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Archive for September, 2005

First Year in Network Marketing

By Wendy On September 29, 2005 No Comments

Book Title: First Year in Network Marketing
Author: Mark Yarnell & Rene Reid Yarnell

I read this book about 2 ½ years ago, but it is still fresh in my mind about how network marketing works and how many no’s it takes to finally get to that Yes. I really enjoyed it. I was doing another network marketing opportunity, at the time, and realized not only was I in the wrong one, but one in which just wasn’t a good fit for my personality.

I would highly recommend it, especially if you are just starting out in network marketing.

Review by:
Mandu Usoro
M&A Associates~ http://www.homebizmom.net
Specializing in excellent customer service, FREE and PAID Advertising, shopping for every budget, work at home resources and more.


Kristine Higginbotham of The Natural Life Store

By Wendy On September 26, 2005 No Comments

Name: Kristine Higginbotham

Tell us a little about yourself:
I am a mother of a 2 and 4 year old. I love to read and go for walks.

What is your business name and web address: The Natural Life Store Inc.
http://www.thenaturallifestore.com

What inspired you to become a work at home mom:
Spend more time with my family
while promoting something I really believe in and could make a difference for
the future of our planet.

Tell us a little about your business: I offer natural and organic skin products,
tie dyed cloth baby items, Fuzzi Bunz diapers, organic coton crib sheets. I have
monthly articles posted about natural living posted.

Is there any advice that you would like to share with other women that are interested in working from home:

It is HARD work. Make sure it
is for something you really believe in so you do not get burned out. Make sure
you have a business plan and a budget.

What has been the most effective advertising method for you:
Diaperpin.com

Can you share with us one negative business experience that you
learned from:

I bought a banner advertisement and they never posted it nor did I
ever get my money back. Be careful who you give money to on the web.


Relatively Speaking

By Wendy On September 26, 2005 1 Comment

It’s so true.

That old saying about friends and relatives?

And when you w0rk at h0me??? Hooooboy…

That’s when Aunt Mary talks to your mother about someone she saw on Oprah “just like” you who ended up penniless, deranged and living on the street.

So what that you’ve received three new contracts and are not accepting more projects until 2015?

And Cousin Susie who’s bragging to everyone (especially in hearing range of you) about her wonderful 6% raise after two years with her employer…

…not mentioning, for some reason, that her childcare costs have risen so much she needed 10% more at least…

While you smile with the knowledge that your business revenues have increased 15% in the last quarter.

Then there’s your brother, who states in no uncertain terms that all this w0rk at h0me nonsense is just scams and ripoffs and a bunch of fly-by-nights and you’re crazy to do it.

As you hold the opened envelope from today’s mail containing the letter announcing that the 18 year old Dow Jones listed company you represent is rewarding your efforts with a seven-day all expense paid cruise to the Bahamas.

And Uncle Henry, AGHAST that you did not send your kids to preschool – “They’ll be way behind the other kids!!”

But somehow, your little first grader is reading at a third grade level. And there’s never been any vague telephone messages about your kid getting hurt, but the doctor said…

They tell you it’s not real work, just a hobby.

Ahh yes…it’s all in the family.

Dan Reinhold is the proud author of “The WAHumor Way: Reality Check, Please!”, the essential primer for everyone starting a home business or even thinking about it. With two boys, a dog, a cat, a rat, a wife and a household to keep together to boot, Dan’s also the editor of WAHumor to hang on to his sanity by showing how insane the work-at-home community can be!

Subscribe quickly at WAHumor@aweber.com You could Win Big!!


How To Get Free Publicity For Your Business

By Wendy On September 21, 2005 No Comments

by Matt Bacak

Dear Friend,
You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on advertising to build an effective campaign. In fact, you can get great publicity that will drive customers to do your door absolutely free of charge!

One of the best ways to do this is to attract press coverage. You don’t have to pay for advertising space to get written about in a newspaper or magazine, or on a website. All you have to do is interest the editor or webmaster in your story. Today’s media is huge – and it’s hungry for news. If you present a publication with a ready-made story that will interest their target audience they will snap it up.

The way to do this is to write a press release, sometimes called a “news release”. Release writing isn’t rocket science, but there are a few important tips and tricks to remember:

* Make sure the release is dated, and has a contact name, address, phone number and email address. The contact should be a single, named individual.
* Start off with an attention-grabbing headline that announces a piece of specific news. “Atlanta Motorbike Store Launches New Line of Helmets” is a good headline; “Atlanta Motorbike Store Has Another Good Year” is not. Your release should announce something specific and out of the ordinary.
* Always include a quote. Store owner Mike Smith, 44, says, “we’re really pleased to be stocking X-Brand Helmets….” Quotes bring news stories to life and give them a human touch – you’ll look a long time before you find a professional media story without one.
* Make sure your spelling, grammar and punctuation are one hundred percent accurate. If they’re not, the professionals in your target media will lose respect for you and trash your release. If you didn’t get top grades in English, get a friend to check it over.

Once you’ve written your release you need to distribute it. There are plenty of free newswires that will do this for you – www.internetnewsbureau.com is a good example. Remember that to be successful a press release needs to be targeted at a precise market. If you’re releasing on the topic of your new range of motorbike helmets in Atlanta, you’d better make sure every bike magazine and local newspaper in Georgia gets a copy.

It’s quite acceptable to email press releases. Just make sure that the text is included in the body of the mail – most sensible internet users are a little suspicious of mail attachments received from strangers.

So your release is out, and it’s getting you some coverage. Why other cost-free means can you use to build your business’s profile? Well, the obvious place is the internet. Here are some suggestions:

* Build web links. It’s a tactic as old as the internet and it takes time – but it’s still worth it. Make sure your business’s name is on every relevant free directory on the web. This can be pretty backbreaking work, but it will pull in the customers. Crucially, it will also improve your website’s rank on Google and other search engines.
* Post to message boards. If you can find a web discussion forum related to your business topic, join in and post regularly. Don’t simply push your product – get involved in the online community. This is a great way to establish contacts. Make sure that your username is the same as your business name and that your forum profile contains a link to your site.

One rule of advertising hasn’t changed since prehistoric times: nothing beats word-of-mouth. Ultimately the secret of getting free publicity is having a great product that people will talk about. If you can get folks talking about you and your business, you’ve beaten every single Fortune 1000 company – they’ve spent millions on advertising and branding campaigns. If you’re smart, and if you’re persistent, you can achieve the same results without spending a single cent!

Matt Bacak became ‘#1 Best Selling Author’ in just a few short hours.
Recent Entrepreneur Magazine’s e-Biz radio show host is
turning Authors, Speakers, and Experts into Overnight Success Stories.
Discover The Secrets http://promotingtips.com

Article found at Site Reference


It Ain’t All About PEZ Dispensers Or…???

By Wendy On September 19, 2005 No Comments

Oh joy, oh rapture, oh happy day!! You’ve discovered the Internet, where you can make oodles of moolah with your hobby!!!

Well…no.

“But”, you frantically implore, “I’ve been making/building/creating/counterfeiting [Insert Your Favorite Here] for years and years, and people say I’m really really good!”

OK…Happy for you!

“But”, you implore ever more insistantly, “all my friends, co-workers and family say how I always drone on about my hobby to the exclusion of all other topics of conversation, even going so far as to change the subject of any conversation I encounter to being about my hobby!!”

That’s fine…Right after you realize that your friends all moved without leaving forwarding addresses and the majority of your family is embroiled in a class action lawsuit for special waivers to enter the Witness Protection program, there’s a little something you need to know.

You can’t make money with your hobby.

That is, not as long as it’s your hobby.

Sorry. Now you really have a headache!

What I mean is you need to stop thinking of your hobby as a hobby.

If you intend to make money with it, it becomes a business.

Let’s make that stand out just a little more: It becomes a business.

This is the part where someone always says, “I don’t WANT a business. I just want to make some money with my hobby”.

Alrighty, once more, and this this I’ll write veeeerrry slooooowwwly…

A hobby is something you do for fun, relaxation, self-fulfillment and that kind of stuff. A business is something you do for money – regardless of whether you also get fun, relaxation, self-fulfillment or whatever from it.

No. 1: You must change your hobby into your business.

That’s a totally different mindset. No longer are you performing these tasks for the sheer enjoyment of doing so. It’s become that horrible four-letter word – WORK. That’s only in the very strictest sense, because you’ll have to do whatever you do to do what you need to do for money.

Now I’ve got a headache…

It’s like being a professional musician. Music isn’t a mere job for them. It’s a passion, something they need to do almost as desperately as breathing or watching the latest episode of Survivor.

Don’t lose that passion. Just realize and accept that now other things will also be required.

A price, for example. Asking “Well, what do you think it’s worth to you?” won’t work.

If you’re planning to conduct your business online, you’ll need a website and some basic goodies. You’re in luck – this sort of thing gets easier to do by the day, it seems. There’s cool full packages like Sitesell, Easy Web Site Builder and Build A Web Site Tonight . Heck, if you’re the real DIY type, you can grab a template from BasicWebTemplates and then download a very cool FR*E website editor called Nvu.

There’s a great book mentioned in the resource box that I’m told comes in really handy for getting started.

For a good dose of reality, try this: Do a Google or Yahoo search for forums for your hobby. All you gotta do is enter “rat racing+forums” in the little search box (without those quote marks!)and away you go. See if people talk about making money with it. If no one does talk about it, ask them! At the very worst, they’ll say, “What, are you crazy???”

Either way, you get an education.

Of course, you can also search for your hobby alone and see who has a business site for it. Whatever you do, don’t get yourself all discouraged and stuff just because someone else is doing it or even seems to be doing it very well. It’s one darn big Internet, my friend.

When you see that making your hobby a business can be done and it can even be done by you, you’ll have cleared probably the biggest hurdle of all.

Roll up those sleeves and open for business!!

Dan Reinhold is the proud author of “The WAHumor Way: Reality Check, Please!”, the essential primer for everyone starting a home business or even thinking about it. With two boys, a dog, a cat, a rat, a wife and a household to keep together to boot, Dan’s also the editor of WAHumor to hang on to his sanity by showing how insane the work-at-home community can be!

Subscribe quickly at WAHumor@aweber.com You could Win Big!!


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