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Small Business Home Based Ideas for Writers

Small Business Home Based Ideas for Writers
So you have decided to take the plunge a home-based business. Good for you! It will be nice to be able to wake up every day, grab a cup of coffee and walk into your office. No more rush hour, no more cubicle, and a chance to make it on your own. Sounds great doesn’t it? But there is one small snag before you can open shop. You need to know just what sort of business you should be running.

There are a myriad of opportunities for your small business requiring very little initial investment. If you are stumped for business ideas, here are ten quick ideas for you to consider.

Branch Out From Your Current Job

If you are already a professional, but want to get out on your own, this is often the best way to go. Architects, air conditioning repairmen, computer professionals, and plumbers are all in demand. You simply need to start up your own little section of these burgeoning fields. All it takes is the required tools and a willingness to put your name out there. Advertise in the paper, on the Internet, and in the yellow pages. If you are a landscape designer, you probably have a drafting board already. If you are a motorcycle mechanic, it is a safe bet that you already have the tools you need. Make them go to work for you in your own business.

Handyman/Home Repair

If you enjoy fixing things around the house, you can easily parlay this into self-employment. Not everybody knows how to patch drywall, grout a ceramic floor, or install a new countertop. Chances are, most people don’t even want to know. However, people do want these things done. And you are just the person to do it.

If you have worked on houses before, now is your chance to make it pay off. Advertise your reasonably priced services in the newspaper and the yellow pages and people will call. The best part is that, when you have done a great job at a good price, your customers will refer you to their friends. Word of mouth is very big for those who work on houses.

Landscaping

You already own a lawn mower. You have a hedge trimmer and an edger. You have a large collection of lawn and garden bags. You have a pickup truck that can haul them around. And you like fresh air, sunshine, and working in the yard. Well, now you can get plenty of all three.

In case you hadn’t noticed, there are many people who do not enjoy mowing their lawns. Make their day by offering your services to them. Do some market research and figure out how much you should charge for your services. Get some quotes for your yard from other landscape companies. Figure out the area of your yard and translate that into the price you should charge. Then, you are ready to start. Put fliers on the neighborhood door handles and wait for the calls.

Computer Consultant

In case you have been in, say, a small plastic bubble on the bottom of the ocean for the last fifteen years or so, you may want to know that computer work is in high demand. For all the talk of the dot-com bust, the shrinking technology sector and outsourcing, computer professionals are in high demand. If you know how to program, how to repair or upgrade a PC, or how to configure a network, you can turn your knowledge into your own home-based business.

As well, web site design is an exciting opportunity for those with little programming experience, but loads of experience with the graphic arts. All you need to do is learn the very simple HTML formatting language and study other web sites for their design ideas. Languages such as PHP, ASP, Java, and JavaScript would be useful, but they are not necessary for a great deal of web design work.

Fixing/Restoring It

You already get a kick out of repairing electronics, refinishing furniture, or rebuilding Chevy small-block engines. You have all the tools that any good repairman would own. You can turn your hobby into money by starting your own small business.

There are a lot of people out there who want their toasters fixed, their vintage record player working again, or their car’s body repaired for a decent price. If you can do any of these things, you can put yourself on the map with an ad in the paper and the yellow pages.

By working out of your home, you can keep your overhead down and your profit high. Be careful though. If you are doing something such as automotive repair, your neighbors won’t be happy if there is a line-up of wrecked cars in your driveway. Check your zoning codes on work of this nature.

However, if you are working on smaller items, even appliances, you can easily do this work without the neighbors being too much the wiser. So start advertising and make your small business go!

Giving Lessons/Tutoring

If you have a special skill, such as playing the piano, playing tennis, dancing, or sewing, you can give lessons from your home. There are plenty of boys and girls, and even adults, who want to learn to swim, type, or speak Spanish. So translate your abilities into some dinero. You have skills that other people want to learn. They are a great place to start a home-based business.

Likewise, if you are a former teacher who wants to see the faces of young students again, tutoring may be a rewarding pastime. If you can, and if you are allowed, talk to your former teaching colleagues to see if they have any students who are interested in receiving extra tutoring.

Cleaning/Maid Service

Another option for a home-based business is a cleaning service. You already clean your own home, why not help somebody else with theirs? With a few of those household cleaners and chemicals, you can start up a nice little income. You need to be thorough, detailed, and willing to scrub everything to a shine. But with some effort, time, and patience this business opportunity can quickly pay dividends.

Arts & Crafts

If you happen to enjoy candle-making, soap-making, or designing teddy bears and decorative hats, you can make start up a small business selling your creations. Be prepared, this will probably not start out and be very lucrative. However, with some time and patience and a few church sales and flea market visits, your skills will improve, your eye for the market will sharpen and you can sell many of your original designs. The work can be fun, and some extra money won’t hurt either.

Artistic Pursuits/Graphic Design

Another business opportunity that may take your fancy is in the pursuit of the arts. Whether you happen to paint, perform graphic design, take photographs, illustrate, or write calligraphy, you can start a business that caters to the needs of those who want something not merely done, but done prettily. Wedding invitations require a calligrapher and photographers. Books need illustrators. Businesses need logos that are attractive to the eye. Living rooms can be livened up with a painting. You can use your special, unusual skills and turn a leisurely pursuit into a home-based business.

Communications/Writing

If you happen to enjoy writing, you can turn your writing and proofreading skills into your own cottage industry. Perhaps you can start writing articles and send them to the magazines you enjoy. Or you can spend your time translating foreign language texts. As well, good proofreaders, book indexers, and researchers are needed by both writers and publishing companies.

Sell your skills in these areas to people who need this sort of work done. As well, if you are a writer, you may even want to sell your typing prowess to those folks out there who can’t bang out 40-80 words a minute at the keyboard. Perhaps the local high school or university could bring some business your way.

These are just a few of the business opportunities available to those who wish to work from home. In fact, the possibilities are almost endless. You can get tons more information from our website.

You could buy and sell antiques, provide day care to working mothers, or a dog kennel for people who travel. You could sell house-painting services, wedding cakes, patent searching, permit filing, and event planning. The possibilities are endless.

Find the home-based business that is right for you and you will find that it can be both rewarding a lucrative. See what people need, what people want, and what they are willing to pay for it. Then, the rest is up to you!

Have a way with words?  If you dream of writing for a living, but feel stifled in your everyday job, there are some top home based businesses for writers that you should consider.  The demand for good writing is very high, so finding one of the top home based businesses for writers that fits your needs just takes a little digging.

One of the five top home based businesses for writers is being an advertising writer.  If you have a flair for writing that sells, then being a copywriter may be your niche.  Advertising agencies, private companies, non-profit agencies and more are all looking for someone to sell their products and services through ad copy, making copywriting one of the top home based businesses for writers.

The second of the five top home based businesses for writers involves creating a resume writing service.  Not all job seekers have what it takes to create an effective resume, and having a talented resume writer on hand can be a blessing to them.  If you find that you have a knack for putting together resumes that get people in the door, then you should take advantage the second of the top home based businesses for writers.

E-book writing and publishing is another of the top home based businesses for writers.  In our technology soaked society, you can immerse yourself in the e-commerce boom by writing fiction or non-fiction e-books.  The sheer number of topics available is endless.  More and more people are looking to purchase their literature on the net, which makes writing e-books another one of the top home based businesses for writers.

Business writing is also one of the top home based businesses for writers, and it can be one of the most lucrative home based businesses.  Companies are always looking for writers to create brochures, annual reports, sales letters, direct mail pieces, instruction manuals and more.  The fact that there are all kinds of businesses out there means that this is one of the top home based businesses for writers just out of the sheer volume of writing available.

Finally, freelance article writing is another of the top home based businesses for writers.  When people think of freelance writing, they most often think of magazine writers, but there are a number of people who will use freelance writers to create articles for their websites, e-zines, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and more.  The sheer volume of periodicals both online and on paper make this one of the top five home based businesses for writers.

Still, no matter what type of writing you love, you need to remember that your writing is your business, and you want it to be one of the top home based businesses out there.  Make sure you stay abreast of current trends and hone your writing skills before you take advantage of any of the top home based businesses for writers.   In order to sell your work and build your reputation as having one of the top home based businesses, you need to produce quality work on time, every time.

April 12, 2014 Today's Business, , , , , , , , , , , 2 Read more >

Blending The Strengths of Your Small Business

Blending The Strengths of Your Small BusinessBlending The Strengths of Your Small Business

Blending The Strengths of Your Small Business. If you are looking to start a small business of your own, there is a proven process that is necessary to start off with.  Many creative people have great business ideas, but their approach to planning is ineffective and eventually flops.  First and foremost, you have to find a market that is a good size. Now what does this mean exactly? Finding a niche market that is a reasonable size entails pinpointing one that is big enough to make a profit but small enough for the resources of a small business and one that does not compete with large corporations. Blending The Strengths of Your Small Business

Two main mistakes that entrepreneurs make in finding small markets are targeting a market that is too broad and targeting a niche that is already heavily exploited.  What you decide to sell must connect product to target audience or you will not be successful.

To start off with, choose your own unique area of expertise. What are you good at? What do you have experience in? Use your education, your skills and the people you know who could help you transform your idea into reality.  If you have many areas of interest and are not sure which one would be the most profitable, a little more research will be needed.  Consider how it will be possible to convert your education and skills into money-making opportunities.  Research your surrounding marketplace to see what is needed in your area. Blending The Strengths of Your Small Business

Now if you are trying to find small markets online, be forewarned that this can be tedious and time-consuming.  You will first have to think of a list of possible target audiences, then take your first idea and research an exhaustive list of keywords and keyword phrases that people in that target audience are using for information on their desired product. Next, one must research all keywords and phrases for  relevancy and then study which keywords on your list might lead to other niches that will need future researching. Blending The Strengths of Your Small Business

Then, you need to compare all your keywords to web pages to evaluate the present competition.  You will use all your information to narrow down your list to keywords and phrases that have the most online traffic and those that are the least exploited. If your small market does not appear to be profitable, you must start the entire research process over.  If you do find one that seems to be a money maker, you then must focus on finding ideas to profit from. Blending The Strengths of Your Small Business

November 25, 2013 Today's Business, , , 0 Read more >

Irresistible Traffic Internet Marketing Strategies

Irresistible Traffic Internet Marketing StrategiesIrresistible Traffic Internet Marketing Strategies

Irresistible Traffic Internet Marketing Strategies. The most effective internet marketing strategies to quickly get a flow of targeted traffic to your site and To Make Money From Private Label Rights Products.

01] Private label rights products, with its very own nature of its rights, allow you to break them into small content segments. Break them into pages of content and upload them to your blog. Use some software to upload them in regular
intervals automatically, say one per day. Two to three private label rights products in the same niche can thus feed enough content to your blog for a year- A great automated internet marketing strategy to make money by bring free search engine targeted traffic!

02] Join some good affiliate programs in the same category as that of your private label rights products. Insert your affiliate links into these plr products and give master resale rights to them so that your customers can resell them and make money, but can’t change your affiliate links. Increase the viral internet marketing effect by giving give away rights and re brand rights to some of the links in the content. Irresistible Traffic Internet Marketing Strategies

03] In order to make money from private label rights products quickly, you can just change the graphics, rename, and make sufficient changes on the sales page to make it appear different; as though a new private label rights product being launched. Submit them to affiliate networks and marketing networks and enjoy the targeted traffic coming from the ‘new products category’. Some of the private label rights products available in the internet marketing category and niches are actually this sort of second generation products.

04] Combine strategy 02] and 03] to create your unique viral marketing ebook to promote some high demand affiliate products. For example, in the internet’s biggest affiliate network Clickbank; the niche ‘weight loss,’ has some of the best money making products. With your viral ebook created solemnly from plr products can be a lethal weapon to make you victorious in the highly competitive affiliate marketing war. Creating such a viral ebook with unique graphics and title from private label rights can be
finished in a few hours, with a good graphic creator software available in the market.

05] Break the private label rights products, with a few necessary changes, into articles. Submit these articles to article directories and permit webmasters to republish them with a resource link back to your site. Allow them to customize these articles with their affiliate links. If you have your own product in the affiliate networks like Clickbank, it will be very easy to allow webmasters to
republish your article in their ezines or websites with their affiliate links to your products. If done correctly, it can be a brilliant internet marketing strategy to recruit affiliates.

06] Use these articles to add more content to your website to make more money from Adsense. More content will bring more free targeted traffic from search engines, and hence more income.

07] Private label rights products are the quickest way to make money from internet. How? Just stick your name as the author and sell them as your own products, as though you have created them. The time factor predominantly determines your success rate in selling private label rights products. The faster you buy a private label rights product and set up a site to sell it, by implementing a good internet marketing strategy to bring targeted traffic, higher the chances you have to make money.

 

November 21, 2013 Today's Business, , , 0 Read more >

You need a Raise – Get an Assistant

You need a Raise – Get an Assistant.

You need a Raise - Get an Assistant.You need a Raise – Get an Assistant. Are you so busy taking care of the urgent that you never get to the important? Do you consider the thought of getting some help but then think “I can’t afford it” or “No one can do it as well as I can”?

If so, you’ve got a lot in common with most other small business owners.

Owning your own business is a great achievement and requires you to wear a lot of hats: owner, marketer, finance manager, widget maker/service provider, etc. Wearing all these hats eventually leads to a state of burnout or overwhelm and the love, the passion for what made you start your own business in the first place drowns in all the details.

If you want to grow your business AND maintain your sanity, there are two things you need to accept:

1. It’s not just okay to delegate, it’s essential to your survival.

2. A virtual assistant or online business manager (whichever description you prefer) is an investment in your business – not just an expense.

Consider the following scenario:

You own a small business as a marketing guru who makes $150/hour. Your website crashes and you spend the next five hours calling your webmaster, testing different links, doing what you can to get it back up and running. The five hours that you just spent fixing your website COST you $750. You need a Raise – Get an Assistant.

If you had a virtual assistant whom you pay $50 an hour and she solved the problem in four hours (she would be 100% focused on this task and has likely encountered similar issues with other clients), the cost would be $200.

The word “cost” is based on a simple premise. If you are fixing your website, you are not making money. You could otherwise be engaged in billable tasks or you could have completed the new client proposal that brings you a $10,000 client – neither of which is possible if you are fixing the website.

Make sense?

Over the next week, keep a time log and track everything you do. Then sit down and make a list of all those tasks that you either shouldn’t be doing (not worth your time given the sacrifice) or hate doing. Here are a few things that immediately come to mind: You need a Raise – Get an Assistant.

* Maintaining your website * Bookkeeping – both invoicing clients and paying bills, providing accountant with data, reconciling bank statements, preparing your expense reports, etc. * Submitting articles to article sites * Creating and distributing prospect letters * Maintaining your mailing lists – online and offline * Reminding you about birthdays, arranging for cards and gifts to be sent * Spending hours on the phone with any type of support vendor (Microsoft and Comcast pop into my head here) * Handling all your travel arrangements – business and personal * Scheduling meetings, conference calls, etc. * Providing you with website and sales reports * Designing presentations for client meetings (e.g., formatting in PowerPoint) * Ordering office supplies, promotional items * Placing advertising – online and offline * Managing client mailings – promotional, holiday, sales, etc. * The list goes on.  You need a Raise – Get an Assistant.. .

Each person’s list will be unique to him. You may love the clarity of mind you get stuffing envelopes but run at the thought of reconciling your checking account.

And don’t stop at the above. What are those personal things that you’re doing that you could contract out so you can focus on growing your business? A teenager would be great for any of the following:

* Grocery shopping * Housekeeping * Laundry assistance * Mowing the lawn

Don’t think you can afford an assistant?

The first thing to remember is that virtual assistants charge you only for the time they are ACTUALLY WORKING on YOUR projects and you will most likely not need someone full time. You need a Raise – Get an Assistant.

You would pay a traditional employee a salary, sick time, vacation time, holiday time, provide a desk and office space, pay for training, pay payroll taxes, provide software and equipment and do all this for someone who likely considers what you are offering as a J O B that he needs to go to every day.

With a virtual assistant, you are paying an independent contractor who owns her own business and charges only for time she works on your projects, has her own office and equipment, pays her own taxes, is already trained in multiple software applications and who loves what she does.

Virtual assistants are self-motivated and focused on getting things done FOR YOU. This will greatly free up your time to focus on marketing your business, attending to your larger clients and generally growing your business. You need a Raise – Get an Assistant.

Given the above can you afford NOT to hire an assistant?

The key is to start at a level where you feel comfortable: both financially and delegation-wise. Anything that you can give to someone else will give you more time to do what you do best and grow your business!

Are you ready to get started? You need a Raise – Get an Assistant.

November 12, 2013 Today's Business, , , , , , , 0 Read more >

Home Business: Working Toward Freedom

Home Business: Working Toward Freedom 

Home Business: Working Toward Freedom Home Business: Working Toward Freedom . When you start a home business, the first question that probably comes to mind is “how will I ever build my business to earn money and become financially free?” With any home business, financial freedom doesn’t just happen overnight. Whether you’re selling products from your own warehouse or factory, selling e-books (written by you or reselling), or offering a valuable service, there are some home business “musts” for success.

Research, Research, Research!

If you don’t have a product or service to offer, you can always opt for a ready-made home business. A ready-made home business is one that is set up by another individual or company in which you are trained to sell their products to others. Before delving into a ready-made home business, research many opportunities to find out what types of products and services you’ll be able to offer to your clients.

Don’t jump on every bandwagon you see. Read what each business opportunity has to offer and compare value-added services with the investment required. Find out what’s involved to join, promote, and continue with the business.

Try to find a home business opportunity that you feel comfortable with and will enjoy doing for a long time. If you enjoy your business, you’re more likely to succeed and realize financial freedom. 

Choose a Home Business that Fits Your Personality

Not every home business type will be right for you. Choose one that fits your personality. If you enjoy sales and are very good at it, then choose a home business that allows you to interact with others by phone, e-mail, or face to face. The business might include direct sales to the end consumer, business-to-business sales, or networking to help others realize financial freedom. 

If you would rather promote online and do your own thing without much interaction, then start a home business that allows you to do this. If you prefer to sign on with another company to promote their products or services, find out if they will close the sales for you. If they will do this, you can have freedom to promote and build the business doing what you love the most. 

Work Diligently from Home

Once you decide on the type of business, it’s time to work! Put your best foot forward when starting a home business. Don’t assume that working from home will be easy. To have a real business, you must really work at it. Create a business plan and set realistic goals to earn money and achieve financial freedom over a period of time. Then spend much time finding ways to promote your business for real results. Beware of promotional companies that sound too good to be true. There are some very dependable promotional companies, but there are also many scams. Research a company before paying into their programs. Look for companies that have been around a while and have a good reputation. Ask around in discussion forums (related to your type of business) for advice and resources on promotion. Home Business: Working Toward Freedom 

Create a Steady Cash System

Once you promote your home business a while and start getting sales, determine what you’ll need to do to create a steady cash system for the future. Find ways to maximize your efforts. Create more content for your website that will attract additional search engine traffic. Start an e-zine (electronic newsletter) to gain repeat visitors to your website. Add more products or services to get repeat business. These will help you continue in success for the long run. Your income will be steady and you’ll be able to make money from home on a full-time basis. Home Business: Working Toward Freedom 

Continuing Education

Learn all you can about your business and products. If you’re selling e-books that were written by others, read as many of them as you can so you’ll know the quality and details of the items you are selling. If offering a service, learn how to offer the best service possible. You can easily order home study courses to help you learn new trades or improve on your skills. The more you know about your business and products, the better you’ll be able to promote them and assist your customers when they have questions. Home Business: Working Toward Freedom 

If you follow these simple steps, you’ll be able to start a home business that brings you satisfaction each day. Financial freedom is sure to follow!

 

November 10, 2013 Today's Business, , , , , , , , , 3 Read more >

10 Time-tested, Battle-Hardend Blog Traffic Techniques by Tim Jacquet

10 Time-tested, Battle-Hardend Blog Traffic Techniques by Tim Jacquet

10 Time-tested, Battle-Hardend Blog Traffic Techniques by Tim Jacquet.

1. Blog Regularly – many of the top blogs post 10-20 times per day.

2. Create Authority Articles – instead of blogging frequently, post less often but focus on creating Authority Posts — lengthier articles that are really well put together which will attract attention from other bloggers & users of social bookmarking sites like Digg, reddit, etc.

3. Comment on Other Blogs – do not keyword spam in these, but rather use your own name and add value to the conversation.

4. Link Out Frequently to Industry Leaders – show some linklove to other bloggers in your niche.  In turn, they might eventually link back if you have a quality post on a topic they have not covered yet.

5. Participate in Blog Carnivals – these are a way for bloggers within a niche to get together and periodically highlight posts from one another’s blogs.  You can find an index of these at BlogCarnival.com.

6. Do Guest Posts – not just for A-List bloggers, but B-List and beyond.  Be sure to work up some good material first, so as to make a good first impression.

7. Article Marketing – chances are, you’re reading this via a site that syndicated this article using an article marketing script of some sort.  Join a site like ArticleMarketer.com and syndicate your articles to thousands of participating sites.  If distributed via the web, these sites are required to link back to you via a byline (see below).

8. Social Digging/Mixxing – join sites like Digg, Mixx, Bumpzee, etc. and encourage your users and/or friends to submit your stories.

9. Social Bookmarking – join del.icio.us, Furl, Wink, Backflip, etc and submit your popular articles to these sites to seed them into the community.

10. Use Great Headlines – okay, which sounds better “Some Ways to Get Readers”, or “10 Time-tested, Battle-Hardend Blog Traffic Techniques”.  Many readers are particularly fond of “Top X” lists, or “How To …” posts.

November 29, 2012 Today's Business, , , , , , , , 0 Read more >