Home Based Businesses: 5 Affordable Ways to Advertise Offline

Home based businesses provide a convenient way for parents to earn income, while still being at home for their kids. It's also an excellent way for retired and disabled individuals to earn some extra money. The problem that most new owners face is getting their business in front of people. No one wants to seem like a stalker. Chasing your family, friends, neighbors and coworkers around is not cool and it can make you very unpopular, very quickly. What can you do to advertise your business to your community?

Here are five affordable ways to advertise your home based business in your community:

1. Pens and pencils are a great way to get your name seen. You can visit a site like PensRUs for more information. You can find pens and pencils that can be customized with your business' information for as low as .16 (500 minimum order). Leave them at busy places like the post office, your church, the mall and the bank. You can also send them to school with your kids. The pens will end up in the homes of kids and staff in your community.

2. Yearbooks are usually an inexpensive alternative to advertising in the paper. Who doesn't like to look at their child's yearbook?

3. Sponsor a children's team in your community. The uniforms will have your business information on them. You never know where the kids will travel wearing those uniforms! Most of them continue wearing the hats way after the jersey was outgrown!

4. Have magnets made with your business information and leave them at the pump. You can also make a little plastic carrying case that you can glue to the pump that holds your business cards. VistaPrint sells both magnets and business cards at 50% the normal price.



5. What if you don't have kids? This is what my youngest sister told me when I was advising her about promoting her home based businesses. Simple. She has two dogs which are her babies. I told her to make little doggie sweaters at Cafepress.com . It's a great conversation starter....don't you think?

I hope you find these tips helpful!

A Home Baseed Business for the Fashionistas

There are many home based businesses to fit the lifestyle of every person. There are home based businesses that involve hosting parties like Tupperware, Creatvie Memories or Mary Kay. There are others like Avon, that can be as easy as leaving an Avon book in a waiting room. There are even businesses that maximize talents: like the art of interior decorating (Home Interiors), cooking (The Pampered Chef) and financial savvy (Primerica).

Now I've come across a home based business for the woman that loves to coordinate their look, down to their jewelry. FoxyJewelry.com is a relatively new business opportunity that can be done on your time. That's the beauty of working for yourself. You schedule your hours! I haven't actually tried this business. I'm curious as to the quality of the merchandise. If you are involved in this business, send me an email. I'd like to hear more about it and your success...

Home Based Businesses: Fill a Need and Get Free Advertising

Ever been at supermarket, doctor's office or department store and needed to sign a check or receipt? How frustrated do the cashier and customer become when no one can find a pen? Well, that little pen can be a great inexpensive way to advertise your home based business.

When I do anything, I always try to accomplish two or more objectives with every action. Whether I'm blogging, cooking or shopping-I try to maximize every action and opportunity. You can also accomplish an increase in advertising and sales with your home based business. All that is needed is a little creative thinking.

If you have a home based business, you should take every opportunity to spread the word. One great inexpensive way to advertise your business is by purchasing ballpoint pens that are imprinted with your name, number, location and/or URL. Pens are a great way to advertise because everyone needs one. Leave them in places where people need to use them. For example, leave them at doctor's offices, banks, check cashing offices or supermarket checkouts. What if you want to purchase fancier pens to distribute to loyal clients? Visit the link for higher end products that can be personalized with all your business' details.

What other ways can you advertise your home based business?
Visit the site to browse through their online catalog. You can also customize tools, keychains, tote bags, duffle bags, calculators and much more.

Remember, you want to get your business out there. The more people that know you exist, the more business you may get.

More creative ways of advertising your home based business:
1. Sponsor a child's sports team. Your logo will be on every team member's shirt.
2. Purchase a page or two in the nearest school's yearbook.
3. Bumper stickers.
4. Put your business info on your car.
5. Have lolipops or other candy personalized with your business' info.
6. Have your business added to your town's/city's internet site. It's a great way for newcomers to find out about your product/service.
7. Have customized clothing made for your pets. You can get advertise your business while you're walking your dog!

Hope these tips help you advertise your business and increase your income!

Home Based Businesses: Planning Your Day

Working from home is the most convenient way for me to earn income. Having 7 kids, I never know when I may get a phone call from the school and the next minute I'll have to drive there. There are way too many things that can go wrong. For this reason, I am grateful that I have found many ways to earn money that I can integrate into my busy lifestyle.

There are a few things that have helped me stay on track and I thought that I would share them with you.

Create Boundaries
1. There are family members, loved ones, neighbors and other people that may not consider your employment to be "real work". Just because you don't leave your home doesn't mean you're not working. Whether you are a blogger, an affiliate marketer, or a tupperware consultant-you need to set boundaries. Don't let others monopolize your time. Don't let others volunteer you to bake goodies for the troops because "you're home anyway".
2. Create a space where you can stay away from distractions. The TV, the phone and the world for that matter can wait. If it's not an emergency, you can TiVo, check your answering machine or take a rain check for that lunch date.

Set Goals
1. You need to write down specific goals.
2. Calculate the amount of money you need to earn and do it. Easier said then done? Not really. If you are involved in a home based business like Tupperware or MaryKay you have easy ways to calculate what you need to do. Figure out how much you need to cover your expenses. The next step is to break down the actions you have to perform to reach your goal. Let's say that you need to make $150.00 a day to meet your expenses. If you sell a product, you can either set a goal to sell 10 $15.00 dollar products or 2 $75.00 purchases per day.
3. Try to meet your goals daily. If you meet your goals earlier that week, you can either take a day off or continue working and save the profit!

Know When to Take a Break
1. Being at home doesn't mean you work all the time. Schedule a time to work and a time to play. Burn out comes quickly when you are in the same situation day after day. Learn to relax, the way you work. Give it 100%!
2. Don't forget to eat! When you're at a place of business, lunch is usually scheduled. Learn to take a lunch break. Your body will thank you for it!
3. If there are too many distractions for you at home to really realx, take a walk. Exercise is good for the body and the soul.

Learn To Adjust to Situations to Complete Your Tasks
In my life, there is little time for a break. I'm either working or caring for the kids. I take a break when I sleep. I can't always get to a computer to write these entries, so I carry a notepad with me. When I am at a park with the kids, I try to jot down the entries. That's why there are weeks that you don't see a post and all of a sudden you see four or five on a Friday. Even then, The Little One often cups my chin to speak to me and .... you'll always know due to the typing errors. I try to type things out so quickly, typing errors often go undetected until days later. Using a pen and paper is how I deal with the disruption in the routine. The writing still gets done, even though it's not on the schedule I would like. There are things that you just can't change, so you need to change to deal with them.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Whew...I can't wait for school to start. I love my kids, but The Little One can drain anyone. He's like the energizer bunny...he keeps ticking and ticking and ticking...

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Home Based Businesses: How to Turn Weaknesses into Strengths (Part 2)

This post has been milling around in my mind for several months. My sister is involved in three home based businesses besides her full time employment and I often bounce ideas around with her. Getting involved with several home based businesses took some convincing on my sister's part. One day I realized that the very reasons I was not going forward with this opportunity, could be turned to work for me and not against me. Let's examine this.

The Probelms
1. Being a mom with 7 kids and not having any family or help nearby was the biggest weakness. I couldn't train at weekly meetings or seminars. I didn't have anyone that I could trust with my 4 yr old's care due to his autism.
2. I have many kids and what do I do with them when I need to work? How can you motivate teens, tweens and younger kids to become as motivated as you are?
3. Money to start up any business is non existent.
4. Having to hire babysitters would defeat the purpose. My oldest is a non bio and my absence usually is followed by an oops...that costs money to repair. Although he technically is old enough to care for the others, the maturity is non-existent. My 13 year old daughter is more mature and very trustworthy.

Perspective
The problems are many and even more complicated then they look in writing. What I realized is that I can maximize my efforts by using them for me instead of against. Thinking outside the box is key to becoming successful. Using motivation and praise can get you the results you want. What I realized is that it's all about perspective. Some people may look at a situation like mine and say, "Hopeless". While another entrepreneur can see a gold mine.

Solutions
1. The trainings I can't attend are emailed to me. If I can't read it from the computer, I can print them up and take them with me to read at a wating room, supermarket check out or a traffic jam! I can also attend conference calls. These are great because if my 4 yr old starts acting up, I can just press the mute button.
2. What do I do when I need to work? How do I motivate the kids? I pay them. Yes, it's working well. They get paid to do things that I don't neessarily need to be involved in. They have been saving their money in their savings accounts. After reading an article at MSN that stuck with me, I will be opening IRA's. When you have a child that is working for the home business you can do this. It is a great way to save for their future.
**Here's one article Start on Your First Million at age 16 (My Entrepreneur, Comedian and Diva loved this idea!)
**Tax Breaks to Get Your Youngster Through Yale This article is great and everyone should read it. I decided to highlight the point I made.

Owning your business has its rewards
If you’re self-employed, there are more avenues of tax savings available. Hire your kids! You can pay a child as much as $7,750 in 2004 with the child paying zero tax on those dollars. His standard deduction shelters the first $4,750, and a traditional IRA shelters the rest – the contribution limit is $3,000 this year. (I should note that a non-deductible Roth probably would be better in the long term). You deduct the wage you pay in your bracket, and the kid pays no tax. If you’re paying your own child, and you’re not incorporated, there’s neither Social Security/Medicare nor, normally, any other payroll taxes to pay.

The courts have validated hiring a child as young as age 7. If you’re in the 28% bracket and subject to self-employment taxes totaling 15.3%, the wages paid to your kids yield a 43.3% tax savings -- not counting any state or local taxes.

If you pay your 7-year-old deductible wages of $6,700, you save $2,901. Start at age 7 and by the time he’s 18, if the money's been invested at 10%, you’ve accumulated about $56,000 in tax savings alone.

3. The money issue was solved by using income I earned online! No part time job, no hours away from home or extra expenses!
4. I incorporated the kids into the business. They help with the marketing, the sales and the inventory.

The biggest obstacle many people focused on was my autistic son. This is what I did. Since my children know sign language and are accustomed to dealing with the complex behaviors and symptoms of autism, we used it as an advantage-not a disadvantage. This opens the door to many customers that would regularly not be involved, to come and enjoy a good pampering session. The plus is it's all happening at home, I am always present and available. The Chatterbox helps with snacks and refreshments, the Diva helps with the kids, my sons do the landscaping and everyone gets paid.

Getting involved in pursuing your dreams is as easy as involving those that you love and including them into your success. When presented with a problem, always step back, examine it and think outside of the box.

I hope this inspires you to take a step towards your dreams....

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Learn about Finance Economics degrees from Walden University, Capella University, and Baker College

Working From Home: Pros and Cons

There are pros and cons to working from home. Some people think that working from home is bliss. They don't see the whole picture. It is the best scenario for me and my large family, so I embrace it. Before you make that leap into working from home, think about the pros and cons.

The Advantages
Being the caregiver of a large family, it is imperative that I be available at all times. Working at a traditional 9-5 becomes an obstacle to wearing my primary title-mother. Most jobs are not so understanding when the school calls to tell you your child is running 103 fever. They're less understanding when the next day you get a call from your other child's school... I no longer have to ask for permission to go and pick up my sick child. I don't have to worry about early snow closings, bus delays or the other million things that can go wrong. I don't have to beg my boss to let me go to a graduation or other school function. I can be there when my kids need me. It works the other way too. If I am sick, I don't have to go to in work.

Another advantage of working from home is the money you save. I dont have to commute so that eliminates the transportation expenses. I don't have to buy clothing for the office or pay for lunch. What do I need? I need internet access, phone service and a computer which later will be tax deductible. One important thing is to remember is to keep accurate financial records.

My favorite part about working form home is that I can do most of the work when it is convenient for me. I can work at night when they're sleeping or during the day when they are in school. Those are the quietest times in my home! With my home based businesses, I can incorporate my kids into it. (I'll discuss that in another post).

The Disadvantages
One of the most complained about aspect is that your family assumes you don't work. People try to recruit you to do their errnads because "you don't work". If you are not disciplined, this may not be a good decision for you. A person has to set boundaries and make people realize you are working. Most work at home opportunites require you to be in front of a computer. Just because you are not in an office doesn't mean you're not working!

The second biggest disadvantage is the housework that is staring you in the face. Many people become sidetracked and start to do that one last project and then the whole day is gone. You need to schedule your day and take breaks to eat, regroup and relax before your family arrives. Life is hectic, it's worse without a plan.

What happens when your kids have summer vacation? You need to schedule time for your kids to be off doing fun activities. Keep them occupied, involve them in free programs or recruit family to help you keep them busy. Remember, you have to work to pay the bills.

Working from home is not for everybody. Some people need to feel like they got up, got dressed and went forward to accomplish something, somehwere else. There are many different opportunities in this life. Only you know which ones are the right opportunities that will create success in your life.

Whether you decide to work from home with companies or run your own home based business, managing your time is very important. Make sure you make time for work and play!

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Home Based Businesses: What Motivates Me to Succeed

Someone asked me how I keep motivated when dealing with my businesses. I thought that was a great question! I know how and why I stay motivated, but others don't. Since I love to share my knowledge with others, I thought this would make a great post!

First let's see what the definition of motivation is according to merriam-webster online.

Main Entry: mo·ti·va·tion
Pronunciation: "mO-t&-'vA-sh&n
Function: noun
1 a : the act or process of motivating b : the condition of being motivated
2 : a motivating force, stimulus, or influence : INCENTIVE, DRIVE

There are several great motivating factors in my life.

My kids
My children are the greatest motivators. Besides the fact that they are constantly growing, eating and depleting resources, I am their primary caregiver. I need to be available at a moment's notice. I live very far from family and friends and I don't have a support system. This means that if they are sick in school, I would have to miss work. When the baby broke his leg, I stayed home. When they have school functions.... well...if I don't attend they will be alone. That's the way it is. I have to be there and be present body, mind and soul.


The boss from hell
For the first time in my whole life, I was let go from a job. At this job, I was hailed for my accomplishments, the clients loved me and I loved the job. I went above and beyond. I was asked to make myself available to clients at my home number and cell numner and was demanded to take work home. (I was not paid for any of this or reimbursed for any expenses incurred.) This was a non profit organization. The directors changed and the Martha Stewart clone came to "power". She made many of us cry, changed our schedules from one day to another to get us to quit and forced us to work under poor conditions (she made me work in a building with no heat for a week during upstate NY winter). She refused to let me take time to have my son's evaluations done for early intervention, made me stay late (even though I told her I was jeopardizing my day care) and made us come into work when the town was closed (due to a blizzard). I risked my life and those of my children to make it to work that day and then she let me go a week later. Most of the employees that were there were let go or quit since her tyranny began. People she hired have quit the same day. She made me work through lunch, refused to let me go to a school function where my son stood alone and hung my job security over my head on a regular basis. I waited to purchase a car (mine was on its final days) until she told me I would have job stability. I bought the car, drove it to work and she let me go the next day. Would that be motivation enough for you? I vowed I would never alow someone to dictate my life and the life of my children like she did. Within weeks of losing my employment, the evaluations confirmed my suspicions. My youngest child was diagnosed with autism and my 13 yr old was diagnosed with ADD. Had I not lost that job, I never would have been able to take him to the myraid of specialists his diagnosis required. (It was a blessing in disguise).

The bills
They have to get paid. Food shelter and clothing need to be provided for the kids. The money has to come from somewhere. They didn't ask to be born, they didn't ask for their father to leave. I try to do the best that I can and I pray for God to give me the strength to do the rest. I know, bills aren't a great motivator for some. For me, those bills are the difference between living here and having to live in the city. Here I have a car, a home and the best services available for my autistic son.

Success
The final motivator is success. It's sink or swim. I'm not sinking. I have been able to survive being abandoned with so many kids in the middle of nowhere. I have triumphed in being able to work again, with so many kids and no support system. After he left in less them a month, I got my driver's license, a job and was able to care for myself and my kids. Failure is not an option. People have said that earning money as a blogger is next to impossible, I have received my first check from google and am receving payments regularly from other blogging sources. Anyone can succeed if you just put your mind to it. Set goals, meet them and persevere. I'm not going to stop until I am out of debt and on the road to attaining wealth. I have to keep going because my kids are watching. I always tells them they can do whatever they set their minds to and I have to prove it.

The Bottom Line
Children learn from example and I want and expect great things for and from them...
They are always watching. Need I say more?

Now what motivates you?

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Choosing a Home Based Business (Part 1)

Choosing a Home Based Business (Part I)

If you are a stay at home mom, retired or disabled, a home based business might be a great way to create extra income. It is important that you look at all your options before you choose a business. You don't want to start something and then not complete it. With new technology like the internet, businesses can reach so much more people at an alarming rate. Your success at a business relies on several important factors. Before choosing a business, ask yourself some very important questions and be truthful with your answers.

Here are some very important things to ponder before choosing a home business:
1. Choose a business that interests you. For example, I am what I call "sport illiterate" (people always laugh when I say that). It wouldn't make sense for me to get involved in a business that revolves around sports. Sports only interest me when it involves my kids. Even then, sometimes I don't know what's going on. It wouldn't make sense for me to start a sports affiliated home business.
2. Are you going to put some of your money into the venture? There are home businesses that have an upfront fee and there are those that are free. Have an idea of how much money you are willing to invest into your business.
3. Would you like to sell a product that sells itself or a service? Most businesses that include selling products reqiures you to have inventory. Do you have the money or space to do this? That is something important to think about. Businesses that provide services sometimes bring you commissions regularly. Are you good at selling a service or are you better at selling a product you can taste, touch, see and/or smell?
4. How much time do you want to invest in your business? Some businesses are just time consuming. They require paperwork, inventory, billing, shipping and more. Be aware that these things must get done by you-the owner!
5. How motivated are you? Can you become so motivated about your home business that you can really make a profit? Motivation and execution are important to your success. No one is going to do this for you.

These are just a few things to consider before you get involved in a business. In Part II I will cover some other important issues that need to be addressed before you take that big step...

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