katies hugs

Tweet!

2009-02-02T13:05:00.001-07:00

I spent most of the morning integrating Twitter into my website and blogs and even added it to Facebook and Myspace.

Im not sure how it will all work out but I believe it might just turn into a great business tool. Being able to let everyone know when you have made changes or updates is simple and easy.

So far Im liking it.. If you Twitter let me know and be sure to follow us!

http://twitter.com/katieshugs

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Check out the new lists!

2009-01-26T10:27:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time coming but the new survey lists are finally up at It's Free!

You can now sign up with the Top 40 Survey sites (the ones that send the most surveys) or you can search through the Verified survey lists and ALL lists are now alphabetical and listed with the incentive they provide most often and which countries they accept!

We've also added a pics-n-pans section where we have listed every survey site we could find, the good the bad and the awful. Here you can share your thoughts on the companies and see how other members feel about a particular site BEFORE you sign up.

Take some time and check them out. A lot of new survey sites were added in the re-vamp. http://www.itsfree.proboards43.com

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Why do we fall for the scams

2009-01-22T13:07:00.001-07:00

Reprinted from www.wahmscam1.blogspot.com

This is easy to answer and hard to answer all at the same time. It seems like when people in general get on the internet they tend to believe whatever they see. Kind of like believing whatever you read in a newspaper or watch on television.

For instance why do you think those websites promising hundreds of dollars a day while you sleep are still up and running? Ever see the websites promising data entry jobs and they have thousands of companies in their database you can work for? All you have to do is pay a one time fee of $39.95 and of course this is the discounted price for one week only. Bet if you go back a month from now they are still offering the discounted price. I would also bet that once you pay for access to their wonderful data base you will find out there is no job at all. Just a way to run a pay per click business and that business will cost you a lot of money if you don't understand what you are doing.

These places are still in business because we make it profitable for them to be in business. With the mindset of it it is written it must be true we fall prey to their promises and send in our hard earned money.

The internet is really not any different than the outside world. The internet does offer us a information and a lot of it on any subject we wish to explore but it cannot make jobs magically appear with just your credit card number. It cannot promise you work instantly. Just because it is written doesn't make it so.

Before you hand over that credit card number do some research and make sure you know exactly what you are signing up for. Stop and think about what it is you might really be purchasing and make sure you will be able to live with your decision.

Tags: wahm, work at home, scams

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You do What?

2009-01-06T13:53:00.001-07:00

I was reading through a thread at It's Free for a Court Researcher position working at home. One of the members posted that he felt it was a job to gather the information that allows the internet "Gurus" and late night infomercial shysters to send spam.

I got to thinking about it and had some mixed feelings so figured I would air them out here.

There are many ways to work at home and not everything is for everyone. One large sector is adult based. Many work at home moms are busy talking on the telephone and entertaining adults. This isn't something I could do simply because I would be too busy giggling.

I watched a show the other day about a lady who runs her own webcam shows during the day. My best estimate was that she was making around $10K a month! Again, not something I could do because I don't think many people are that interested in seeing me dressed up as little bo peep.

Another common "job" that comes around is posting ads on Craigslist. Now obviously it's against Craigslist rules and you run the risk of losing your priveleges but many people are happily doing it. Once again, not me, I am a little bit attached to my Craigslist account.

I guess what Im saying, is that any company who wants to buy a list is going to get it from somewhere. Take those late night infomercials about working at home. You know the crazy like a fox spots that promise you will make lots of money and are missing out if you don't call? A lot of research has been done and the last I remember, you are actually giving out your information to someone on the other end of the phone (probably working from home no less) and that information will then be forwarded on the Herbalife. Now what do you think Herbalife will do with it? Someone else working at home will be calling you and trying to get you to sign up.

So really, if the Court Researcher position is legit but you are gathering information for someone who will eventually sell it, is that really bad? Someone is going to get paid for gathering that information.

Tags: work at home, type at home, court researcher, work at home moms

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What is Affiliate Marketing?

2008-12-26T17:46:00.001-07:00

The first question to answer is probably what is an Affiliate Marketer? The best way I can think of to answer would be to say an Affiliate Marketer is comparable to being a salesperson.

You basically "sell" something for someone else. You can "sell" through your website, through writing articles, blogging, and many other ways.

Your first step is to find out what you want to sell. There are many affiliate sites that will help you get started.

Clickbank is popular for those just starting out. They deal with a lot of ebooks.

Some of my personal favorites are:

Linkshare and Logicalmedia

Once you are signed up you can pick the websites and companies you want to "affiliate" with. Once you are accepted you will get an "affiliate link". This is the link you will use to "sell".

Place the links and banners containing your unique ID on your website, in your forum signatures and in your articles (if allowed).

Now when someone follows your banner or link, you will get paid. Well okay, it's not that easy. Usually your visitor will need to make a purchase or sign up for a service. THEN you get paid.

This is the short version. For more in depth discussion please visit us at http://www.itsfree.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=affiliates and feel free to ask questions!

Tags: work at home, affiliate marketing, get paid, make money

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Will you sell your soul to make a buck?

2008-12-03T09:54:00.001-07:00

So it's finally official.. We are in a recession and have been for over a year. What does this mean when it comes to working at home? It means more people are looking for ways to make extra money at home. It also means if you are already working from home you are probably looking for more ways to supplement your income from home.

Which brings us to the point of this article. There are many make money from home ventures floating around. Every work at home forum you visit has the spammers.. you've seen them. A common ploy is the "As seen on Oprah" work at home scam. It's a cash gifting scam similar to the old fashioned chain letters, "send one dollar to this person, then they send one to you and the next three people".

That one is a pretty obvious work at home scam but there are others that aren't so obvious. There are all the "Buy my ebook and resell it" schemes. Not really scams but they don't really help the person buying the book either.

Then we have another classic, "Data Entry at Home". Send in $35 and they tell you how to post the same ad and get money when people request the training materials from you. The training materials, of course tell your customer to place the ad and do the same thing all over again. This is also ran as a work from home job under "Processing Orders" or "Order Processor".

My point is, there are lots of legitimate ways to make money from home for free but none of us are getting rich. It can be tempting to try one of these work at home schemes or scams just to make a little extra money. You may have already even thought about trying one of them out.

What's stopping you? Your sense of honesty? Your integrity and morals? You just KNOW it isn't the "right thing" to do?

Good for you. Give yourself a pat on the back and KNOW that there is something out that WILL help you boost your business or help you find that perfect work from home job. The good people DO come out on top.

Tags: work from home, work at home scams, data entry at home, typing at home, make money

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THE Affiliate Program To Join

2008-11-07T11:29:00.001-07:00

I know you’ve been struggling to find an affiliate program that actually takes you by the hand and HELPS you to become successful.

I recently heard about Russell Brunson’s new TheSecondTier and I think it might be just what you’re looking for.

If you haven’t heard about TheSecondTier before, it provides unique, innovative promotional tools in addition to being the web’s top affiliate training center.

I’ve personally been part of TheSecondTier for a while now and it’s like an online affiliate club... members only! And the members ever pampered!

I knew you’d be interested so I included a link to TheSecondTier so you could check it out:
http://photomom04.thesecondtier.com/thesecondtier

No where else will you find such powerful resources in one place and for free! It doesn’t matter what level you’re at as an internet marketer because TheSecondTier will train you to become an overpaid super affiliate.

If you want to know more about this awesome new resource, click here:

http://photomom04.thesecondtier.com/thesecondtier

For me personally the Second Tier has been more effective than any other resource I have found.

I highly recommend creating your personal membership (FREE) now!

P.S. You'll also get unlimited access their live training calls every monday morning.

http://photomom04.thesecondtier.com/thesecondtier

Tags: affiliate marketing, make money online, make money from home, free dvd

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Finding your Niche online.

2008-10-15T19:35:00.001-07:00

I have just tonight discovered again how important finding your niche is. As some of you know already I recently discovered Squidoo all over again. I have also recently discovered the power of couponing.

Well naturally I thought "If I had to learn how to really use coupons, others need and want this information." So I started a Squidoo Lens about couponing.

Now I had one lens that was started way back when Squidoo first got going and another one that I started a few weeks ago and then I started the one about saving money at the grocery store.

Imagine my surprise tonight when I checked on the lenses and found that the NEWEST one has had the most traffic. Three times the traffic that the older one had.

Why is this? Well I believe it's because I found a niche that people are hunting for right now. The economy has been and is in a downward spiral. Everyone is feeling the pinch and looking for ways to stretch their dollars. The easiest and most obvious cutback is always groceries. They are looking for the information that I put out there and finding it.

Sounds simple enough and it can be. If you are looking for your niche, think about what it is YOU are looking for. If it's something you have to dig deep to find and it helps you, chances are that it will help someone else as well.

Tags: squidoo, saving money at the grocery store, saving money, couponing

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Give yourself a raise!

2008-10-07T12:35:00.001-07:00

One of the benefits of working at home especially with your own business is that you can give yourself a raise when you need one.

This doesn't really mean that you automatically start making more money but since you are at home you have more control over what and how you spend the money you do make.

Of course you always take on new projects to increase your income but you can also do some things that will greatly stretch the money you already have.

One of the ways I have been stretching those dollars is by couponing. Over the last six weeks I've been able to spend around just $50 a week for groceries. Prior to that I was easily spending over $125 a week. That's an instant $300 a month extra!

I've started a new lens on Squidoo on how to effectively use coupons and get some great deals and even eat better!

Take a look and get started. I will be adding more to it but it already gives you a great way to start. http://www.squidoo.com/getfrugal

Also be sure to check out the coupon section at http://itsfree.proboards43.com for the weeks best deals to be had with a few coupons.

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Paid Survey Sites

2008-09-12T10:09:00.001-07:00

As most of you know I've been taking surveys for around 5 years now. Since it's my favorite way to make a little extra cash I wanted to share my favorite paid survey sites again. There are hundreds of sites and you can get the full list by clicking here. If you just want to try out a few, start with these ones:

Tags: work at home, paid surveys, paid survey sites, nfo

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What's going on.

2008-09-12T09:39:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile but now that school is back in session it's time to put more effort into work and less into play time. I even have a new blog/website in my mind but that's as far as it has gotten.

If you haven't been to our message board It's Free in awhile, you should definately stop by to visit. We have grown tremendously this year and have lots of new friends. We have also started listing paid focus groups for many areas instead of focusing on only nationwide paid focus groups.

Im working on building my Squidoo lens. I believe I wrote about Squidoo when they first started. At that time I didn't really understand the concept or point. However I've been hearing lots of good things lately and the name keeps popping up so today I went and checked it out again. They have definately made some huge improvements!

There are lots of new modules you can use and it is easier than ever to use and update.

Squidoo is still looking like a great and fun way to make money so if you haven't started a lens yet.. get busy!

Tags: work at home, squidoo, make money online, paid focus groups

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Daily work at home leads!

2008-03-20T10:28:00.001-07:00

Recently our message board at http://itsfree.proboards43.com was revamped. Well at least the work at home section was. Now you can find daily work at home job leads FREE! We have broken it down into specific areas to make your search easy.. data entry, office work, call center and customer service, etc.

If you haven't visited in awhile, take a few minutes to stop by and give your feedback or just say hello. http://itsfree.proboards43.com

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Find the Pinecone Research Banner

2008-02-07T11:15:00.001-07:00

Everyone who is interested in surveys is looking to find the pinecone research banner. Look no further!

PineCone Research is looking for Men and Women ages 18-24, get paid money for giving your opinions PLUS get an entry into a sweepstakes for every survey you take.

Pinecone Research sends out surveys that are generally simple and fast to take and they pay for each and every survey you take... quickly! Just click on the Pinecone Research banner below to get signed up and start taking surveys for Pinecone.

Tags: pinecone research banner, pinecone banner, surveys, find pinecone, money, get paid

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Be a guide for about.com

2007-07-31T13:50:00.001-07:00

About.com has guide positions and this is an excellent opportunity for anyone wanting to work at home.

If you enjoy writing this could be the perfect at hoe job for you. Guides are in charge of writing and updating a blog about a specific subject. They are expeted to update regularly and can make a good amount of money.

There is a training period lasting 17 days so they don't expect to just throw you to the wolves. To find out about the qualifications and compensation package go to: http://beaguide.about.com/

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Work at home reality

2007-07-23T10:14:00.001-07:00

Work at home…. This is something so many people are looking for but have so many misconceptions about as well.

It’s always kind of funny how people seem to “skim” over the word “work”. They believe working at home means setting your own hours and basically do what you want when you want. Funny enough these are also the same people who are only willing to work an at home “job”.

These same people are almost always the ones who also say “I want to work from home but I don’t want to be on the phone and I don’t want to do sales of any kind” “I can type 20 words a min and I have no experience yet but I’m willing to work as long as it is between the hours of 9-11 am” “I also need it to pay at least $10 an hour and offer benefits.”

Well wouldn’t we all like to have that kind of job? Working at home means WORK… plain and simple. You need to be able to treat it as any other job and when you are looking for an actual job you need to realize that it is really no different than the outside work world.

If you want a job you will need a resume and prior experience. You also need to understand that it is a very competitive world. No, you can’t work at home with most companies and have your kids running around screaming in the background that they are hungry while you are working. You will need to have an actual quiet work space. This means that even if you are working at home you might need to have daycare available.

You also can’t pay for a job. Just imagine what it would be like if we could go out in the real world and find a company we love and all we had to do was pay a one-time membership fee of $49.99? Have you really ever heard of such a thing happening. When you are looking for a work at home job it is imperative to keep your common sense intact.

There are lists of companies that hire on many websites and job leads posted for free on many websites. Spend some time to research these companies and talk to the people who work at those companies so you can understand what your chances are and what the jobs entail.

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Sell your old gold for cash!

2007-07-17T15:55:00.001-07:00

This is an opportunity that I have not personally tried out but I did a search and could find nothing bad about it at all.

If you want to make some extra cash you can sell your broken or unwanted jewelry.

First request the gold information packet. They tend to have it at your door within two days. Then if you like what you read you can send them your broken or unwanted jewelry and they send you a check in 24 hours!

Plus.. you have ten days to change your mind. If you decide you really were attached to that piece of jewelry after all just return the check and they will return your jewelry!

If you try this out or have previous experience leave some feedback and let us all know what you thought!

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Answering Systems Inc is hiring

2007-07-11T12:14:00.001-07:00

From what I have heard this company has been around for a very long time and is an excellent company to work for.

http://www.call-serve.com/index.html

Nationwide Medical Answering Service seeking Full time work-from-home customer care representative. Must have at least 3 years customer care, home office set-up, Computer, high speed internet, unlimited long distance, clear and pleasant speaking voice; training provided. $8.00 per hour to start. Send Resume with cover letter to employment@ASINY.com

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2007-07-05T13:32:00.001-07:00

Today it's 104 degrees out and we are all playing in the pool.. well the kids are.. I'm obviously hanging out poolside. The point is: How nice is this? Im loving it and just wanted to share one more thing that makes working at home great... you can be mobile! With a laptop you can go anywhere and get your work done. Even without a laptop you can pretty much go anywhere and still get your work done. Think of all the hotels and apartment complexes that have free computer access... even your local library.. while the kids are at storytime or browsing a book.. you can still work! It's fantastic!

Tags: work at home, hotel, apartment, pool, kids

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Court Reseachers

2007-07-03T07:49:00.001-07:00

This would require more than being at home but a lot of the work could be done right at home and it sounds like a lot of fun. Judge Mathis is looking for Court Researchers all across the county. The website doesn't give a lot of information on what it's all about but they have a number you can call to see what is required, look in the upper right corner:

http://judgemathistv.warnerbros.com/

Tags: work at home, court researcher, researcher, home, work, fun

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On point at home is hiring!

2007-07-02T07:49:00.001-07:00

Onpointathome is hiring again. They offer hours from 9 am to 9 pm and you can choose which hours you work but you must be able to work at least 25 hours a week I believe.

Sounds like a really good company. Take a look at the faq's here and see if you want to apply!

http://www.onpointathome.com/faq.html

Got an opinion? Become an NPD consumer panelist and you can win cash for telling some of the world's top companies what you think about the products you buy, places you eat, music you listen to, and more. The surveys are fun, and the cash is for real, join now to win! (US Only) Click Here

Summertime

2007-06-28T16:08:00.001-07:00

Can you believe it's here already? So what are you doing to keep the kids busy while you work?

I was soooo prepared this year! I bought a laptop, I spent weeks learning all about wireless cards and plans and how to make myself mobile.

I yelled at the phone company for not shipping my card overnight when they were supposed to. I spent hours on the phone with tech support to get the card working.

This was two weeks ago. I have had the laptop away from home maybe twice in that time frame!

The idea was that it would make me more mobile. My daughter could go to the park or the pool and I could still get work done.

This is still the plan and we have a long summer ahead of us but all in all. I had no need to be in such a hurry! Still... it's nice to know we can pack up and go whenever we want!

What have we been doing instead? She has had friends over every single day. Yesterday we had two friends over.. today we just have one.... tommorow.. Im hoping for the park myself!

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Keeping up to date

2007-06-28T16:04:00.001-07:00

This is probably one of my biggest pet peeves and one of my own downfalls.

Do you keep your websites and blogs up to date? Do you regularly go through and check all the links to make sure they still work?

How often do you update your blogs and your refresh your advertising?

I am really trying to get better about that this week. Of course right now I have some motivation and incentive to get to work and get things done but wow.. there has certainly been a lot of time in between my getting updated and my being lazy.

I really hate nothing more than going to a website and clicking a link only to find that it no longer works. I also hate going to a blog or a message board and seeing that nothing has happened in months. So guess what I have been doing? I've been letting this happen to my own sites.

Last week a nice person let me know I had some dead links so I immediately stopped and fixed them all. He was so impressed that I would actually clean things up... Personally.. I was embaressed that I had links that were dead!

Sooo the moral of this story is let's turn this into clean up your websites and add to your blogs week! Anyone want to join me?

Tags: blogs, websites, update, clean, dead links, links, incentive

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Selling on Ebay

2007-06-28T11:10:00.001-07:00

We have touched on Ebay as a work at home business in the past and lately Im seeing it come up a lot again.

If you want to work at home and start making money right away, Ebay is definately the way to go.

If you have a home, you probably have items that can be sold. If you really don't want to part with any of your things you can always go out to the second hand stores and yard sales. It never fails to amaze me how you can place something as innocuous as a deck of cards on ebay and SOMEONE will pay $10 for the privelege of owning them.

Tags: work at home, ebay, selling, powerseller, business

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This weeks paid survey site

2007-06-27T12:33:00.001-07:00

Global Test Market is this weeks survey site. You must be at least 18 years of age to join OR you must be 14 to 17 years of age and have parental or legal guardian permission to join.

It's a great company and I have been with them for many years.. They are one of the few that sends survey invitations out on a regular basis and they have some great paying studies! Give them a shot and make some extra money! Click on the banner below to join!

Tags: paid surveys, money, make money at home, work at home, survey invitations, paying studies

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Secrets of paid surveys

2007-01-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

Lately I've seen a couple of ebooks come out about the secrets of surveys. A couple of times now I have been asked what I think of these books so I decided it would be a good time to just put it all in one spot. Everyone would like to make money taking surveys and get more paid surveys in there mail and of course actuall qualify for the surveys. This is what these ebooks are all about. They basically tell you how to cheat the system.

Here are my thoughts on this.. First and foremost the companies that are commissioning these studies are looking for a certain demographic, honest feedback and in some cases hoping that after the study you will tell all your friends how great their products are. If a big name company is coming out with a new sleepytime babywash they want to hear from mothers of babies not 19 year old single college guys. They want you to actually try the wash on the baby, find out if it helped your baby sleep better etc. On the other hand if they are coming out with a new cologne they may just want to hear from 19 year old college guys and not the widowed 85 year old great grandma. To lie just to get into a study and make a couple of bucks just doesn't sit well with me. I have been disqualified because my mom works at wal mart, I have been disqualified because my daughter is 6 and not 4, I have been disqualified because I don't make enough money or I make too much.. This is just the world of surveys.

Here are some of the things you get with these books.. a list of over 200 survey companies.. I bet a lot of them are actually offer companies but why buy a book for a list. Free list right here: http://www.katieshugs.com/paidsurvey.html

Find out how to easily complete surveys: Simple enough.. use roboform to get the basics..

Learn how to participate in focus groups: Umm why this is included Im not even sure.. join research groups in your area and sign up with all the online focus group companies..

These are just a couple of the promises they make. All of the same information can be found for free online. A lot of it is at my message board in the survey section at www.itsfree.proboards43.com Go into the survey section and then just click on the thread about hints and tips for taking surveys.

Now for the rest of it. I can easily tell you how to cheat and get into each and every study and it really isn't hard. Once you have been taking them for just a few months you do start to see the pattern. I just don't agree that it is the right thing to do so I won't tell you how to do it. Im afraid that is one area where you will have to buy the book.

Will it work? Maybe for a little bit but think about this. When you join a suvey company you immediately give them your age, sex, address, phone number, occupation, marital status, etc. Do you REALLY think that they just toss that information away? No.. they use it to set up their basic demographic profile. This doesn't mean they always use it when they send out a survey though.. So they send you a survey and ask if you are the mother of an infant and you tell them yes... On the next survey a month later they ask for your sex and age again and this time you are yourself, a 19 year old male. The next one comes out and amazing enough you are a 32 year old woman who works in IT and makes 80k a year. You don't think they are going to catch on?

You can make decent money and get into a ton of studies just by being yourself. Of course there are demographics that are more popular to the companies and you won't get into every study but just be honest. Here is a good list of survey companies to get you started. http://www.katieshugs.com/paidsurvey.html That is the important aspect.. stay away from the email harvesters and the offer sites and you will do just fine!

Technorati Tags : surveys, paid, surveys, make, money, taking, surveys, secrets, of, surveys