One of the downsides of working from home is isolation; when you feel like you are not connected.

My solution when I am feeling out of touch is to go out and enjoy a cup of coffee at starbucks and browse through the current magazines.

Feeling isolated and brain dead today, I decided to skip my usual home prepared breakfast and head over to starbucks . While browsing through the freshly minted magazines,  a thought struck me.

I thought of writing  something about my day to day routine to share with you.  As a work at home mom, I enjoy reading stories from fellow mompreneurs. I find them inspiring, so I thought this could be the beginning of something.

Looking through the magazines, I remember a fellow marketer telling me

“if you want to find out  what’s hot right now, go to a magazine store and see what’s being talked about – do the same thing when you want to find the best niche for yourself”.  

Sometimes, my brain feels like it’s full, but empty of ideas.   Then I go out, look around, smell the fl0wers and soon, ideas starts pouring in.

If you are in the Direct Sales or Multi-Level Marketing  and want to use the internet to get more customers  or recruits to build your business.  Here’s what you shouldn’t do.

1.  Do not pay high fees for a company replicated website.   Replicated website that are sadly expensive will not deliver you sales.  It will process the order – yes,  IF people are ready to buy.  But it will NOT market your business for you.

Here’s why:

• Company replicated website are not created for marketing purposes.  It never gives customers the benefits,  only features. Customers do not buy features but benefits.
• They may not appear on google with your name on it.   The corporate website will but without your name.  So why promote it?
• Replicated website DO NOT handle objections.   It is up to you to handle objections when you call them – if they leave their info.  If not, you just lost a sale.
• You have very little control on what goes on your replicated website.  It’s not flexible enough to market it.  Trust me, been there – done that.
• No matter how you try to “personalized” it – it’s not personal.   People are drawn to individuals with personal touch.
• Your replicated website seldom create a database for you.  That’s why people who move on to another direct sales business end up having to start creating prospect list all over again.

2.  Do not depend on your replicated website to send you prospects.  It will not happen. Instead, you should do the following actions to build your prospect list.

• Create a simple – easy to manage website or a blog with your business name.  I recommend using your name as a domain in case you change your business later on.
• Provide valuable information that can be used or shared on your site or blog.   Give it away for FREE as an incentive for people to leave their name and e-mail address.
• Promote your business online and direct the traffic to your website to capture people’s e-mail address. That way, you can build your data base of prospect.  You probably already know this – there is no business without a prospect list.

There’s no denying that selling on Ebay can be lucrative.  You probably heard or read stories ofpeople making tons of money on ebay.

And why not, it’s the walmart of online shopping.   That is because, there are so many hobbyist and collectors looking for that illusive one of a kind.

Then there’s the parents who e frantically looks for that hot toy for their kiddy every holiday season.    There ‘s always going to be demands for products, unusual, hard to find and even weird items.

Selling On Ebay – The Best Home Based Business

Selling items on ebay is not that difficult.  You need to open an account, find the products to sell, list the items, ship the products and transfer your money from your paypal account to your bank.

How To Make Money With Pictures-A Business You Can Start From Home

Do you love taking pictures every chance you get? If you like to snap pictures at family events or just out in the neighborhood, turn your hobby into cash.

8 Ways to Earn Money with Digital Photography

The world of photography has changed since the instant camera was developed. And now with a digital camera, you don’t even have to be  pro to produce great shots.  You can take a not so good shot and make it perfect using a variety of software options.

Technology has created memory cards much like the flash drive storage medium to file and save pictures for sharing on the Internet. You can easily upload pictures from the memory card to your friends, family and a blog or website if you have one.

1.    Stock photography. This is a growing business.  Bloggers and publishers are constantly looking for pictures for website newsletters, magazines and articles. They are always looking for photos that capture the essence of their articles. It is not convenient to go out and snap some pictures every time you need one for an article. Selling stock photographs to businesses and individuals is convenient for them and lucrative for you.

2.    Wedding photographer. Okay so if you aren’t a professional you won’t be the main photographer at first but you can be hired to take candid shots at the reception or wedding photos after the ceremony. The happy couple can order as many pictures as they want and you can create wedding CDs of the pictures you took.

3.    Newspaper pics. If you are in the right place at the right time, you could capture photos that are news worthy.. A  newspaper photographer might not be on the scene when news happens.. Community events are also an opportunity to snap some shots and may also earn you some money from local newspapers.

4.   Magazine photographer. Magazines may hire you for assignments.  Create and submit a portfolio  of photos that you’ve taken and submit them to magazines.  Magazines are a tough market to break into so cut your teeth on other smaller assignments for local newspapers.

5.    Local photography business. Have you ever gotten a mailing that shows cars for sale or houses for sale? Someone had to take those photographs. It could be you. Hire yourself out to area businesses to do the photographs for them.

6. Event photographer. Some families like to document their events like family reunions, christenings, bar mitzvahs and birthday parties. You can be the eyes in the room catching candid shots of everyone.

7.    Photography website. If you know a lot about digital cameras and photography, create a website to sell photography products. Keep visitors and customers coming back with engaging content on various aspects of photography.

8.    Teach a photography class. Those cameras look easy to use but some of those symbols can mix people up. Teach others to use their digital camera and create great pictures that they, too, can market as a business.

This is jut 8 of the possible ways to turn your passion into cash.  If you are creative, there’s no limit to what you can do with your digital photos.

If you are serious about this, you might want to learn more – here’s some additional info for you.

Online Business From Home

When I started playing around the idea of starting an online business from home, the excitement I felt was unbelievable. I was well aware that online business is the future.   But that excitement quickly died down after I run into so many stumbling blocks.   There were so many things I didn’t know – in fact, I didn’t know where to start.

It took me several years to get a grasp of what an online business is all about given the limited resources available back then-online and offline.

Today, it doesn’t get any better,  the amount of information online is overwhelming.  You don’t know what is real, what is hype and what information is legit.  Not only that, dissecting all the information can paralized you.

Frustrated?

If you are feeling frustrated, you are not alone. Thousands of women who wish to start a business from home are frustrated. They are jumping from one site to another hoping to find some real useful information but end up getting more confuse.

Although I’ve build an online business since 2003,  I still felt like a hopeless amateur until I joined the mommastermind in 2008.  I’ve learned the rope from experienced women who’ve done it.  I have to admit, when I first joined the group, I felt so disassociated because  a lot of the things they were talking about were foreign to me even though I’ve been doing online business for several years!

So I was excited when Kelly Mccausey published her The Complete Internet Marketing Moms Start Up Guide.

It’s a surefire guide to anyone who wish to learn how to start a business online.  This is not where you find ideas on what business to start or what services you should offer.  We have given you some ideas here at iworkathomecenter.   The guide will help you learn the ins and out of online business.

Here’s a list of chapters to give you an idea.

• Mentoring Increases Success
• The Five Minute Guide to Choosing an Internet Business Mentor
• Reasons to Stay Home
• Ways to Work from Home Online
• Knowing Your Target Market & Unique Selling Proposition
• Choosing a Domain Name
• Hosting
• Choosing Site Building Tools
• Shopping Carts
• You Need a Mailing List
• Content Creation
• Are you blogging yet?
• Podcasting
• Article Marketing on the Web
• Special Reports
• eBooks & Info Products
• Using Video on the Web
• Social Optimization
• What is Twitter?
• Other Social Networking Sites Worth Mentioning
• Social Bookmarking
• Issues of Mojo
• Developing Systems
• Outsourcing for Success and Sanity
• How to Occupy the Kids While You Work
• There’s No Money in Your Comfort Zone!
• Copywriting Bootcamp: The Basics
• What is a Press Release?
• Making Friends with the Search Engines
• Managing Your Books & Preparing For Taxes
• About Membership Sites
• Joint Ventures
• Before You Spend Advertising Dollars
• Internet Terms Glossary

According to Entrepreneur magazine, home parties now account for “roughly 29 percent of the nearly $30 billion in U.S. direct sales, and 13.6 million Americans bought or sold goods from home in 2004.”

We are not just talking about Tupperware or Mary Kay, we are talking about some hot new products that are highly marketable.

Consumers demand is high on jewelry, home decor and green products.

I’ve put together the hottest direct sales and multi-level companies based the number of catalog and information requests from my ishopathome.ca site.

1. Women Accessories are hot.  When people have less money to spend, they use accessories to update their wardrobe instead of buying new  clothes.  Check out these companies:

• Lavish Online
  
• Stello and Dot
• Aura Stella
• Silpada
• Latasia

2.  Home Decor and Home Accessories is the next best thing.  Spring is just around the corner and people start wondering what to do to update their environment.   These companies kept coming up on my search:

• Princess House
• Pampered Chef
• Tupperware
• Everyday Style
• Scentsy

3.  We can’t live without food, so cooking and spicing it up can excite the chef in us.  Check these ones

• Epicure Selections
• Gano Coffee
• Wine Tasting
• Sunset Gourment
• Watkins

4. Green companies are joining the Direct Sales / Multi-Level bandwagon.

• Enjo
• Norwex

To be profitable in any business, you must consider the following before joining:

1. Can you advertise your business online?  Read their policy carefully to make sure you are not limited to their company provided website.
2. What’s their initial fee? It is always wise to fully scrutinize what’s included in the start up kit and see if it will actually provide you enough product to start doing the business.
3. What is their buy back policy? Member of DSWA must agree to buy back inventory from their consultants.  Better yet, choose a business that don’t require inventory.
4. Due your diligence before you plunk your hard earned money and make sure there is an actual product or service being provided and stay away from pyramid schemes.

The World Wide Web can be an excellent resource for those involved in direct sales. Just as networking offline can be a great boost for business, networking online can be useful in gaining sales as well as new recruits for your business. So the next time that you are online, check out these great places to network online to further your direct sales business online.

Online Forums
Online forums are excellent places for people in direct sales to network while online. Wahm.com and internetbasedmoms.com are two wonderful places to start. You’ll meet and network with moms that are very successful with their businesses as well as moms that are looking for a business to start and lots of moms somewhere in between.

When networking on online forums please be mindful of the rules and regulations of each forum that you decide to visit. Not only with this save you from doing any unauthorized advertising, it will help you build a solid reputation as a business owner.

Ryze.com (oldest)
Ryze.com is another great place to network your business online. Business owners like you can create a homepage dedicated to networking your businesses. After you create your homepage you are all set to begin joining groups and networking with other business people on the web.

Squidoo.com
Squidoo.com is a fairly new social networking site that is gaining in popularity very rapidly. With Squidoo you can create lenses, which are basically short articles on any topic that you care to write about. This would be an excellent way to establish yourself as being very knowledgeable about the products or service that your business has to offer. Squidoo can be a useful tool in driving potential customers to your websites.

Email Groups
Email groups, like those offered by Yahoo, are another option for online networking. All you need to do is search for groups that would fit your business. “Work at Home Moms in Wisconsin”, or “Moms in Home Business” would just be a couple of examples of the types of groups that you should keep an eye out for when looking for email groups to join.

These are just a few of the great places online that you can utilize for networking. Look for ways to be a useful contributor and supportive friend wherever you choose to network and you will be well on your way to building your business in no time at all.

Social Networks

Social networks are becoming the place to be as far as online networking. The trick is to create a strategy and choose the right groups, and network for your purpose.  Don’t forget that these are “social” networks. It revolves around socializing.

Linkedin Group - if you want to build relationship with many influencial people, linkedin group is the answer.  It’s one of the best way to meet and engage with people in certain industry or business niche.  I am currently a member of the VA group as well as the Company of Women where I met many interesting people.

Facebook Group and Facebook Pages -  search an industry on facebook or a business and you are likely to find a group that interest you.   While linkedin is considered a business social network, facebook is the cocktail party – members of these networks acts and expect different.

The key thing to remember when networking online is to become a contributor instead of just going in and announcing your company products or service.  Hang out for a while and observe what others are doing.

Finding a great up line is one of the smartest moves that you can make when you decide to get into the direct sales industry. Most successful direct sales consultants that you speak with will tell you that they feel a quality sponsor played a large roll in the overall success of their direct sales business. So why is it important to stay in touch with your up line once you begin a direct sales business?

Training:
Your up line will be able to give you proper training. A very important reason that you should stay in touch with your up line is for the training that they can offer you, which is especially important if this is your first venture into the direct sales world. For example, your up line can answer any questions that you might have on how to navigate through your company’s online ordering system, or how to get your discount on personal orders.

Promotion:
Staying in touch with your up line can assist you in the marketing and promotion of your business. Your sponsor can let you know what kind of marketing materials and promotional tactics have worked well for their business and if you could use them successfully to advance your business. Your up line can also help you develop a plan of action so you can go out and book parties and make the income goals that you have set for yourself. Your up line will also help to fill you in on the rules and the regulations of marketing your business online.

Support:
One huge reason you should stay in touch with your up line is the moral support and encouragement that she can offer you. Many women that have decided to make the jump to start a career in direct sales feel extremely motivated to make their business a success when they feel that they have someone that believes in them and is just as excited for them as they are. Having a good relationship with your up line can help you to get through the hard times to build your business.

These are great reasons that you should stay in touch with your up line when you join a direct sales business. You want to make sure to find a sponsor that is actively working her business and is genuinely interested in signing you up so that you can be successful in meeting whatever goals you would like. This way the relationship will be beneficial for both of you.

Having a well-motivated sales team can be the cornerstone of a successful direct sales career. Building a strong sales team has the potential for great financial benefits for you as an up line. So now that you are on your way to building a good sized sales team how do you keep them motivated so that they will have fun with what they are doing and be able to build a successful direct selling business for themselves?

Team Newsletter or Ezine
One thing that you can do to keep up the motivation of your team is start a team newsletter. This can be done through the mail or by email whichever you think would work better for your group. You can include words of encouragement to get your team members excited about their business, offer tips like theme party ideas and maybe even let your team send in ideas that have worked for them.

Sending Cards
Another thing you can do to let your team members know that they are special to you is start sending cards on special occasions. Remembering things like wedding anniversaries, birthdays or even a consultant that has had an exceptional sales month will let your team members know that they are special to you and not simply a number that you recruited for your own personal gain.

Training and Incentives
Offer team training and incentives to your down line for motivation. Whether your new recruits are direct sales pros or delving into their first experience, training is always a good thing. You could hold conference calls; monthly or even weekly team meetings. Offer incentives for your team to help them reach their sales goals. Offer things like sales aides (order forms, catalogs, etc…) or products from your company if they meet goals like booking so many parties in a month, making so many sales phone calls, or meeting a certain amount of sales.

Support
The best thing that you can do is make yourself available to your team and let them know that they matter to you. Nothing is more motivating than knowing you have someone who is behind you and supports you all the way with your business.

Keep these tips in mind and you will have a sales team that really loves what they do, which means success for everyone.

Learning how to advertise your direct sales business online can mean a definite increase in sales for your business. The thing that you need to keep in mind, however, with direct sales is that there is often a different set of rules for online advertising. Here are some tips and tricks for advertising your direct sales business online through forums.

First of all you want to decide on your target market (or markets). Are you hoping to target stay at home moms? Maybe you are hoping to contact real estate companies in hopes of getting them to buy gift baskets that you have put together. Once you have determined who exactly you are trying to get to purchase your items for sale you will have a better idea of where online you are going to want to be advertising.

Forums can be a great place to advertise your business. You can participate in the forums –offering genuine support and advice when needed, which not only builds trust among the online community you are participating in, it is just simply fun to do. Then when someone is looking for a product that you may offer, you can casually mention that you are a rep for a company that carries what they need and the person will be encouraged to make a purchase from you since you have spent the time and have built that level of trust. Make sure to follow the rules and regulations of the forums that you would like to potentially advertise in. You do not want to be reprimanded for spamming.

If you are not allowed to post advertisements on online forums, then look into the possibilities of signature advertising. All you need to do is create a catchy tag line to encourage people to click on your link and hopefully make a purchase. You could also implement signature advertising in emails that you send too, that way each time you correspond with someone you are advertising your business.

These are just a couple of ideas that you can implement while advertising online. Just be aware of the rules whenever you are advertising so you do not end up spamming. This way you’ll be off to great sales in no time.