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What are you afraid of? Chances are fear is a factor in your life. Many people are afraid of failure. They don’t take risks at all because they’re sure they’ll fail. Or they take very cautious risks, like dipping their toe in a swimming pool, afraid to dive in. Other people are afraid of success and stand in their own way, fearing a complete change in their self-image.

 Taking the leap from the corporate world to one where you are totally responsible for your own day is a pretty scary thing. Sure, it sounds great: work only when you want, report to only yourself, work in your pajamas, etc. But when faced with actually being your own boss, many people become choked with fear. What tasks should they do first? How do they prioritize which tasks are most important? How do they develop the discipline to accomplish anything at all? How can they be sure they’ll have enough money next week or next month?

 The only way to get past these fears is recognize them for what they are. Pay attention to your feelings, and know that you have the power to change.

It’s important to have total faith in yourself and what you’re trying to accomplish. Many people who start their own business get negative feedback from those around them. People will imply that you’re not going to make it, that you should stay in the rat race with them. Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s acting in spite of fear.

 As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.”

 The key to getting past your fears is deciding you’re not going to let them defeat you. Equally important is staying focused on exactly where you’re going. I’ll talk more about staying focused in my next post.

Technorati Tags: pursuing your dream, Work At Home, work from home, working at home, working from home

What are the pros and cons of working from home? If you hate the 9-5 rat race, you may think there are no disadvantages to working from home. Chances are, all you can think of are the pros, such as the following:

 Avoiding rush hour commute. Most people who have to sit through traffic wish they didn’t. For many people, avoiding exposure to road rage is right at the top of the list of pros.

1. Flexible hours. If you work from home, you can work exactly when you want. There is no time clock to punch. If you’re a night person, you can work in the middle of the night.
2. More time with your family. This one is a great pro for working at home – if it works out that way. Some people find when they’re self-employed they actually are working more hours than when they had a day job.
3. Being able to work without supervision. No more bosses looking over your shoulder, no more annual review. But are you disciplined enough to handle it/

 What about the cons?

 No benefits. No more getting paid for holidays and vacations. No one is matching your 401K payment or contributing to group health insurance.

1. Lack of a salary you can count on. You will only get paid if you work, and in the early months and maybe years of your business, you may not make much. You have to plan for your own health insurance and retirement needs.
2. Lack of interaction with other adults. Some people may miss the office gossip or feel trapped when surrounded by small children all the time.

I’m sure you can think of other advantages and disadvantages to working from home. Only you can decide whether the pros outweigh the cons.  

Technorati Tags: freelance, legitimate work at home, make money at home, Work At Home, work at home business, work from home

Why do you want to work from home? For many, the answers seem obvious. You want to be with your kids, of course. You hate your boss. You want to stop sitting through rush hour traffic. You’re tired of sitting through staff meetings.

But are those reasons enough?

What I mean by that is:

Do you want to make it happen enough?

You may say you want to work from home, but what did you do today to work toward that goal? There are many places to start. The first thing you have to know is what you’re going to do. Are you going to offer a particular service, such as dog grooming or house cleaning? Are you going to start an online business?

Make a plan.

Whatever path you want to take, picture in your mind where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. List the reasons you want to work from home. Decide what type of service you will offer, or what types of items you will sell. How much money do you want to make? Do you need a certain amount to quit your job, or are you looking to save money for a specific goal, such as orthodontist bills, or sending a child to college?

Set goals on paper. What is the next step you need to take? The next step may be deciding for sure what your source of income will be. Or it may be deciding how you’re going to finance your business. If you’ve already started a business, the goal you write down may be how much money you want to be making in six months, or how to market your business and attract new clients.

Don’t underestimate the importance of written goals. Knowing where you’re going is the only way to get there.

Technorati Tags: Work At Home, work at home business

For most new eBay sellers, the first question that comes to mind is “What should I sell?” quickly followed by “Where can I get items to resell?”

Just about any item you can think of is being sold on eBay, from jewelry to clothing to electronic items to computer software to collectibles to toys. How do you choose what you should sell?

For any type of home business, the best thing to focus on is something that you are knowledgeable about or something you are passionate about. Some people will know instantly what that is; for others there may be more of a struggle and a sense of confusion as to what direction to take.

It’s helpful to know what the market potential is for any particular item you may be interested in selling. Spend a good amount of time on market research. Watch trends in what types of items are selling and for how much. What are customers actually searching for and what are they buying?

eBay offers quite a few selling tools that can be very helpful in your research efforts. From eBay’s home page click on “Site Map” on the top right hand corner. Under Selling Resources, click “Seller Central”. To find out what’s in demand, click “What’s Hot”.

Also be sure to review the Hot Items. Here’s how:

• From Seller Central, click “Resources”.
• Under “Seller News”, click Hot Lists by Category.

eBay also offers “Marketplace Research” under Advanced Selling Tools, also from the Seller Central Resources.

Once you have narrowed down what category or what item you may want to sell, spend some time reviewing completed auctions to see how much of a market there is. Under search options, click the box that says “completed listings.” This will show you which items actually sold and for how much.

These are some suggestions as to how to find out what people want. Once you know what you want to sell, the next step is to decide the best way to obtain your inventory.

Technorati Tags: eBay Auctions, eBay Shop, Work At Home, work at home business

“I want it that way” by the Backstreet Boys is parodied by the excellent Weird Al Yankovic “Ebay” song - synched to the videoclip. I must admit Ebay is very much the way he describes it in the song. Don’t take it too seriously; just enjoy! btw I actually love ‘Star Wars’. Honours #5 - Most Discussed (All Time) - Australia #3 - Most Discussed (All Time) - Music - Australia #1 - Most Viewed (All Time) - Australia #1 - Most Viewed (All Time) - Music - Australia #1 - Top Favorites (All Time) - Australia #70 - Top Favorites (All Time) #1 - Top Favorites (All Time) - Music - Australia #53 - Top Favorites (All Time) - Music #22 - Top Rated (All Time) - Australia #14 - Top Rated (All Time) - Music - Australia #22 - Most Linked (All Time) - Australia #6 - Most Linked (All Time) - Music - Australia

Duration : 0:3:28

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Technorati Tags: Al, comedy, ebay, humour, parody, satire, Weird, Yankovic

Should you open an eBay store? There are a lot of advantages to opening an eBay store, and if you are serious about using eBay as a vehicle to eventually quit your day job, opening an eBay store is one of the steps you should probably take to help you achieve your goals more quickly.

For one thing, an eBay store allows you additional exposure to your listings. According to eBay, within three months after opening a store, store sellers typically see an increase of 25% in sales. If you have a large number of listings, you will see a dramatic reduction in listing fees.

You will definitely save time by opening your own store. More tasks can be automated with an eBay store. For example, if you have been listing a lot of items individually, having an eBay store will save you time, because store inventory can be set to last for longer periods of time, such as 30, 60, 90 or 120 days, or “good until cancelled.” There is also automatic renewal of unsold items. You can also automate asking for feedback and keeping track of your orders.

Having an eBay store will allow you to have more exposure both on and off eBay. You will have your own web address (URL), so you can establish a web presence and drive traffic to your URL. You can actually establish a relationship with repeat customers by having a store newsletter. By using this tool, you will be able to remind your best customers what items you have available, what items are newly added or on sale.

To open an eBay store, you need a seller’s account and a feedback rating of at least 20. You must be ID verified or have a PayPal account. For anyone who is serious about making a full-time living on eBay, opening an eBay store should seriously be considered. A good rule of thumb is if you’re selling at least 20 items a month, an eBay store will increase your profits and save you time. It will definitely help you grow your business.

Technorati Tags: Work At Home, work at home business

How do you improve your chances of getting jobs on bidding sites? Usually you’re competing against several other freelancers, some of whom may have more experience and more testimonials. Keep in mind that freelancers with a great deal of experience are probably going to place high bids. On the low end of the scale will be people from third world countries, who often don’t speak English as their native language. The new freelancer will probably fit somewhere in between these two extremes.

Write the best profile you can and make sure it doesn’t have spelling or grammatical errors. Spend some time reading the profiles of successful freelancers to get ideas on what to emphasize. You could even hire one of the very successful freelancers to help you write your profile. Be sure to include a variety of samples of your work for potential buyers to read.

For ideas on how much to bid, watch what other freelancers are bidding. Some ghostwriters post their rates on their own websites. Some bidding sites allow you to see what other people are bidding, like http://www.rent-a-ghostwriter.com. Even on sites where bidding is sealed, there is often a way to see the range of bids.

Technorati Tags: freelance, Work At Home, work at home business

If you want to get started working as a freelancer, the best place to start is with freelance bidding sites. These sites are usually free to register. Each site then has different requirements, often with different levels of membership. Depending on the site, a fee might be charged to the buyer or the service provider or both. Choose a membership level, build a profile and start bidding on jobs.

Bidding sites are a great way to begin to develop a portfolio. They allow a new freelancer to gain valuable experience as well as testimonials to the quality of their work. Projects are usually posted daily, so they offer a great opportunity for a new service provider to find work. There is also some protection for new service providers in the sense that buyers pay up front for projects and the bidding site holds the money in an escrow account. This takes away the fear of not getting paid for projects you complete.

There are several bidding sites to choose from. Take your time exploring the sites and evaluating what membership options there are. These are the top freelance bidding sites:

• http://www.elance.com is one of the largest bidding sites and offers quite a few new job postings every day. Opportunities are available in programming, design, writing, engineering, administrative support, sales and marketing.
• http://www.getafreelancer.com offers opportunities in programming, web design, copywriting and technical writing.
• http://www.rentacoder.com is a great source of opportunity for software coders. There are also opportunities for graphic designers, writers and virtual assistants.
• http://www.guru.com has opportunities in web and graphic design, writing, programming, sales and telemarketing, engineering, finance and accounting and administrative support.
• http://www.ifreelance.com is one of the lower priced bidding sites and does not charge commission on the money you earn. Opportunities are available for writers, photographers, artists and programmers.

Check out these bidding sites and start bidding on jobs. To improve your chances of getting jobs on these sites, read my next post.

Technorati Tags: Freelancing, Work At Home, work at home business

Ryan McLean from Smarter Wealth is giving away a brand new Flip Mino HD to one lucky reader. This will be the easiest Flip Mino HD to win because barely anyone is going to enter meaning more chances that you can win.

The Flip Mino HD is the coolest gadget around. You can shoot one hour of video in HD (so you can play it on your plasma) and you can even edit your footage right on your device. This device is so small that it will fit in your pocket so you will never miss capturing a moment ever again.

To enter all you have to do is sign up for Ryan’s newsletter and post about the competition.

Check out all the details of how you can enter the Win a Flip Mino HD competition now.

Technorati Tags: Work At Home, work at home business, Work At Home Jobs

For those seeking work at home opportunities, what most people are really looking for is freedom. Freedom from time clocks, nerve-wracking commutes, performance reviews, asking permission to go to the restroom, etc.

One path to freedom is working as a freelancer. Freelancing means contracting a particular skill or service, often on a per project basis.  You are contracted to do a particular job, but you are not employed by the person who contracts you. Some of the skills that are offered on a freelance basis are writing, photography, graphic design, editing and computer programming.

Some of the advantages of freelancing include:

• Variety of projects and people you work for. When a project is complete, you have no obligation to continue working for a particular company. You can work for more than one company or client.
• Control over what your time is worth. At a regular job, your income is limited to what your employer thinks you are worth. As a freelancer, you charge what you feel your services are worth, and you can adjust your bids at any time.
• Scheduling freedom. If you are a night person, you have the freedom to do the bulk of your work at 10 p.m. or later. Likewise, you can work at 5 a.m. if you’re most alert in the morning, and you can take the afternoon off to do errands or spend time with your kids.

The disadvantages of freelancing include:

• Lack of steady income.  There is something to be said for knowing where your next paycheck is coming from.  In the freelancing world, until you have established yourself with several steady clients, there is an absence of a steady paycheck.
• Time required finding jobs. For a freelancer, part of your business plan has to include spending part of your work day marketing yourself and looking for more work.
• Income taxes. Being self-employed means being responsible for your own record-keeping and income taxes. If you are single, you also need to worry about health insurance and retirement planning.

If you believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, learn more about freelance bidding sites in my next post.

Technorati Tags: Freelancing, make money at home, Work At Home, work at home business