The "What" and "Why" of Working at HomeWritten by © Carol Dorman 2003
To work at home seems to be "Dream of Our Time". For women, in particular it provides a way to combine motherhood and earning an income without sacrificing time with family. There are several ways to work from home so we can be with our children during day. Two things to bear in mind when deciding to work from home are: 1. - What business do I choose? 2. - My "why" for doing it? The first thing to consider when choosing a home business is that you must enjoy it. If you like to party then perhaps party plan companies are worth a look. If you have a flair with make up, there are cosmetics companies. Nutrition and weight control, special gifts, homewares, even lingerie - the, opportunities are endless. Do you want to work face-to-face with people or by phone? Perhaps you just want to work online; maybe a combination of these. However you choose to work, there is something for you. The main point to consider is that whatever you choose to do - ENJOY IT! If you've decided to venture into "home business world" take a while to really ponder just what kinds of things you enjoy and build on that. Once you get started, whether you're making a lot of money or a little, you'll find yourself reaping benefits you never expected. The skills and talents you already possess will be heightened and new strengths and abilities will be discovered. You will find yourself learning new things and gaining new skills. And if, for some reason, you ever feel a need to re-enter workforce, those new and heightened skills will be a powerful advantage.
| | Finding Your Niche on the InternetWritten by Angela Wu
Those who are new to Internet business world -- heck, even those who have been successfully operating online businesses for some time -- can attest to difficulty in deciding what to sell."Newbies" in particular may be led to believe that more "stuff" they sell on their websites, more money they'll make. They place dozens of banners and ads on their sites for everything from dating services to internet marketing manuals, from pet toys to self-improvement tapes. It's pretty hard to persuade a visitor to purchase anything from a site like this; chances are -- if they even managed to find your site in first place! -- they'll simply go back to search engines and find a site that's offering them exactly what they want. One click-of-the-mouse and they're gone, probably for good. You can't be everything to everyone. Choosing a tightly focused niche market gives you ability to home in on a specific group of like-minded individuals: it's easier to find out what they want, and thus easier to come up with and develop new products and services. It's also easier to make your site "stand out"! You'll have a better chance of success if you take time to define a niche. However, strain of trying to figure out what to build a business around often leads people to do what they perceive as "easiest": copy what other people are doing. For instance, many people decide to build websites around teaching others how to market on internet. But if you use Overture's popular Search Suggestion Tool, you'll see that "internet marketing" received 102085 searches (at time of writing), compared to: * recipe - over 1 million searches * pet supply - 109975 * jewelry - 449044 * gardening - 787621 * golf club - 548398 * exercise - 129368 As you can see, there's a market for a wide variety of products and services. Your "job" is to figure out what people are looking for -- whether it's a new product or an "improved" version of an existing product -- and ask yourself how you can fill that need.
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