“Business of the Year’ Being a Virtual Assistant

I believe that in the 21st century, no one should have to commute and work with their business in a cubicle. That doesn’t just include the big wigs who have the “privilege” of working from home because they have access to everything… it includes everyone. Like secretaries.

So, if you are in a business, or if you want a great start-up business, go for being a virtual assistant. This work from home opportunity has actually been named the business deal of the year because the demand is starting to grow. And, you can expect that in the future, I see business after business turning to this particular job description in order to get the help they need. If they ever figure out what it is.

Basically, a virtual assistant is your help desk from home. They can do correspondence, data entry, data management, planning and even run personal errands for you. At this point, there are typically virtual assistants who specialize in one type of business in order to work more effectively… or one type of craft.

Starting as a VA (virtual assistant), is simple. You build up a business presence, like any start-up and see if you can find businesses that are looking for commuting or work from home opportunities. Just make sure it is legitimate. In fact, this particular job is so well - known that there is even an international group that you can get in touch with so that you can build your reputation and credentials through becoming certified.

Simple, effective and if you are good at it, an easy way to make some good income.

Happy earning!

Learn a Skill

I have put up an online store a few months back. I was selling baby clothes (Carter’s overruns). People bought from me but not as much as I wanted them to. Until I got bored because I wasn’t earning that much. I still have stocks left, maybe I’ll just sell them in a super discounted price.

I don’t think I have enough confidence in my product that’s why it’s not selling so much.

So with that said, I might go to our village office and inquire about classes (like cooking classes, candle making classes and the likes). I might put the knowledge to better use.

If you guys can’t think of a Sideline Business then I suggest you take these kinds of classes then start from there. If the business doesnt click then at least you’ve learned something and eventually it might come in handy. right?

5 Bad Business Mistakes

Okay entrepreneurs of the world. I know that if you are starting up, you are going to make mistakes. It’s part of the business. It doesn’t matter if it’s a side business or something that you are going to do for a living. If you are doing it on your own, you are bound to run into some heavy traffic on every side. So, here’s my recommendations of what not to do.

1. Don’t start without a system. A well known mistake is to start grabbing for work without having things in place. The amount of confusion that it causes is ridiculous. And, it leaves an open door for customers to come in and start problems.

2. Don’t let customers have their way. Whether it is a service or a product, make sure that you are in charge. The best advice I have ever gotten is to make sure that you have an air tight system that customers can’t slip through the cracks with.

3. Don’t fake it. My grandfather calls this ‘blue sky.’ It’s where businesses will make up their reputation, customers and advertising in order to draw people in. The problem is, it causes blue sky, meaning that they don’t have the honesty and sincerity to tell who they really are. Let your customers and other employees know that you are just starting, then build your reputation, not the other way.

4. Don’t act like you got it when you don’t. Making the transition from work world to entrepreneur world is a change in pace. When you have a boss, you sometimes have to fake doing work. When you are an entrepreneur, don’t do it. You will be much more respected if you ask questions and are honest with others…. even if it means you can’t do the work for them.

5. Don’t play stupid. Just because you are just starting doesn’t mean you are dumb. If you have a system down, there is no need for you to be “lost,” “confused,” “In the dark,” or anything else. I hate when new entrepreneurs play this game… everyone looses.

So, my real advice. Don’t be an idiot. Know what you are getting into, and get into it all the way. It will allow you to have a good business, not a chaotic one….even from the beginning.

Ways To Make Money From Your Blog

Once you have decided what you want to talk about, have chosen your blog platform and blog theme, the next step is figuring out how to monetize it. There are so many options out there that you can take part in to monetize your site. Just research everything very well before signing up. Here are a few that I have tried over the last couple of years:

Google AdSense
TopSpots
Amazon
Commission Junction
Ebay
Chitika

Find advertisers - you can find people who can pay you to advertise on your site. You can set up your advertising space for 3 months, 6 months, a year or longer and charge them accordingly. When your site is new you want to keep your prices fair since you don’t have a lot of traffic or a following yet.

Blogging: Starting Your Business

If you are wanting to tap into the blogging world that has become very popular, the first thing you need to do is - well - start a blog! If you don’t know how to go about this, there are some different blogging companies where you can set up a free blog or you can use services that charge a per month fee to use their blogging platform. Here are a few of the most popular.

Blogspot - Blogspot is free and popular but I don’t particularly like it. There are not a lot of extras that you can do with Blogger and they are limited on themes and such. One benefit is you can add Google AdSense to your sidebar.

Wordpress - Wordpress is another free blogging service and it is probably the best one out there. There are lots of themes available you can choose from and they are continually updating to give bloggers more options. The one thing about Wordpress that I don’t like is that you cannot put Google AdSense on it unless you have your own domain but are using a Wordperss theme. That is the exception.

Typepad - For the first 1 1/2 years I blogged, I used Typepad. For me Typepad was very easy, they have lots of themes and you can easily add affilliate links, Google AdSense. The themes are very professional and clean looking. I believe Typepad is more of a business-type blogging service. Their monthly fee starts at $4.95 and goes up from there. With their highest package on Typepad, you can have an unlimited number of blogs.

Your own domain - The best option of all is to purchase your own domain and then use the Wordpress themes. This way you don’t have the hassle of trying to design your own site and you can do whatever you want with it then.

Travel Affiliate

Forget the idea that traveling has gone down in the past few years and that bankruptcy is skyrocketing. I know that you can forget it, because statistics say otherwise. The travel industry is still known as one of the top industries in profit available.

However, there are also some changes that can get you money without having to spend a lot of time. Travel agents that work for online companies are becoming a popular method to get some gold while simply enjoying the ride.

Basically, all you have to do is find an affiliate program that works. You can find specific areas that train travel agents or you can hook onto an already existent air area, such as Travelocity.

You’ll probably have to invest about $100, depending on the area you affiliate with. From this, you will be trained as an agent, will be given your own website, and you can start raking in the extra money. Keep in mind, you are probably going to have to do some online advertising.

However, this is one of the easiest and most effective ways to make some supplementary income as an affiliate. I have a few friends who are making an average of $1,000 a month, without having to invest time or money. A great side business… that’s for sure!

Mary Kay: Inventory

I had several years experience working high up in management for Mary Kay. While I was very excited during the first three years of my business, once I became a sales director I found out what the real deal was.

Before a woman (or man - hey there are some in MK!) signs up for Mary Kay she is told that it only costs $100 to start her own business. Once she becomes a consultant the “option” to purchase inventory is laid out for her with the highest inventory level being approximately $4,200 and the lowest level for $200. If a woman asks before signing up if she is going to need to purchase inventory, the recruiter is instructed to tell her that “inventory is a consultant decision. Once you are a consultant we can discuss that avenue.” This is a way to appease the prospect without scaring her off. The recruiter’s goal is to get her signed up. Then once that happens the pressure to purchase inventory is laid on to her.

New consultants are told that everything is “optional”, yet they are made to feel that if they don’t do what Mary Kay says should be done they are not working their business. More to come on this marketing plan later.

Selling Dogs

When I was young, my mom would always get me into strange entrepreneur ideas…mostly dealing with animals since we grew up on a farm. The first one that we had was when I was 9 and decided to get a poodle. So, of course, my mom decided it would be a great idea to get two poodles, breed them and sell the puppies.

I tell you, this is what started my college funds, and I haven’t looked back since. Raising and selling animals, no matter what kind, is a good way to make a little bit of money on the side. Here’s some tips to make sure that you do it right.

1. Get a dog that is in style. At the time of raising poodles, we knew that we could easily sell them because everyone wanted a poodle. And, we knew that we could sell them for a higher price because of it. You can easily invest in a dog that you could sell one puppy for an average of $100 - $500.
2. Make sure you get good dogs. Most would prefer to get dogs that have a pedigree, meaning that they are full bred. You will want to get papers if this is what you are going for. It will assure that they are not a mut or a mix, and will allow you to sell the puppies at a higher price.
3. Be cautious of the health of the dogs. One of the problems with many dog breeders is that they just want to breed, even if the dogs are unhealthy. I’ve heard horror stories of people making investments for a dog that is pedigreed and pure bred, only to find that they were bred with their brother and now have genetic problems. Eventually, they die before they are able to breed or have so many health problems that they can’t reproduce. Be careful!
4. Know what taking care of the dog means. This means that you don’t want to breed them to soon, want to make sure to take care of them and don’t want to slip through the cracks with how you care for them. Let them live a happy dog life, even though you are going to breed for money.

The idea is, keep them healthy, happy and do your research. It’s a great, simple way to put some extra money in your wallet, and to have an extra companion by your side.

Ebay: Money Maker or Money Taker?

I have tried selling items on Ebay a couple of different times but both experiences resulted in very little profit. Ebay may make it sound easy to sell products through their site but when you have to take into consideration all of the fees plus Paypal fees, it is very hard to make any decent money - enough to justify all of your hard work anyway.

The one thing that has consistently irritated me about Ebay is how much people charge for shipping simply because they are trying to make up for their fees they have to pay somewhere. But this isn’t fair to the buyer either.

When I was selling regularly on Ebay, regardless of how much I sold, how I strategized, and how I tried to keep my fees and costs as low as possible, there just wasn’t enough profit made to justify all of my time and effort.

If you are looking into an Ebay business for extra money, be aware that it is going to be difficult.

Your Own Craft Store

I love making crafts. They are such fun to do and a great way to be expressive. Many people sell their crafts on the internet. The problem is that you have to pay huge fees to run a website or be nickeled and dimed to death for auction sites.

You can turn your crafting projects into a secret side biz for a little additional money. The website etsy.com is nothing but crafts. For a very small fee, you can have a monthly store. Your crafts stay up and there is no limit to how many you can display. It is an auction site without all the headaches of traditional websites.

Another advantage to Etsy is that is nothing but crafts. You know that everyone that visits your Etsy store is looking for crafts. This means you have a target audience the income potential is only limited by the amount of time you have for crafting.

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