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Sometimes getting a new job is no longer the answer. We get to the point in our lives when a job no longer satisfies us. Working for someone else doesn’t work anymore. It’s as if we’ve outgrown working for someone else. This is a challenging realization and one that almost every entrepreneur comes to admit.

We want more – but how do we know for sure? How do we even contemplate leaving the workforce? The one thing that provides our security and is like a lifeline for us? Here are 6 signs to let you know that you’re moving on – maybe not today, or tomorrow, but sometime in the future, you will be ready.

1. You have a yearning that won’t leave. In my small business seminars I have asked participants, “how many of you have had a yearning – a calling to do something different with your lives?” Almost all would raise their hands. They didn’t know what the yearning was about – just that it was there.

2. You daydream about being a business owner. You might even have told friends or family about your business ideas. Sometimes you see your idea is now a business that someone else is running.

3. You are working for the “paycheck”. This is another tell-tale sign that the money is not enough. When we get to the point that the paycheck is the main reason we are working, we are getting close to the realization that this job, and perhaps any job, is no longer the answer.

4. You don’t know what business you would start, even if you started one. This is very common and is one of the main reasons people don’t leave their job. What I suggest is that you start an “ideas” journal. Just start jotting business ideas down – you don’t have to do anything else. Once you open yourself to your ideas, they will continue to flow to you.

5. You are unfulfilled in a job – any job. It doesn’t seem to matter how good the job is, how nice your office is or how big the paycheck is. Sooner or later you get that feeling – “this isn’t it.” It’s such a disappointing moment. I know. I’ve been there. I was a “serial” employee – I went from job to job – always good at what I did, but always got to this point and then left for the next job.

6. You have a “reason” you haven’t started or even tried starting a business. We all have them – “It’s not the right time,” “I need to wait until the kids are grown.” “I need more savings”, etc., etc. There will always be reasons. Pay attention to what you are telling yourself – to your thoughts. Take a look at your beliefs – sometimes they stop us in our tracks. I started a business as a single mom and left the workforce cold turkey, after three tries at quitting my job, I must admit. That was in 1998. I’m not saying this is “the way”. What I am saying is that there is no right way – but there is a right way for you.

There is no hidden secret why hundreds of thousands of people have quit their 9-5 job to start a home based business. The benefits that come with having your own business and working for yourself are endless. While it does require a great amount of effort to get started, the benefits of starting a home based business far outweigh the challenges you may face. Here are 6 reasons to start a home based business today.

1. Freedom
When you have your own home business, you have the power and freedom to do whatever you like. All the deadlines are set by you, you get to choose which direction your business takes, and there is no set schedule for when you have to work.

2. Job selection
In a world filled with people searching for jobs, many people end up settling just so they can bring in some sort of cash flow. When you start a home based business, you have the ability to select whatever type of field you want. Obviously you want to select something that has public appeal to give yourself a better opportunity to have success. But the sky is the limit for choosing what career you want to have online.

3. Elimination of travel
Life is hard when you have a home based business, being that your morning commute is from your bed to your office. No longer will you have to deal with rush-hour traffic and feeling the pressure of arriving late to work or coming home for dinner late.

4. Vacations
When you have a 9-5 job, its not always easy coordinating vacation around your schedule and the kids school schedule and the wife’s work schedule. If you’re working for yourself through a home business, you can take vacations whenever you choose to. Not only that, but if you’re enjoying the vacation there is nothing stopping you from staying an extra few days.

5. Versatility
One of the main reasons people fluctuate jobs and careers so often throughout a lifespan is because of boredom. When you work for someone, many times you are stuck with one task, or if you’re lucky a couple. Having a home based business allows you to show your versatility as you will have to be the advertiser, writer, graphic designer and customer service. While it may seem a bit overwhelming at first, you quickly learn to juggle multiple tasks at one time.

6. Tax advantages
By having a home based business, you now have the power to deduct your home, business vacations, cars and business meals.

With so many benefits to having your own home based business, there is no wonder why the internet industry has continued to soar over the past few years. All that is left now is for you to join the crowd and begin receiving the multiple benefits associated with having a home business.

I talk to a lot of people who are doing business online everyday (no surprise given my industry). Come to think about it, almost every single one of my conversations are with Internet business owners and 90% of them ask me the same question; “Would you please take a look at my website, and give me any ideas on how to improve it?” Besides helping business owners find products to dropship, I own my own business online and have been where these people are. I love to help in every area that I can, or have time for.

I have narrowed down what I think are the top 6 ideas to improving a dropshipping website -

1. Site Structure – Make sure your site loads fast, and that the code is clean. If you built the website yourself, or had someone else build it, did you make sure (you or) they used CSS, and that it validates. When using CSS you make sure that everything on the site is uniform. The font size, style of font, colors used etc. You will lose more customers then you realize by having a site that looks like it was designed by a 6th grader in a computer class. I know you have seen them. Text that is a rainbow of colors. First paragraph green, second paragraph red, next yellow and so on (just repeat any color you can think of and you get the point). Creating a site like this is very unprofessional and you will not be taken serious.

2. Images, graphics and banners – Make sure that you are using the cleanest looking, fastest loading and most optimized images you can. There are several programs out there that will help you optimize your images for the web. You may even have some software on your computer and not even know it. Most programs like Photo Shop, or Paint Shop Pro (even the basic operating system photo programs) have image optimization programs that can help speed up the load time and clarity of the photo. The more images that can help describe the product you are selling, the better. Remember the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words.

3. Site Navigation – If your potential customers can’t browse through your site easily, or feel they are lost, you will lose them 80% of the time from my experience and website analytics tracking. I try to follow the “3 click rule”, meaning that it will not take people more then 3 clicks to get to your shopping cart. Also make sure you add an html site map and a universal search engine site map so the search engines can know about the pages you are offering and when they are updated. Doing this will help you have the freshest content from your site on the search engines.

4. Amazing Unique Keyword Rich Content – The more information you can provide the better. People get on search engines to look for what? Information. If you are not providing information that is at the very least better then your competition, then you might as well give up. For example, if you are working with a supplier, and so are 1000 other people, how many of those people do you think are just copy and pasting the product descriptions and not doing anything they can to make it their own using the keywords they want to target? Most of those people are not doing anything to make their content better (from my experience) so even just changing things around a little and making the content better by being more descriptive and using more keywords will put you ahead of the competition 100%.

5. Make Me Feel Safe – If you do not have any kind of SSL certificate, BBL logo, or “hacker safe” logo on your site, then you need to research these out and do whatever you can to get at least one of these added to your site where visitors can clearly see. With all of the talk going on about identity theft people are very weary these days about giving credit card info online. So, anything you can do to help people feel safer on your site (even a little bit) will help increase sales.

6. Contact Info – People are curious by nature, and the thing that runs through my mind more then anything when I am visiting a site is – “Who is the person behind this?” I want to know that I can talk to a human if needed and that someone will be there to actually answer my email or return my call. Make sure you have a phone number where people can contact you, email address and mailing address. When people know they can contact you they feel safer and will be less hesitant to purchase from you.

I have blogged a lot about these topics in the past, but i wanted to do a new post and talk about what I believe are the most important things you can be doing right now to improve how things are going on your website. These are not hard or costly steps, but will take some time and planning. If you get started implementing them now it will pay off in the long run.

If you own an online business, you are probably always on the lookout for new forms of Internet marketing. As you have no doubt discovered, there are many different ways to market your business online. One of the best and least expensive is direct email marketing.

Direct email marketing is a simple, but effective form of Internet marketing. It allows you to reach your customers, and provide them with information that you want them to see. Direct email marketing is very similar to classical direct marketing, but is much less expensive because you don’t have to pay for stamps, paper, return envelopes, and printing costs. Yet, at the same time, direct email marketing has all of the benefits of direct mail.

For example, direct email marketing can be used before and after a sale. You can utilize this form of Internet marketing to promote products, provide news, and to send confirmations and thank-you notes. Many of your website visitors will up to sign up for regular emails and offers. Take advantage of their interest and tell them more about your business.

If you don’t have time to send the emails yourself, you may choose to use email autoresponders. Email autoresponders are triggered when an email is sent to you. If you are unavailable, email autoresponders can contact the customer for you, providing order confirmations, information requests, etc.

If you’re not sure where or how to get started, here are five tips that will allow you to easily incorporate direct email marketing into you Internet marketing strategy.

Use a Professional Email Signature
This is an important part of direct email marketing. Every time you send a business email, you should include a professional signature at the bottom. Your signature should include your name, business name, and full web address. This is like free advertising for you. Plus, the person opening the email has instant access to your information. If they need to contact you, they will know exactly how to do it.

Find an Affiliate
An affiliate, or signature buddy, can step up your Internet marketing campaign and allow you to reach more customers. Simply ask someone to include your web address below their own signature every time they send an email. In return, you can add their web address to every email that you send below your signature. The benefit is obvious. You both get free advertising. However, you should keep in mind that this form of Internet marketing works best when you don’t pick someone who has a competing business.

Create a Newsletter
A newsletter or e-zine should be included in your Internet marketing strategy. A free newsletter takes a bit of time every month to create, but it is well worth the effort. Newsletters are an effective form of direct email marketing, and can be used to promote your products and services. If you don’t have time to produce a quality newsletter yourself, you can hire a freelancer to do it for you.

Send Coupons
Everyone loves coupons. Make them part of your direct email marketing campaign. Send coupons for your products and services to your customers on a regular basis. Use them as promotional tools to increase business and increase sales.

Send Thank You Notes
Using an email autoresponder to send thank you notes to your customers after the sale is a polite gesture. It’s also Internet marketing at its finest. Thank show your appreciation and should be incorporated into your direct email marketing if at all possible. Sending a thank you note is polite and an example of good customer service.

A lot of successful websites depend on returning visitors to account for a major part of their traffic.

Once you have a visitor it is well worth keeping him or her coming back.

Returning visitors are easier to convert into paying customers because the more often they return to a site, the more trust they have in that site. The credibility issue just melts away.

Hence, keep your visitors coming back to your site with the following methods:

1) Start a forum, chatroom or shoutbox

When you start a forum, chatroom or shoutbox, you are providing your visitors a place to voice their opinions and interact with their peers — all of them are visitors of your site. As conversations build up, a sense of community will also follow and your visitors will come back to your site almost religiously every day.

2) Start a web log (blog)

Keep an online journal, or more commonly known as a blog, on your site and keep it updated with latest news about yourself. Human beings are curious creatures and they will keep their eyes glued to the monitor if you post fresh news frequently. You will also build up your credibility as you are proving to them that there is also a real life person behind the website.

3) Carry out polls or surveys

Polls and surveys are other forms of interaction that you should definitely consider adding to your site. They provide a quick way for visitors to voice their opinions and to get involved in your website. Be sure to publish polls or surveys that are strongly relevant to the target market of your website to keep them interested to find out about the results.

4) Hold puzzles, quizzes and games

Just imagine how many office workers procrastinate at work every day, and you will be able to gauge how many people will keep visiting your site if you provide a very interesting or addicting way of entertainment. You can also hold competitions to award the high score winner to keep people trying continuously to earn the prize.

5) Update frequently with fresh content

Update your site frequently with fresh content so that every time your visitors come back, they will have something to read on your site. This is the most widely known and most effective method of attracting returning visitors, but this is also the least carried out one because of the laziness of webmasters. No one will want to browse a site that looks the same over ten years, so keep your site updated with fresh bites!

Increased turnovers, costly decreases in productivity and overall employee dissatisfaction are all ramifications of low morale in the workplace. Moral is a vital component of any organization or business for it to thrive and achieve success.

Here are five ways to improve workplace morale easily and inexpensively that will boost your team’s performance and lower levels of tension and stress.

Install a Humor Board
Most ever

You do not have to be an expert webmaster or copywriter to drive traffic to your site or blog. Last night I logged into Success University and took a course on the subject of traffic with noted Internet marketer and attorney Shawn Casey. It was about a 35 minute audio presentation with the most important point being to simply take action.

I’ve often found myself in the “Paralysis by Analysis” boat so it was good to hear a message of avoiding it from a guy of his stature.

Strategy 1: Get Your Own Website

Casey said that you absolutely need your own website and that you will never get search engine optimization using generic affiliate sites. I agree with that and will add that it’s much easier to start and maintain a blog, but that’s my opinion. One thing he said that I found compelling was that you should never submit your site to search engines and that it actually works against your ranking. It is much better for their spiders to find you with updated content.

If you are not a webmaster or technically savy, you can do a search for hosting providers that have easy to use templates you can use to cut and past your way to a descent looking site. Once you find a hosting company you’ll need to purchase your domain name or URL if you haven’t already done so. If you haven’t, my suggestion on this is as follows:

*** If you’re hosting company sells domain names, keep it under the same roof and buy it (register it) with them. You can probably get it cheaper elsewhere but it is one less thing you have to deal with when you point your URL to your site.

Strategy 2: Keep Your Content Fresh

Search engine spiders like fresh content and on the Internet, content is king. In Shawn Casey’s explanation, he stresses that you do not need to be perfect; you need to be consistent. Write about things you’ve recently learned, what your thoughts are, anything, just do it and do it regularly.

If you don’t like to write at all, Casey suggests going to article directories to use other authors’ articles to put on your site as fresh content. You must, however, keep the author’s resource box in tact with the article when using their material.

Three of the more popular article directories are:

•isnare.com
•goarticles.com
•ezinearticles.com

There are hundreds of others smaller ones. If you are taking the blog approach, you will want to let the search engines know every time you update your site with fresh content with a process called “Pinging”. The easiest way to do this is to go to “pingomatic.com” , enter your URL and/or RSS feed link, and request pings. Within seconds, you get messages of which engines accepted your ping request.

Strategy 3 – Get Links Back to Your Site (Reciprocal Linking)

Casey, and many other successful marketers, contend that in order to get top search engine ranking, you need other websites out there linking back to yours. The more websites linking to your website, the higher your raking will be. He says that you can do this manually but it would take a lot of time and work.

Instead, he recommends using Link Metro by Brad Callen. (As I write this, it’s Father’s Day and I remember getting a notice recently that Brad just became a father so props to him and all the others out there!) With an advanced membership which is only $20 a month, you can completely automate and monitor your link building efforts. I can’t expound on it because I just learned about it last night from Shawn Casey, but I will say I’ve used other products from Brad Callen and have found them to be useful so I will give this a try and let you know how it goes later on my work at home weblog nathangurley.com. Shawn Casey endorses it wholeheartedly and there are countless other believable testimonials on there so I’ll give it a shot soon.

Strategy 4 – Press Releases

Another strategy Shawn Casey discusses on his Success University course is the use of press releases. Again he stresses that it doesn’t have to be perfect or a literary masterpiece. Just write the thing and get it out there with links back to your site. Like strategy three he says there are free to submit to press release sites but doesn’t necessarily regard them highly. Here he recommends PRWeb.com where the PR is short for,you guessed it, press release. With the increasing number of people getting their news from the web and avoiding traditional forms of media (probably because they are so biased), news distribution on the web is firmly planted and the search engines are not only part of it, they are competing to get it in front of you and people with news are competing to get it on the search engines so it should be a healthy market for years to come.

Strategy 5 – Article Marketing

In Strategy 2, Casey discussed getting fresh content from articles directories. You can be on the reverse side of that and get reciprocal links using a technique known as Article Marketing. Instead of going to these directories to get content, Casey suggests writing content and submitting them yourself. What happens is, you become the author and the expert and your links are in your author reference box pointing back to your site. Once your article is accepted, you get instant credibility and links back to your site. If others like what you wrote and put your article on their site you get more links back. It’s almost like creating viral traffic.

For those who still do not want to write, Casey suggests going to elance.com where he says you can hire people to write articles for you. Either way, the reputable directories do not like self-promotion and affiliate links and such in your articles. They want information that others will find useful and will reject your submissions if you are merely trying to promote yourself.

Simply write useful information that people can use and use the strategies discussed by Sean Casey and you will get traffic.

Ebay is the world’s largest marketplace with millions of dollars of transactions taking place every day. As such it also attracts a fair number of unwanted personnel, ebay scammers.

Here are a few tips you should note when buying and selling on ebay to avoid falling into the traps set by ebay scammers

1) Payment Terms

Whether you are selling or buying anything on ebay, never agree to use Western Union or Money Gram for your transaction. It has been proven unsafe by numerous ebay users and it is also against ebay’s safe payment policy.

2) Beware of Phishing

Phishing is when someone sends you a spoofed email asking for your personal details usually from a recognized company or authority. Usually, they will have a link asking you to submit your details on that webpage.

Do not submit any personal information regarding your ebay login account through it. If you are not sure whether it is authentic, call ebay and asked whether an email was sent to you. In all my years with ebay, they have never me an email asking to verify my ebay account login or credit card details or any of that sort. This also applies for Paypal.

3) Monitor Your Ebay Account

You need to monitor your ebay account closely for any suspicious activity. Examples may be any feedback left, transactions closed, auctions you have listed
Without your knowledge. Inform ebay the moment you suspected your ebay account is being compromised.

4) Second Chance Offers

This seems to be the new favorite scam with ebay scammers and I’ve seen a couple of them. If you receive a second chance offer for an item you recently bid, check it is from your ebay Messages inbox with the title “ebay Second Chance Offer for …”If it is, it is authentic. If the email is not in your ebay message inbox or the email title is different, then chances are it is from an ebay scammer. If you are not sure, contact ebay and ask to verify it.

5) Ebay Toolbar and PayPal SafetyBar

Ebay provides a toolbar which can determine whether you are on a legitimate ebay or paypal site. My advise is to install it since it’s free. Paypal Safetybar can also detect scam emails in your inbox

By Following the five points above, you will reduce your chances of being scammed by a ebay con artist.

One of the biggest reasons for parent dissatisfaction is lack of communication.  It’s extremely important in any small business and especially in family daycare.  Remember daycare centers are taking care of a persons must valuable asset, their child.  So it only goes to show that a parent is concerned about the level and commitment of care that they are receiving from a daycare provider.  Communication is of such importance, not only does it show that you care about your clients, but also that you are a professional in the daycare industry.

1.    When a parent comes at the end of the day to pick up their child, always start out a conversation with positive information.  If there is anything negative to say about a child place that information in the middle of a conversation.  So in other words, start with positive comments, than negative, and always end in positive.

2.    When interviewing parents for enrollment to your daycare, always ask many questions regarding a families habits and patterns.  What do they enjoy doing on weekend, what are their concerns regarding childcare, what are they looking for?  Really try to find out what kind of family your customer is and what their needs are.  Chances are you will be better off filling their needs if you know who they are from the very beginning.

3.    Establish your rules and guidelines from the beginning.  Having a contract stating your rules and regulations establishes a boundary in your business.  So many times I hear from other daycare owners that parents do not respect their wishes.  From the start you need to set the rules and boundaries, if you don’t parents may  take advantage of you.

4.    Always give parents enough time and warning.  If you plan on closing your daycare, raising your prices, or making any type of change give your parents enough time.  Many people do not do well with change so it’s always important to give them more than enough time to make the appropriate changes.

5.    Once a year do a survey in your daycare.  Find out if your parents are happy and what kind of improvements they are looking for.  The more information you find out about your parents and what they want the better off you will be. Make sure that the survey is anonymous so that parents are not afraid to tell you their thoughts and opinions.

© CG Groth Inc. 2006

For the savvy investor, there is a great deal of money to be made in the real estate market. If you are planning to invest in real estate, one thing you will want to do is to work on finding exceptional real estate deals that will make you a great deal of money in the long run. Believe it or not, finding phenomenal real estate deals is actually easier than you think. However, it does take a great deal of work and commitment on your part. There are many things that you can do to find great real estate deals and some of them include taking the time to look, knocking on doors, mailing out postcards, using mailing lists, and purchasing newspaper ads.

1. Start Looking – One great way that you can start finding extraordinary real estate deals is to be persistent in looking for them. If you are not finding great deals on real estate, you are not working hard enough. While being a real estate investor allows you to work your own hours and provides a great deal of flexibility, you still will have to put in a great deal of work to be successful. Since you basically work for yourself, your success is going to be up to you and the amount of work that you put into your job. If you persistently look for great real estate deals, you will be sure to find them.

2. Knock on Doors – If you want to find some of the best real estate deals out there, you may want to try knocking on doors. Before you go out knocking on doors, be sure that you have done your homework at the courthouse to find the places to go where homeowners may be having a financial problem. After you come up with a list of local people having financial difficulty, you can go out and start knocking on their doors and can offer your help. If you choose this method to help you find great deals, remember to be sensitive to their feelings and try to avoid mentioning or even alluding to the possibility of foreclosure. Be personable and friendly with the people and let you know that you care about them and want to do what you can to help. Taking time with people in financial trouble can help them and help you get a great real estate deal as well.

3. Use Postcards – Another great way that will help you find exceptional real estate deals is by sending out postcards. While sending out postcards to those who are in the process of foreclosing on their home is a good thing, remember that more than likely they have already been receiving a great number of postcards from other investors already, and yours may be overlooked. There are more effective ways to use postcards to your benefit. Be sure to send out postcards to various people who could be in financial trouble, such as those facing bankruptcy, going through divorce, or even to landlords just out of eviction court. If you are creative and take extra initiative when you are sending out your postcards, you are more likely to get outstanding results.

4. Mailing Lists – Many times realtors will send out flyers or postcards to various places in a certain area, and you can use mailing lists just as realtors do to help you find phenomenal real estate deals. You can actually purchase lists that come by zip code, and then decide where you would like to purchase property and start sending information to these addresses. While this may seem like a hit and miss way to find a great deal, it is a great way to open up your options and find a great deal from out of the blue.

5. Newspaper Ads – One way that many investors overlook to get great real estate deals is by using newspaper ads. Many investors neglect using this method because they feel that it is too expensive for them to use. In neglecting this method, many investors narrow their potential and miss out on great deals that they could have had if they would have taken out an ad. While it can cost a bit of money to advertise in a local newspaper, this is a great place to get the word out about what you are doing. If you only get one deal each year from using newspaper ads, you will get back more than the money that you paid for the ad for that year. Be sure that you do not limit your options by neglecting this great way to find excellent real estate deals.

Investing in real estate is an exceptional job that allows you to help people out while making money yourself. This job relies solely on you and how dedicated you are to making it work. Your income in real estate investing will be totally up to you and will depend on how hard you are willing to work. The options and the potential to make money in this business is limitless, so it all depends on you. If you are willing to use extraordinary ways to find great deals, you will find phenomenal deals that will have you making a great living. Remember, it all depends on you!