end of the book he also provides a comprehensive example of a married couple: What their income was and from where, how they reported their income and deductions and so on. Included with the example are all forms, filled in, that this couple submitted to the IRS for that year.

Every single chapter in this book includes a Notes section at the end. The notes’ section is an annotated reference list that tells you where to find government laws and codes, free publications, court cases cited in the book and more. This information alone is a goldmine of reference material. In addition, there are breakout boxes speckled throughout the book to provide working examples of major points being made.

In summary, this book provides an extremely detailed look at the legal and monetary side of running a business from your home. It provides a wealth of information on its own, and expands on that to provide comprehensive reference materials for anyone that wants or needs them.

Overall Rating: 5 Stars (out of 5)
Pros: You don’t have to have a PhD to understand it
Cons: Some of the information can be overwhelming, especially when references to various IRS form numbers are given. Considering the complexity of the topic however, the author did an excellent job.
Recommended: Highly
Office Shelf: Reference
Availablility: In Stores Now - Check Amazon Price

Looking for more consulting articles, job postings, tips and hints? Check out
The Consultant’s Hangout today! http://www.ConsultantsHangout.com

Kathy Burns is a highly respected, nationally published freelance writer.
She offers a variety of specialized consulting and writing services to organizations
of all shapes and sizes. You can contact her at any time by visiting:
http://www.ElectronicPerceptions.com

None

So far so good. After you’ve made that first decision you take a closer look. You know how to use a search engine so you type in something like ‘home business’, ‘online business’ or ‘work at home’. OUCH! there are literally ‘thousands’ of addresses to choose from! Your first thought “if there are so many already in business what chance have I got?”

Not to be discouraged you tell yourself “if they can do it then so can I” Now that was your first step to committing yourself to take action. It means you’ve expressed the will to start an online business. Even though you’re not completely aware of it at this stage.

My friend. I can’t stress this enough! The next steps you then take will most certainly decide on whether you’ll succeed or fail! This is the stage where most people make their biggest mistake! It doesn’t take an internet guru to point that out to you. (For obvious reasons he most likely won’t -but that’s another story) It just takes some common sense.

Ask yourself this “when was the last time I honestly and truly got something for nothing?” I’m sure you know the answer to that one!

A business is a business is a business. No that’s not a ‘typo’. I just want make my point clear! Any business online or offline is built on the 6 basic rules of economics.

1. Investment
2. Market knowledge
3. Product
4. Advertising
5. Sales
6. ROI (Return Of Investment)

Let’s take a look a these 6 basic rules.

1. INVESTMENT.

As I stated earlier - you can’t expect to get something for nothing! To start an online business you’ll be investing in

a) Your own website (this is your ’shop’ or ’store’) b) Advertising
c) Tools
d) Product/s to sell

2. MARKET KNOWLEDGE.

Here you’re going to have to do some serious researching. Your market will depend on the product you’re selling.

Example: baby diapers is a specific product aimed at young mothers. Toilet paper on the other hand is a general product everyone needs.

My tip: use the search engines - start with google. Type in -your product- and see what comes up. You can even type in something like ‘marketing reports -your product-’ or ‘market -your product-’. You get the idea.

3. PRODUCT.

This is without doubt the major decision in your online business. What can I sell? All I can say is - the list is almost endless! You can decide to sell digital goods - ebooks, software, information, reports anything that can be downloaded from your host’s server.

You can get ‘master resale’ rights to many digital products available on the internet and sell them for the complete price. (As an affiliate reseller you only get a part of that price as commission!)

Or non-digital goods. This is much easier than it may appear. There are thousands of companies looking for reseller outfits on the internet.

For example: Drop-shipping wholesale & closeout products. Here’s a good definition for you: It’s the shipping of merchandise from a supplier directly to your customer, to minimize your inventory and overhead expenses. In other words you only pay for what you’ve already sold!

4. ADVERTISING.

No matter how good your product or how wonderful your website (store) is. If nobody knows about it then you’re stuck!

One way to make yourself known is by advertising in ezines. If you’re not much of a writer and don’t know how to write gripping ad copy to introduce your product. Get someone to do it for you. There are some very good ad copy writers available on the internet but they aren’t cheap!

Get your website on the search engines. Get a good placing by optimizing your website. There are various ways to do this but it’s too much to explain it all in this report.

Build a mailing list. To do this you can publish a newsletter with information and news about your product or line of products and then admit your newsletter to directories. Another way is to ‘buy’ quality leads. But before you rush out and buy leads make sure the leads you buy will be accepted by your autoresponder service. By my experience they won’t accept “Opt-in” or “Safelist” leads.

5. SALES.

If you don’t ’sell’ you won’t earn money! The stronger the competition is for your product the harder it’ll be to sell it.

If you have a ‘niche’ product - fine. I can already see you laughing all the way to the bank! A ‘niche’ product means you have a product for a very narrow market and your customers are practically lining up to buy.

It usually means that you’re the producer or inventor of your product. Something like that almost sells itself!

For those not fortunate enough to have a ‘niche’ product with stiff competition everywhere. It’s the ability to ’stand out in the crowd’ that helps those sales.

sidebar:
————————————————————— Even though there may be thousands selling a similar product or service there’s still more than enough to go around. In the next 5 years e-commerce is really going to ‘take off’! —————————————————————

To be able to ’stand out in the crowd’ you need a unique angle. Something you’re offering your customers that others aren’t. That could be personal consultation for example. Or quality product related give-aways. ‘Loyalty discounts’ is another one.

Most important of all. Your website is your sales tool! Again if you don’t have the talent for writing ’sales letters’ that can close the deal. Get someone to do it for you. You can also visit the sites that sell your product or service and see how they do it.

————————————————————— WORD OF WARNING! Don’t ever copy a website and use it to sell your own product! This will get you into SERIOUS trouble! The owner of that site has a legal basis by copyright law to sue you for damage! I’m not talking about a few dollars here! A law suite like this can easily cost you $100.000 or more! —————————————————————

What you can do is understand the essence of a sales letter. Find the convincing points and then write your OWN. You can get good ebooks on this subject. Study them and tweak your own sales letter until you get the desired results.

6. ROI (Return Of Investment)

This is your ‘bottom line’!

The simple formula: (Sales minus Investment = Profit) gives you your ROI. There are more complicated formulas with more variables that show you exactly what your ROI is on any given product or period of time.

The simple formula should be enough for any home business.

Obviously my sales (income) should be higher than my investment (expenses). The greater the difference is between both the higher my ROI will be. Your goal is to see to it that your ROI “goes through the roof”!

This is your measuring tool. Your ROI will tell you what you’re doing right and what you have to improve.

In conclusion.

Building a business takes a lot of effort. It means hard work, courage, commitment, persistence and discipline.

It isn’t “rocket science”! Doing business on the Internet is sometimes daunting and can be very frustrating until you get your ‘breakthrough’! Even then it’s not all “plain sailing”. Yes it will put demands on you that I hope are somewhat clearer now.

ALL those who have made it to the top started out VERY small! None of those people were ‘born’ to it! They got to where they are by hard work and the ability to ‘roll with the punches’!

Set your target and ALWAYS keep your sights set.

About the Author

Karl Mills is the owner of Successfull Rewards Home Business “In a Box” at http://www.successfull-rewards.com Consultant Sales Rep and Trainer with over 20 years of experience. He is also publisher of the free Online Winners Newsletter featuring e-courses, articles, tips, ‘pointers’ and bonus ebooks.

So, who are these virtual professionals? The majority of people working virtually were in the 36 to 45 year old range, with the twenties close behind making nearly eighty percent between 25 and 45 years old. Although the survey was conducted across a broad range of business related forums, a number of respondents said they were virtual assistants (VAs), a relatively new industry in its own right. Building on the concept of secretaries and administrative assistants in the traditional workforce, VAs perform business services and administrative tasks for other professionals. Virtual professionals were also consultants, web designers, programmers, graphic artists and writers. The trades which typically are creative, intellectual and autonomous lend themselves to virtual professions. It will be interesting to see in the future whether the number of other professions entering the virtual world grows to meet the vast number of virtual assistants prepared to help them!

Scott Allen, a multi-preneur and About.com Entrepreneurs Guide, managed distributed teams for an enterprise software company prior to setting out on his own. Suzette Flemming, Flemming Business Services, transitioned into her 100% virtual business from part time telecommuting as a teacher and office manager. Most virtual assistants worked in offices, as secretaries and assistants, and already had the right skills to be able to deliver services before pulling the plug and going to work virtually. Indeed, most virtual professionals had a career which in some way prepared them for this way of life and work - even Blaine Hilton, a computer consultant, said his brief stint as a carpet cleaner provided the motivation for wanting to be self employed!

Not surprisingly, ninety-six percent of the virtual professionals were based in home offices. This is not unusual for small businesses; for some this is a stepping stone and for others, a permanent lifestyle. Many had home offices already set up and found the transition easy once the Internet technology became available. Some, like Janice Byer at Docu-Type Administrative & Web Design Services, had both the corporate and entrepreneurial experience working for her dad but “didn’t want to ‘go out’ to work when he retired.” The majority of virtual professionals are solo entrepreneurs without any employees.

Thirty percent of the virtual professionals said that child care was the major factor in starting their business, and for sixty percent, their business provides their sole income. Women working at home with small children in the background have their own unique challenges, but imagine the education their children will get about entrepreneurship. Renae Bolton, owner of Triple J WordProcessing Co., left the office to fix her son a snack and he called out “Mom - one of your clients is blinking you!” when an Instant Message came in.

A virtual professional can be anywhere on the planet, again assuming the technology is available, and for that reason, the survey purposefully did not collect geographic information from the respondents. However, the survey respondents came from global networking environments online in order to get a diverse response. Although the United States was a leader, a significant number of virtual professionals were from Australia and Canada.

Working virtually can be a challenge, and without the right technology, it can be downright impossible. In the next two articles of this series, we will look at the perks and perils of working this way, and later, what tools and technologies are popular amongst virtual professionals in 2003.

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© Eileen Parzek, SOHO It Goes! 2003

Eileen Parzek conducted an online survey of 70 virtual professionals around the world for this article. Ms. Parzek is a veteran web designer and an online marketing & communications consultant who has been working from home and virtually since 1995. Her current business, SOHO It Goes! (www.soho-it-goes.com) functions as an online marketing department for small businesses and organizations.