Spare Time, Spare Time What to Do????

The great thing about owning your own Home Based Business is that you can set up the schedule that you want to work. As I mentioned before some Home Business owners choose to work only part-time and others full-time. The choice is up to you. I personally choose part-time. So, I have free time on my hands, which I usually spend with my kids.

With so much spare time on my hands me and my kids have developed an unbreakable bond. That is something special that I am grateful for. Spending time with my kids is the best thing that about owning a Home Business.

Recently me and my kids went Hemisfair Park at downtown San Antonio. There we took pictures and had lots of fun. The kids and I were playing in the water fountain (check the pictures). The kids took a picture with Dum Dum. They learned alot about our city and more...

Videos, videos, videos...Is the new thing that we have been doing. Two of my daughters were dancing to the song The Cars that Go Boom. We posted it on YouTube. We are hoping to start writing skits and upload them to Youtube as well.

One Step: Have fun with your family. What activities can you do with your family?
Two Step : Record the memory. Do you own a camera or video camera?
Three Step: Have more and more fun! Have you scheduled a family vacation yet?

Who can open a Home Business?

Can anyone open a Home Based Business? Well you will need a few things to open a Home Based Business. You need a PhD in Business, this is so people will think you are smart and hard working. You need billions of dollars. You need to be super creative and innovative. You need to be a friend maker with a contacts database the size of Microsoft's data centers. Last you will need to be able to turn mud into gold. Just kidding, all you need is some basic skills. Most Home Based Businesses are started by use of simple skills. I'm not going to go into details of how zoning and all the other intricate matters the city or state may place on a business. I will talk about that on a separate posting. I will just discuss the basics needed.

Adopting a life long learning attitude is a valuable skill that will make you the most successful business person in your market. Life long learning is simply always learning and updating your skills. This does not mean that you are always in a classroom but that your world is a classroom. There are different learning styles like visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. You can view the different types of learning styles on this website: Three different Learning Styles Personally my learning style is combo of Visual and Kinesthetic. There is no wrong type of learning style as long as you master using your learning style to your advantage.

The type of skill you possess does not matter just as long as you have a skill. The skill can be as small as being able to research to being able to create some complex drawing or even having good customer service skills. Some great skills that will help in starting a Home Business are writing skills, research, drawing, sewing, being able to build things like picnic tables or benches and socializing. With these skills you will be able to make a profitable Home Business. What are you good at?

Along with having great skills you will need to find mentors. There are silent mentors and mentors that you call on when you have a problem or need some advice. Silent mentors are those mentors that you learn off of without communicating with them. You just look, listen and learn. The other mentors you can find anywhere as well. They can be family members or someone that you pay to help you learn how to do solve a particular problem. Contact me for some advice or answers to questions you may have.

Anyone can open a Home Based Business including single mothers, single fathers, and entrepreneurs.
One Step: Adopt a life long learning attitude. Where can I find resources that will help me learn? Should I learn in a traditional classroom setting or through self-study?
Two Step: Discover your skills. What is it that I do best? What activities do I enjoy?
Three Step: Find a mentor. Who can be my mentor? Where can I find silent mentors?

Why Open a Home Business?

Many people are looking for more ways to make money to reach their goals in life. Everyone’s needs are different when you get a job. When you have a job you are sure to be stuck and have to depend on the mercy of your employer. You will have to depend on your employer for the following: job security, to earn more money and not reach a cap limit, greater satisfaction for your work, and flexibility in the workplace. Some employers are not granting any of these options for you.

Let's face it the objective of any business is to make money by getting and keeping customers. This is done by your hard work and efforts. However businesses are not offering job security. There are many reasons why job security is not available to employees. Reasons range from a company downsizing, to sending work overseas, to getting hurt or becoming ill and the company becoming so greedy as to lose business or licenses. Whatever the reason may be you will need a steady flow of income. That income can come from opening your Home Based Business.

Most positions have a set budget that will not be renegotiated. When this happens you will have to either accept the pay or move on. You can look on Salary.com and perform research on earning potentials and limits. You don't have to limit yourself to a low paying career.

Satisfaction guaranteed; many people leave work because they are not satisfied. Many people are unhappy at work because they are not satisfied at work. They are not satisfied because their work is not recognized or someone in the company tries to steal credit for your work. Owning your Home Business solves this problem because you are own boss. Your satisfaction comes from customer testimonials and getting paid for the job done.

Many times children get sick and you have to get the day off but they won’t let you. So you end up taking the risk and getting fired. That's not cool. There was a worker who when she was hired told the employer that she had a sick child that she would need to take her child to the doctor if he as an attack. The employer told her it would not be a problem to leave when she needed to. Later the employer went back on their word and she ended up resigning from the employer. She needed flexibility. With a home business you create your schedule. Many people who own their own business set their own schedule. One company only works half a year.

One Step: Think about why you would open a Home Based Business. What benefits will you have?
Two Step: Think about the advantages and disadvantages. Would you need a part time Home Based Business or would you go full time?
Three Step: Think about your goals in life. How can opening a Home Based Business help you reach those goals? 

Make Money by Becoming a Mystery Shopper

Jonathan Covarrubias scored 100 on a day that a mystery shopper went to his employment. He worked for Whataburger. They were expecting a mystery shopper and were prepared to serve out a meal. They just didn’t know what meal. Jonathan had just arrived and so did the mystery shopper. The mystery shopper ordered the chicken Strip meal. Jonathan prepared it fresh and on time. It was another satisfied customer. How does one become a mystery shopper? You have to love to shop.

First you have to know, what a mystery shopper is. According to the Federal Trade Commission some retailers hire marketing research companies to evaluate the quality of service in their stores. A mystery shopper makes a purchase and reports on the service. It is usually a part-time activity but you get reimbursed and get to keep the product.

Then you have to be aware of scams. Some companies, websites, emails, and mailings offer opportunities to become mystery shoppers but expect for you to pay a fee. These are the scams. You never have to pay to be a mystery shopper. A good website to find out where some legitimate companies are is the Mystery Shopper Providers Association. MSPA.org Just go to your country and click on shoppers.

One Step: Do some research on mystery shopping. You can go online and look up mystery shoppers and find a ton of websites on mystery shopping. See if the website is legit. Are familiar enough to start mystery shopping? 
Two Step: Get familiar with the FTC website. What steps do you have to take if you have a complaint on one of the companies? 
Three Step: Visit the MSPA website. What do you want to shop for? Have you found any openings on the site?

Money, Advertisement, Online

Earn $revenue$ through advertisements online. Each year companies spend billions of dollars in marketing campaigns. Jump on the band wagon and get your share of the income. All you need to do is have a website and drive traffic to that website. There are a number of resources that can help you become successful. There are also free resources and tools. There are 3 basic needs to earn revenue online through advertisement. These 3 itmes are a website, advertisers, and web traffic.

Web sites can be big or small. They can be simple or complex. However, for the sake of the individual that does not want to spend too much money on a site I will talk about low costs sites. All you need to do is purchase a domain name and web space from a web hosting company. The rates vary from $10 - $40 a month. It all depends on the size and maintenance the hosting company will be providing. For a small site you can purchase the lowest account and install a content management system like Joomla or Blogging Software like Word Press. Once you have your site online you are ready for the next step; finding advertisers.

Finding advertisers is not as hard as it may seem. When you are just starting off I recommend utilizing affiliate programs that many web companies offer. All you have to do is sign up. This is done by clicking on a link somewhere on the web page (usually on the bottom of the page). Some of the popular affiliate services are ValueClick and Tribal Fusion.

The old cliché is true Patience is a virtue. Depending how much money you put into your website it could be a year or more to drive traffic to your site. Advertisers want results and one way to attract advertisers is to have a web site with thousands of visitors or more. Tribal Fusion requires a website to have at least 500,000 visitors a month. Set some realistic goals to drive traffic to your website daily. Word of mouth is good to start with until you can develop a marketing campaign. You can also use some free social networks like MySpace, FaceBook and others.

With these basic elements you can begin to plan and strategize your own online Business. Use web hosting for the key words to find a web hosting company. While you are searching your favorite sites check to see if they have an affiliate program and sign up for them.

One Step: Set up a website. Do you have a website? Do you know how to place the advertisement on the web page? Get a free website by clicking on the banner.
Two Step: Drive traffic to the website. Do you need your website optimized for SEO?
Three Step: Sign up as an affiliate at different websites. Have you searched the web to see what affiliate program you would like to join?