Posts Tagged ‘startup business’

These People Made Money Working from Home — You Can, Too!

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

You may elect to sell products online as a means of working from home. Home-based jobs are growing more and more popular as people recognize the freedom they offer. Anyone can work from home but it is especially good for people who have skills that are particularly suited for digital delivery.

One of the biggest opportunities for working from home has been the growth of the website Ebay. The site has given rise to an army of entrepreneurs all plying different businesses that they are able to sustain with very little overhead costs.

A good example would be the case of Marion Walsh. Marion is a qualified school teacher but stopped going out to work once she had a family that she preferred to raise herself at home. Marion was also a very capable graphic designer and started a business where she combined her teaching and desktop publishing skills with the intent to make money online.

She began making classroom resources such as work sheets, games, wall displays and study packs. She sold her creations on Ebay which other teachers and students found to be valuable time saving resources. The excellent thing about Marion’s creations were that they could be delivered digitally by email, so she didn’t have any expensive printing and postage costs and was thus enabled to sell at very low prices.

Another Ebay entrepreneur is Robbie Needham. Like Marion, he felt compelled to look for alternative employment working from home. Robbie had been a car mechanic and owned his own car service garage. However due to a back injury, he was no longer able to continue in this work and sold off his garage. Robbie took the opportunity to pursue his lifelong interest in photography and old photographs.

Robbie began making specialist albums of his work and collections and putting them on compact discs. He specialized in town and city studies and had collections of landmarks and faces pertaining to a location through the ages in one album for sale. The compact discs were so popular on Ebay that it enabled Robbie to travel to different cities around Europe to take and collect photographs.

Cameron Tilley is a 3D artist who works from home creating 3D objects for sale on his highly successful 3D art website. Cameron is an example of someone earning a living doing something he would happily have done for free. After university, Cameron went to work for a city consultancy firm in which he had very good prospects. However, once home Cameron was at his computer creating 3D art in his favourite 3D package. The package has a big following and enthusiasts gather on online forums to discuss their work. The forums also have market places and this is where Cameron discovered that his object creations were extremely popular and commanded good prices. Soon he found that he didn’t have enough time to work and do the 3D work as well. He opted to start his own business and hasn’t looked back since.

The internet is providing new and varied opportunities to make money and you don’t just have to create products to work from home. You may decide to focus on writing as did Tricia Frampton, a former hairdresser who is now a full-time blogger and website owner. Tricia became known for her commentaries on celebrity hairstyles and her website attracted thousands of hits every day. Although she wasn’t selling a product, her site was monetized with advertising revenue and she was able to make money blogging at a successful rate. The income generating opportunities did not escape Tricia who now owns several websites that keep her busy and earn her a very substantial income annually.

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The Drawbacks to Being a Work at Home Mom

Sunday, July 19th, 2009

Working at home is becoming an even more tempting option for many busy mothers out there who feel torn between their jobs and their familial obligations.  And it seems much easier to work at home now, especially because there are so many more career opportunities out there:  you can start putting up your own business, selling your own merchandise, or even blogging for money.

Nonetheless, there are a couple of things that work at home moms ought to keep in mind when it comes to managing their tasks.  If you can squeeze past these tight spots brought on by working in your own home, you won’t have a hard time adjusting to your new working environment:

1.    The urge to check on the kids frequently:
This compulsion is especially strong if your kids are still very young and need supervising.  Of course, we’re not asking you to be negligent, but you’ll have to learn how to strike a healthy balance between work and your children if you’re going to get anything done within the day.  Try to get the help of a relative or a baby sitter who can look after the kids while you’re kept busy so that you don’t have to come running to them whenever you feel like they need you. 

Make it a point to spend your breaks with your children so that you can still have some quality time with them.  After all, that’s the point of being a work at home mom, right?  You want to be able to give your career and your children the time that they deserve from you, so create a schedule that lets you devote yourself to work and enjoy your kids’ company, all in the same day.

2.   Distractions:
Face it, your house is a hotbed of things that could distract you from the job at hand, making it difficult for you to finish anything if you let those things pull you away from your tasks.  Some chores could lure you away from your work, while the TV can tempt you to the couch and get you started on a movie marathon that you can’t afford to take.  Make a daily to-do list, and be vigilant about sticking to your work schedule.  Learning how to focus better might not come naturally some of you, but once you get used to your daily routine, you’ll find it easier to stick to your work and accomplish more things.

3.  Extra paperwork:
When you become a work at home mom, you’ll find yourself being responsible for more things.  For example, you’re going to have to take charge of practically all your bills and do some accounting, which most of you aren’t yet accustomed to.  To avoid getting overwhelmed, make sure you organize all your bills and outstanding dues and create a monthly budget.  You can even ask for some help from someone more experienced in these matters than you, and if your business necessitates it, hire an accountant to work for you once in a while.

4.  Loneliness:
A lot of work at home moms have to grapple with those days when loneliness or boredom sets in.  This is because most of them came from offices where they had daily contact with people in real time, where talking to someone meant dealing with that person in the flesh, instead of seeing an instant message pop up on the screen.  Unfortunately, working at home won’t afford you that much social interaction, so try to find ways to conquer loneliness when it hits.  Ring up some friends every week and arrange to meet up with them, or take the family out to dinner when you’re done with work.  That way, things don’t get boring or humdrum for you, and you won’t end up resenting your job.

It’s easy to get caught up in the euphoria of finally working at home and seeing your children more often, but you have to remember that working in a domestic setting can also have some drawbacks that you will have to overcome.  Remember: whether you want to make money blogging, are eager to start your own small business, or just plain telecommuting, working at home can be the most rewarding career move you’ll ever make, but only if you learn to adjust well and manage yourself, your time, and your finances prudently.

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