The At Home Worker

Working from home is harder than it looks!

2012-09-26T11:45:00.002+01:00

It is a common dream, is working from home. Hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of office and factory workers the world over sit at their desks at work, thinking how lucky we at home are for being able to work from home.

Lol.

This morning my husband woke up and sighed. I asked what was up and he said he couldn’t be bothered today. Ditto, I replied, and was met with the usual withering look I am met with whenever my hardworking hubby hears me decry my work at home situation.

Ok. I'll be honest. I would not change it for the world. In an earlier post, I mentioned how my life was actually very hard work and it is. But like I said, I feel lucky to have it at the same time. It's not harder than going out to an office job per se, but there are issues that do sometimes make it more difficult than you would think.

So if you are thinking of jacking in the day job and setting up office on your kitchen table, watching the pounds roll in as you slurp coffee in your PJs, here is a lovely reality check on the myths for you.

1. You can sit in your pyjamas all day whilst earning
You can indeed, if that's what you want. The question is why is that a good thing? What if someone knocks on the door? The postman with a parcel? How embarrassing to still be in PJs after lunch. Whatever your embarrassment level, you will soon realise that sitting in your pyjamas every day starts to affect your work, your lifestyle and your psyche. You start to feel smelly, lazy and embarrassed when your other half comes in from work, sees no housework done (because you've been working, right?) and you still in the fleecy get-up you've been wearing non-stop for two days. You don't go out that much anymore because it becomes a huge effort to get ready and look presentable like normal people. It's a slow, downward cycle and one day, you'll wake up and realise that all aspects of your life and work are suffering because you never change out of your pyjamas.

2. It's easier to work from home
It isn't easier to work from home in itself. It is if you get an easier job than you did when you went to work. Say you used to be an astrophysicist and now you work from home as someone who fills in surveys. Working from home is like working anywhere else. And because you often work for yourself, running your own business, you may find the work is harder than you did before. I do.

3. You get lots of free time to chill out
Yeah, right. Any free time you get is spent on housework, or if you’re a parent, dealing with little children. I can count on one hand the number of times I've done something frivolous whilst working from home for the past 18 months. Chill out means no money. At least at work you are paid for every hour you're there!

So in a nutshell, work is work, wherever you do it. Working from home can be very fulfilling and can also be flexible, depending upon the type of work you do. But for some it can be a lonely and hard existence that sends then running back to office gossip at the first opportunity.

Freelance Opportunities RIGHT NOW

2012-09-24T15:52:00.002+01:00

Freelance Writers Wanted
One of the companies I currently write for when I have the time is currently recruiting for a number of freelance workers. The jobs available are mainly for writers but they do have other types of work available for people who can proof-read or conduct web based research. For the majority of the work you get paid weekly although there are some jobs where the client has to give the go-ahead so it takes about two weeks to become eligible. If you think you have what it takes then sign up here to take the aptitude tests.

How to juggle a baby and a business for stay at home mums who want to earn

2012-09-17T14:39:00.000+01:00

Juggling a baby and a business? Yep. And the rest.

I am currently writing some product labels for a well-known website. I’m also about to start cleaning our shower, thinking about baby snack time and chasing an eleven month old round the half-renovated living room. I’m thinking about making dinner too (have just extracted frozen minced beef from freezer) and also that I need to pay our outstanding gas bill before we change suppliers. I’ve just made a makeshift draught excluder from a bed I just took delivery of, because we have a wide open chimney and the temperature has plummeted and me and said baby both have frozen feet.

I am also updating this blog.

Confused?

I’m not. This is my highly (mostly) organised life. This is what I aspired to and this is what I have become. And you know what? Forget moaning about it. The only thing I moan about is how I need more time because there are not enough hours in my day. But I would not change it for the world.

I have a little baby, a business and my husband has an exhausting and demanding job. He is also renovating this house in his spare time. Wow! So I take care of the vast majority of household tasks whilst trying to grow my business so I can continue to have a viable career and so we have a little more cash coming in.

So how do I juggle a baby, a business and everything else?

1. Make lists

I plan my day by making a big list over my morning coffee. I put far more on this list than I can ever achieve in a day, but it drives and keeps me going. The feeling of ticking just one more job of that huge list is amazing. That list gets carried over to the next day, with new important tasks added on. Nothing leaves the list until it is done and that can sometimes be three weeks later. I know this against conventional wisdom but you did ask how I do it all. This is how I do it. This way nothing gets missed, nothing falls off into obscurity if I don’t manage to complete it on the allotted day. And I keep going and keep organised.

2. Priorities

Each week I make sure I set aside one whole day for me and my boy to go out and have fun. He goes to a relative one day per week to be spoiled there, so that day is totally devoted to work. Sunday is always family day and Mondays I tend to give the house a deep clean. The rest of my hours are organised on an as-need basis. This means that no one area gets neglected and I can manage the other hours and days to focus on any area that needs more attention than others. My husband and I also try to go out at least once per month but evening babysitting is a bit of a nightmare so this is quite rare, sadly.

3. Forget pressure

When my son was born, I was adamant I could do it all. I got into a real state and almost had a breakdown when he was around four months old and had to temporarily shut down all areas of my business and take a break. Seven months later and that is a distant memory. I had put so much pressure on myself and had a little demanding new born to content with too. It was so unhealthy so even if your children are older, never put too much pressure on yourself. You can only do so much and the key is not to work faster or harder or to do more in less time. It’s to work as smart as you can and be as organised as you can so that tasks in themselves actually take less time. Flylady has been a revelation to me and means I spend only 6 hours per week on one day per week deep cleaning my entire house. A few minutes per day keeps most things in check.

Looking for hard work and low pay? Be a freelance writer.

2012-09-13T17:30:00.003+01:00

I am appalled. I just spoke with a potential client who had invited me to get in touch. He had heard great things about me and my work and had lots of work he was desperate to push my way. I wrote to him as soon as I could and told him a bit about me, what I do and how we could develop a working relationship. All very professional.

Before contacting him, I looked at his site and current marketing materials both to get a feel for his business and make sure that I was able to work with it. Great! This was a successful entrepreneur with a successful business in a niche I have a great interest and lots of experience in.

His overriding concern was 'how much'?

I told him, offering a variety of options with differing price structures.

It transpires he has been using the services of writers on a well known site where they charge around £5 less commission (so £4) per task, and this was his benchmark. I think we can all work out what I'm talking about here but I refuse to promote them in my blog. "But they're just rubbish. I can't use them".

Sadly, we've gone our separate ways. There was no way I was going to write website content for him for five pound a pop and there was no way he was going to buy web content from me at £35 per pop. There was just no room for middle ground. No opportunity to educate or manage expectations. Some people want cheap then complain when they get it.

Whilst this is an extreme example of how these sites have managed to change how people perceive value in the online writing world, it is actually very common for potential clients to, and I love this American freelance phrase, 'nickel and dime' you. I hate being nickel and dimed and now that I'm more established, refuse to fall victim to it. Know your worth without being arrogant and those serious about quality work will pay your prices without question.

Make money writing articles with HubPages - Part 1

2012-09-11T10:37:00.000+01:00

I'm always looking for ways to generate an online passive income. It's not that I don't like hard work. I do, and I do it often. It's more that I would like to generate income even when I'm not working, to make every hour really work for itself when it comes to my time. Anyway, from what I can gather from my research so far, generating an online passive income is HARD work, and often not successful.

So I've heard that HubPages is a good place to generate income if you're a good writer. Well, I'm a web writer so it sounds good to me. My core business model is making money writing articles so why not make money writing articles for myself (aside from this which is my hobby blog, that is!).

I joined up with HubPages last week and have spent ten minutes here and there having a look at what's hot and what's not. I have gathered that there are people making money writing articles on HubPages but there ar emore who aren't.

I've decided to create a challenge. A year long challenge. How much money can I make writing articles on HubPages in a year, if I write 3 per week? I know for many writers it takes a year to see any results, so we need to get learning and try and fast track our way to some earnings.

This is episode one of the challenge, where I tell you about the challenge. We'll say this is Week 1 of the HubPages Earnings Challenge, so the challenge will be complete one year Last Friday gone. Keep checking back because I am going to link my articles and their earnings. Here is the link to my little world on HubPages in case you want to read or join.

I would love it if anyone would like to join me. If you want to try the challenge too and race me to bigger earings, sign up for a HubPages account here and link back to this blog.

How do I work out my hourly rate?

2012-09-10T11:31:00.004+01:00

This is one of the first questions many freelancers ask AFTER setting up their freelance business. When I started up my online writing business, I was lucky to have a great mentor, a former boss of mine from a well-known, Blue Chip company. One of the first questions he asked me was ‘how do you work out your hourly rate?’. So I told him. I want to earn at least 20k per annum in my first few years. There are 52 weeks in the year, so I need to earn £384.62 per week. Working around 8 hours per day for five days per week, that means I need to charge £10 per hour roughly, the extra being to make up for shortfalls, other business etc.

I heard him laughing down the phone. You see, I have a business degree, but they teach you nothing about earning your own money through your own business. More, how to run someone else’s business and earn a high wage as an MD or something similar. Needless to say, my idea of an hourly rate was completely unrealistic. Do you want to know how I work out my hourly rate? He asked me. Yes, I said.

1. Add up overheads. These are costs associated with running the business that you pay whether you have work or not. The internet connection is a big one because I still have to pay my broadband bill, even if I have no work.

2. Work out the minimum you need to live on No point working just to pay your business running costs!

3. Work out how many hours, realistically, you can work. 8 hours a day is a nice thought, but who is going to pay me for 8 hours work when I’m a freelance writer? Who is going to pay me to update my accounts, spend a few hours on an afternoon marketing for new customers or writing on forums to build my business? No one. Certainly not anyone with any sense. So the rate needs to take into account that I won’t be doing an hourly paid 8 hours.

In the end, you know what I did to work out my hourly rate? Nothing. I don't have one. I decided to quote on a per piece basis and increase my prices as my testimonials and experience grew. It’s a much better way to do it in the freelance writing business. I have different prices for different ‘products’, just like in a supermarket or bakery. I don’t want to pay more for a loaf of bread that took the baker longer to make than usual because he had a hangover. I want to pay the going rate for a loaf of bread. If he wants to make a better profit margin on that loaf, he better learn to do it quicker, better and with more economy. And that is how I run my business – with a simple pricing structure that’s fair to everyone. All of my clients know what they’re going to pay before I start, they don’t get wacked with an invoice for an unknown amount. It also means I can grow my business by outsourcing work on a per peice price basis.

So my rate consists of:

- What is the market rate for this kind of ‘product’

- How long does it take me to complete one of these (roughly, some will be longer, some will be less)?

I then have a minimum number of pieces I need to do each month and because I don’t put a price on my time, I can make as much or as little money as my marketing allows.

Why I love ODesk for online writing jobs

2012-09-08T11:03:00.000+01:00

For any aspiring freelancer, part of the difficulty in starting your online business is to find someone who will let you work for them before you have a solid portfolio of work and a string of word of mouth referrals. It is so much easier to get started these days, however, because there are a wealth of sites designed to match businesses looking for freelancers to freelancers looking for work.

ODesk is one of the best freelance sites on the market for a number of reasons and I say that as someone who has used it as a business looking for freelance help and as a freelancer looking to establish my online writing business. Even though my online writing business is now fully established and much of my work comes in privately, I still use ODesk as a freelance writer when I see something that I want to do.

So what makes ODesk so great? Well, for business you can obtain some fantastically skilled work for a very reasonable price. In fact, competition is so high that you can get good quality work for very little outlay. This review is predominantly for freelance workers so if you're a business looking for graphic design, web design, wordpress development, SEO or even copywriting, Do More with Less on oDesk.

Good Points for freelancing with ODesk

Quantity and quality of work is good
As a freelancer, whether you specialise in writing content for the web or develop PHP sites, ODesk is usually teaming with available jobs. For some reason you also tend to get employers that are happy to pay a little more for a higher quality of work than other well known freelance portals. This means wider choice and if you are serious about your business, plenty of opportunity to show what you can do.

Long term relationships can grow from small jobs
Some of my best clients are ODesk clients. Thanks to some relationship building in the early days and being willing to compete with the Far East on price without compromising on quality as a sweetener, I have developed some long term working partnerships through ODesk which continue to be lucrative today.

Reasonable Fees
So many freelancers complain about the fees charged by freelance sites. I find this utterly ridiculous and always say, if you don;t like the fees then find your own work. They don't, becasue the 10% of your fee that ODesk charge (and the fees that all sites charge - whether they take it from you or your client), is the price for the enormous market place that ODesk offer you. Most freelancers, when they think about it, would rather have 90% of £100 than 100% of £0. Me too. And you too. So even though yes, you have to pay ODesk for their services (they need to pay their staff, feed their kids and all the usual things we all need from our work), the fact is that without them, there is no work for the majority of people that do find work through ODesk. Their fees are also reasonable as far as the freelance market goes. You only pay when you actually do work, and yet you have access to the whole market. Many of these sites want an upfront monthly subscription for access to the online jobs then a cut of each on top.

The market is growing
ODesk have invested considerably in marketing to raise awareness of their fantastic services. They come highly recommended accross business forums and this greater awareness means more businesses on there looking for great value work. Your market is growing and as Google continue their war to eradicate spam and junk information from the internet, the amount of jobs for quality article writers, bloggers and all other kinds of online writers is growing. There is a lot of money to be made writing online content these days and the demand is not slowing down.

Bad Points
Well, this is an unbiased review so there has to be some bad points, right?

Of course there are bad points with the online freelance industry but actually none of these points are specific to, or the fault of, ODesk.

As I mentioned above to businesses looking for low cost freelance work, these sites are amazing. The competition is huge because we are all now operating in a global market. That means that prices over the last few years have been shaved to minimum, so onlne writers like me were struggling to make ends meet by just using freelance sites alone.

But you want to know something? This site is predominantly aimed at English speaking (as a first language) readers, so I'll tell you what I know about this situation. It is changeing. All acrross the business forums, people are warning against buying cheap work from ODesk and other freelance sites. Everyone is saying that you have to pay a good rate for good articles these days. And Google is constantly striving to wipe poor articles of the face of the internet.

So this bad point is turning into a very good point for us online writers because we have something that few people actually have, even in a worldwide market. The ability to write very well in fluent English. It's a talent and one that is worth more than businesses have been willing to pay. But this is changing fast, so join ODesk now in confidence that you will be well rewarded for your work and you won't have to compete with Indonesian article spinners.

Clients from Hell!

2012-09-07T16:54:00.000+01:00

Warning : Angry rant ahead!
The things they'll say to squeeze you down and squeeze you out! I've worked with my fair share of difficult clients over the last few years. Every freelancer has them. Every freelancer loses sleep over them. For those of you just starting out, or wondering what to do about a difficult situation, here are the problems I have encountered thus far and how I (mostly) successfully dealt with them.

The 'let's keep discussing this project ad infinitum whilst using your up your time and squeezing down your hourly rate to about 10p by the time we've finished'.
Grrr. That's all I can say. These people are a waste of space and when I realise I have one these days, my price automatically goes up. For straightforward clients who appreciate that I can understand what their business is about, I have one price. For those that think I'm an imbecile and who rob me of my free time to impress this upon me, they pay around 50% extra. As soon as I realise I am starting to lose out financially, I start charging for my time on the work. There is not much that I cannot understand through email or a quick phone chat. Unless I am to write your Astro Physics thesis for you. In which case, I don't even do that anyway.

I need a free sample to check that you're good enough
I need an abacus to count the number of times I've been asked for (and in the early days did) free samples of my work. I can count on one finger the number of times these clients were actually serious and went ahead with copywriting from me or anyone else. Tyre kickers. Time wasters. People who think you have nothing better to do and are waiting around to be thrown scraps. I absolutely DO NOT do free samples now I am established and can pick and choose my clients. In the beginning, when you do need the work, it's easy to be persuaded by the slick sales pitch:

- We have lots of work for you
- Your portfolio is great but we need to see how you interpret our business
You rarely hear from them once they've got your writing. They probably won't use it. They're not completely stupid. What you will find, if you check their website and other literature, is that it gradually morphs into a paraphrase of your work. It's not a copy, but where you've added bullet points, they acquire them. Where you've used a catchy phrase, they steal it and twist it beyond recognition. But you know that it's yours.

The moral here is, don't do free work. You won't get paid, you won't make any friends and you certainly won't grow your business.

This will be a long-term thing. We have lots of work for you.
This is the line that gets you to drop your prices in the often mistaken belief that you will have a long and lucrative relationship with this client. Sometimes you do but often, once a defined project is finished you don;t hear much from them again. This is not about the quality of your work. They just want a discount and vague promises about long term work nearly always hook in newbies. Apart from long-term partners I made at the start, who helped build my business and who still come back time after time, I DO NOT offer discounts for ongoing work, big volumes or anything else I am promised out of contract.

There are lots of devious ways shrewd business people will use to get you to work for free or cheap when you start out. They can smell your inexperience. Don't worry if you do become a victim though. More often than not it can be both character and business building. You do get the practice, even at low prices, and hopefully the great testimonials. In fact, doing these gigs and putting up with some shtick in the early days can get you some great clients and even more lucrative jobs in future. Testimonials are also worth far more than your bit rate - they offer residual income and help to build your reputation to the point where 1)you can spot trouble from a mile off and 2)you can choose who you will and will not work for.

Home Based Business or Employee?

2012-09-06T20:48:00.001+01:00

Most people searching for home based work that flow through this site are looking for jobs. Paid jobs. Instructions given, salary paid. Even though they would in most cases be freelance, at the end of the day, they are acting as employees.

And sure. You can make plenty of money working for others if you look in the right place. I do alright writing for various agencies. I join, do a writing test then bag the writing jobs either when they become available or when I have time. I use this method of working when I have a lull in my regular work as it keeps me ticking over. However, I am not an employee because I like the greater rewards of actually running my own business.

I go out and find my own work. I create it, in some respects, with clients. I work hard, gain testimonials, file my accounts and go out and find some more work when I need it or when I am approached. If I wanted, I could be full time with my business. If I had the time. But I have a baby who I want to be a mum too so business has to fit round him.

Whilst this constrains me to some extent, working this way has enable me to build my reputation and whilst I can't charge top prices because I am inflexible, I can charge a great deal more, The best agency I write for pay less than a third of what I command in my own time.

For me, I am a business person. I started out writing for agencies and websites and this is how I broke into the online writing arena but I always had, in the back of my mind, the thought that there was nothing stopping me cutting out the middle man. For some, it's easier to just do the work put in front of them. Others will always wonder how they can go out and grab that work themselves.

So the question I asked at the beginning of this post kind of has no true answer. For me it was home based business. For you it could be employee. There's no right answer and the critical decision factors are different for everyone. Do what feels right for you. Demand for online content and other online services is growing fast, not slowing down. Start out with agencies and content sites if you are not sure. Eventually you'll find your niche and decide how you want to take your new 'career' forward.

I'm back with authority!

2012-09-06T09:03:00.001+01:00

It has been around two years since I last posted on this blog and I have come back to it surprised at how many visitors we've had in that time. Despite the content being old and irrelevant, it seems people are still looking for help with working form home so I've decided to revive this blog.

I always loved it and was really happy with how it looked when I set it up. Then life happened. I got a job, I got married, had a baby, bought a house and then..... I set up my own home based copywriting business. It is successful and I love every minute of it and whilst sitting here waiting for family to collect my son so I can work today, I thought about this blog out of nowhere and tracked it down. It looked as great as ever and since I have been looking to have something personal of my own to write on rather than writing for clients all of the time, I decided to try and log in and recover my blug.

So for everyone who finds us now, you are now reading the posts of someone with a thriving home based business rather than someone who just knows alot about it.

Profit from Twitter

2009-09-03T16:08:00.007+01:00

Twitter seemed to emerge nowhere and take the e-business world by storm. When it first emerged, I thought it was ridiculous to be quite honest. Why on earth, in the Facebook heyday, would anyone want to be restricted to a few characters for updates, and on such a simple platform too.

I simply underestmated the power of Twitter and what it was to become. I now believe it is THE business tool that anyone who is looking to make money online needs to be using.

The question is: how on earth can I profit from Twitter?

First you need an audience which means you need a Twitter account. Depending upon the nature of your business, you may want your name to be your own name or your business name.

Your audience are your followers. Build a strong network of active followers. The aim is quality over quantity so you don't want to be following thousands of Twitterers and only have a few followers yourself. This tends to ndermine your credibility somewhat.

Providing useful information is key. Often you can use a tantalising intro, then, as many do, put your link in there for further information. Many sites get hits and earn revenue this way.

Offline (an online) home businesses can also use Twitter to advertise special offers to attrac custom. It's a free way to get your promotion out to a lot of people in one go.

Don't swear, don't write your personal secrets, don't use text-speak. Remember you are using this platform as a business. If you want to share your innermost secrets, do it through Facebook instead with your friends.

Link to new news items/posts/articles in your blog or wherever your internet base is. If you use affiliate or adsense modules, this can be a great way of attracting traffic to your site and hopefully, incresing your click through rate.

Like many businesses, I am new to Twitter and learning as I go. Please feel free to share your thoughts, Twitter profit strategies, knowledge or refuations to help others that land here looking for advice.

Oh, and if you want to follow me on Twitter, I can be found at http://twitter.com/theathomeworker. Let me know you found me here and i'll follow you back.

Selling for profit on Ebay

2009-09-03T12:06:00.000+01:00

One of the simplest ways to start generating some cash is to start selling on eBay. You might start with a few bits and pieces you have lying around the house, but this guide lies in using eBay as a business to actually generate a profit and get you started in home based business.

This post is an in-depth guide to selling on eBay, however, this article gives a pretty good overview.

1. What to sell?

When trying to decide what to sell through eBay, you need to bear a few key points in mind. Many buyers on eBay are looking for something they can't easily obtain locally to them. Niche products go down really well and thanks to the lack of boundary on the internet, your market is the entire country, or continent or world if you want to risk selling abroad.

If you want to make money from mainstream products that you can get in your local supermarket, then section 2 of this guide is for you. However, if you go for the niche market, you have a huge potential market and a real business edge. Niche products currently on eBay are gold bullion, second hand designer clothes, special Chinese slimming tea, products not easily available such as Castor oil, beauty clays, collectables and antiques etc.

2. How to get people to buy from you

eBay attracts millions of customers and they all have just ONE thing in common - they want a bargain. The better the bargain, the more sales you'll make. Now anyone can put a low price on goods, but whether they would stay in business over the long term if selling below cost is another matter.

The key to selling cheap is buying cheap. That means sourcing products from wholesale rather than mainstream suppliers and at low cost. Generally, the more you buy, the cheaper you get it, so try to build long term relationships with your suppliers. This article will show you how to source suppliers and wholesalers and ideas on what you might sell.

3. Word of mouth - building your reputation

If anything, this is the most important factor in whether your eBay business will succeed or not. It is covered in depth in eBay: Selling for profit - a traders guide and I recommend you read it as it's importance cannot be underestimated.

Hopefully, when you start you your venture you will already have an account with some activity (feedback)on it from earlier sales/buys you may have done. If you have, then as long as your feedback is 100% positive, you already have a very good head start if you can adapt this account for your business.

If you don't already have an eBay account you can use, or don't have the best feedback on your current account, then you will need a new account to build up from scratch. This means sales might be slow to start with until you start to generate good feedback. If you struggle to do this through sales (as some buyers refuse to do business with sellers who have no feedback), it might be worth buying some items for yourself to get a reputation as someone who is trustworthy and pleasurable to do business with. It might still be difficult to sell high value items until your feedback is very well developed, however you can build up to it buy selling lower value items (preferably bargains) until you are up and running.

4. The Power of Words - advertising is key

The power of Marketing can not be underestimated when it comes to selling through eBay. Say you're selling a designer dress. If you put it on with no photograph, and few details apart from Size 12 Dress in Times New Roman font in the description it's not going to sell at any price. If you take several photographs showing different aspects of the garment, including close-ups of the material and an image of the label, then write a well thought out, full page professional description, your item will at least generate interest, if not sell well.

5. Get repeat business and keep those profits flowing

Never, ever send out a parcel of your goods without a reminder inside of who you are. Send out, at the very least, a printed slip with your eBay account, shop name, address, email address and contact details. Some good sellers often send money off vouchers with their packets to encourage the customer to return.

If you can, send everything by Recorded Delivery. It may seem like an unnecessary extra cost, but it protects against items going missing in the post or some unscrupulous buyers claiming the item was never received. Recorded delivery does not add a lot to selling costs when you consider the impact on profits of numerous 'not received' refunds you may get as your volume of sale increases.

Business Opinions - offering cash for opinions

2009-09-02T21:05:00.005+01:00

Business Opinions is a relatively new opinion site which asks you for your views in order to help shape the future of business products and services. What's more, they're offering points which you can then turn into cash!

It is particularly aimed at those involved in their own business or in management, which is why I thought it would go down a storm here!

Three lifestyle questionnaires net you 50 points each and referrals get you a whopping 10 points, where each point is a penny. You can sign up here.

Domain Name Stress

2009-08-30T17:17:00.005+01:00

You have a great idea and you're sure it's going to sell. You're going to sell kitten's mittens, they're going to be all the rage and you're going to retire next year on the proceeds.

There's just one snag - you surf over to your domain restration company and find that kittensmittens, mittensforkittens, mittysforkittys, catsgloves, mitsforkits and warmpaws have gone in all your desired domain suffixes. You can't think of anything else to call your site without it sounding ridiculous, so what should you do now?

1. Do some market research
This means looking at the sites that have 'your' names and see what they sell/do, google your product and see what other creative names people have come up with to sell their product etc.

2. Do some more market research
No, it's not a joke. There are two types of market research when it comes to internet markets. Why? Well, there is 'what people want', which is covered by approach 1, but there is also 'what people type into Google to find what they want'. This is crucial to the success of your internet business and can help you narrow down a good domain name. The best way to do this is to find out what people are searching for and you can do this using Google Zeitgeist which will allow you to see trends and identify keyword chains related to your site.

3. Make someone an offer
Someone has a domain you want, so you type it in to see what it is they're doing on there, only to find it's a parked domain. Someone has bought the domain you need and aren't even using it! Unless they're a private registrant, you can use a tool like whois to find out how owns the domain and contact them if you want to make an offer. If it's the ONE, and you're site is sure to be a success it's woth paying a bit more than you would if you'd bought it direct. There are also web based companies/auction sites tat deal in selling domains.

Home Business Ideas

2009-08-27T09:57:00.003+01:00

So you want a little cash on the spare, or as is the case for many at the moment, you are currently not in work and you want to use the time to generate some income. The best way to do this is to work from home, but to do that, you need an idea.

Trying to decide what to base your home business on can be the most daunting part of actually doing it. We all have thousands of ideas on a daily basis, but we write them off because we don't think they'll work or there's too much competition already.

To help you out with this, as it's something I've struggled with in the past, I've got together 10 home business ideas you can get started with right away:

1. Child minding - if you're a lady (usually) and you are at home most days with your own children, why not offer a child minding service for parents who work. You could even offer a pick up service, where you pick up children from school and entertain them for a few hours until their parents finish work.

2. Sell on Ebay - and I don't just mean all your personal possessions! The trick with Ebay business is to buy low and sell cheap. Is there anyway you can find cheap stock which you can then sell for a profit on ebay? If you need some ideas about doing business on ebay, then look HERE at this article to get you started.

3. Home based administration - Many small companies struggle under the weight of administrative tasks. These are tasks that must be done to keep the business running smoothly but which do not add immediate value to the company. Lots of small companies will pay people to take this burden off their hands and will favour the option of using a self-employed secretary, thus reducing the overheads and legal burden of employing someone. For more info on how to get into home based office work, SEE HERE.

4. Set up an events organisation company - you could make money from home by organising coach trips to attractions or events. By negotiating on large numbers of hotel rooms, admissions etc, any difference between the package price and your costs is your profit. For example, you could organise a two night stay to blackpool. You would first call some suppliers (coach hire, hotels, theme parks...) and negotiate your prices to be as low as possible. Don't give up until you have the best prices!! Then work out your costs and work out how many people, at what price you need to at least cover this. This is your break even mark. Any more takers, or a higher price = profit.

5. E-shop - in the same vein as selling on Ebay, setting up your own internet shop by buying low and selling high is a good way to make money from home if you get the product right. Products that will sell well over the internet are usually products that it's not easy to go into a shop and buy, especially in rural areas. Don't forget too that if it's something quite common, the whole fun in buying over the internet for many is that they save money, so bear this in mind and try to choose high-margin products.

6. Blogging and article writing - this is a one for creative types with a flair for writing. By writing blogs, articles and even websites, you can generate an income. No, no one buys your writing unfortunately (unless you get talent spotted by a magazine or newspaper!), but you can generate considerable income from blogging and writing for the net. This is a very low cost way to make money from the internet and working from home and if you're good, you can make plenty. See HERE, HERE and HERE for more information on making money from blogs, articles and websites here.

7. Affiliate Marketing - Affiliate marketing can be very lucrative if you get it right. Its basic principle is that you get paid to refer customers to a company through your sites, articles and blogs. The trick is in getting those referrals and that means dedicating each affiliate site to one product and making it keyword rich and informative. There's so much more to affiliate marketing than we can get in this little ideas guide so start HERE for much more information and guidance on getting started.

8. E-lancing - E-lancers is the new term for freelancers who work through the internet. If you have any skills, knowledge or talent, there is probably someone out there willing to pay for some of it. There are many sites that deal with uniting elancers with people requiring elancers. See our GUIDE TO ELANCING here.

9. Cosmetics/products agent - Okay, so this is not entirely home based as you will have to go out and see clients, but selling products as an agent for a major company can be a great way to make extra money. To get a better idea of what you could sell, see our GUIDE HERE.

10. Sell your own expertise - why not base your home business around something you know well? If you're a techie, you could set up a techie site and forum. If you can do accounts, set up as a freelance book keeper. You can clean right? We can all clean - so why not set out as a mobile cleaner. You can even specialise in something, like cleaning for landlords or commercial premises. Think about what you can do, do your market research and go for it. Your best asset is yourself!

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2009-08-26T20:27:00.000+01:00

Some brilliant tips on generating traffic to your blog! (Not mine i'm afraid but very useful to every budding blogger).

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The Top 4 Cash Back Sites

2009-07-06T15:23:00.002+01:00

These are my all time favourite cash back sites. I'm a member of each of them and have been paid from all of them too.

Greasy Palm - Greasy Palm are one of my favourites simply because their tracker works on top form, so you never lose out on any cashback and never have to raise a query wth them. I also got £70 back for changing my energy supplier, both saving money on my electricity and earning almost what I use in a year in electricity back. You can't lose and there's no subscription fee. Plus, you get £7 every time you refer a friend and £2.50 just for joining up!

Money Back Madness - Sounds cheesy, but is actually my favourite site. You get £10 just for joining up, plus £5 for every friend you refer, meaning there are no joining or subscription fees.

Fat Cheese - Offer 100% cashback, which unlike most other cashback sites mean you get the full value of your cashback from the site you shop or click at instead of sharing the revenue with the site itself. You also get £5 for every friend you refer to the site. The subscription fee is £5, but this is taken from your earnings so you do not have to pay this if you never earn it.

quanti - again, 100% cashback but this one has the added bonus that they affiliated with Amazon (cashback @ 5.25%) so if you do a lot of shopping through Amazon especially, this is for you. There are no joining or subscription fees for quanti.

Hidden profit - the best cashback sites

2009-07-06T14:36:00.000+01:00

I went through a phase of joining lots of cashback sites about 6 months ago. I spent some of my free time doing the daily clocks and earning pennies, which really didn't get me very far. However I am starting to make good money by checking my sites before I buy anything that I would normally buy on the internet.

The nice thing about this unexpected income is that I didn't have to expend any effort to get it. Thus far, in six months and without really trying, I have earned over £300 on things I would have paid for anyway. That's not a bad return for no effort and no outlay and is a massive discount on the things I did buy.

Now, don't go thinking it's all high-end items like TV's and stuff either. I've been earning £££'s for car insurance quotes, joining the National Lottery (which has been a life saver as we always forget to put it on), opening a savings acocunt and other everyday things that I needed to do anyway. The good news about the Lottery is that, as we don't foget to put it on anymore as it's all done online, we have won 4 x £10 and last week won £71!!!!

Cashback sites won't pay your mortgage and bills but it is a fantastic way of adding to your current income and an added bonus where you would have spent the dosh anyway. And don't forget, you don't even have to spend to earn as all sites offer free daily clicks which build up a decent little pot over time.

See the next post for my top 4 cashback sites. There are loads of them, but these are tried, tested and paid up.

Why work at home?

2009-05-01T16:16:00.001+01:00

There are loads of reasons why someone would want to work from home and there are loads of blogs and websites about it. But what I find about the information out there is that it's often difficult to find everything you need to know in one place.

For example, you might be interested in doing affiliate marketing from home, whereas someone else might be more interested in an actual at home business. My website www.doyourhomework.co.uk, is about bringing all of the information together into one informative source and this blog is where I can keep on top of the latest happenings in the world of working from home and making money online..

Of course, I don't know everything and may not be able to find everything out. There are some excellent sites out there and I do not feel the need to regurgitate their hard work and research, so I’ll direct you there when necessary.

Please feel free to leave comments on my blog. If we're in the same subject, please PM to have a link back on my site and/or blog.

Yougov - only one pay out per person?

2009-04-30T13:40:00.001+01:00

I used to do YouGov and in a way I still do, or at least I would do if they would send me some more surveys to do.

I finally got to my payout level of £50 after some lazy years of responding to about half the requests to complete surveys and received the cheque about 9 months ago. In that time, after resolving to do every one that came my way now that I had confirmed they do actually pay out, I have received 3 measly survey requests!

Now it might just be me, but I get the impression that once you've had £50, they're pretty reluctant to give you any more in a hurry. I suppose they need fresh blood, however, I don't seem to be earning anything more in referrals, despite knowing a few people who have signed up with my link.

Well at least I don't have to actively maintain anything so it's worth just doing them as they come in and who knows, in five years I may be getting my second £50 cheque!!

Work Space Worries

2009-04-03T10:53:00.001+01:00

If, like me, you live in a one bedroom apartment, you'll understand the difficulty that comes with working from home. But do not despair! It is possible to create an idyllic workspace in the smallest of places. All you need is a little creativity and a few bits and pieces.

Working from home has many plus points. You don't have to commute to work, you don't have to deal with office politics (especially if you just want to get on with the job) and often, you'll notice vastly increased productivity. But working from home also has drawbacks, the worst being the increasingly disappearing line between work time and play time.

If you find yourself sitting on the sofa updating your affiliate sites, or propped up in bed finishing your freelance assignments, then the line between working life and private life has been crossed. That is why we need a dedicated workspace, no matter how tiny our living space.

In my apartment, I have a desk in the corner of the living room, behind the actual living space and surrounded with bookshelves:

In this way, my books, files, PC and all other work related items are compartmentalised away from the actual living space, so I have a mini-office.

It doesn't matter how small your space (mine is very small). Of course you don't have to have it as cluttered as me. A simple laptop desk with maybe a flower, lamp and bookshelf should suffice for the minimalists out there.

The most important thing is to have a place you can think and get into the work mindset and a separate place for cooking, watching TV, sleeping and so on.

Of course, I often wind up on the dining room table just for the space, but then we very rarely ever eat on the dining room table anyway!

The beginners guide to Affiliate Marketing

2009-01-30T16:32:00.001+00:00

A business relationship with a merchant or other service provider who allows you to link to that business. When a visitor clicks on the link at your site and subsequently makes a purchase from the merchant, you receive a commission based on the amount of the sale, a referral fee or a pay-for-click fee.

Affiliate marketing can be an excellent resource for income. Whether it be part-time with a supplemental income or full-time with a large income flow is entirely your choice. It all depends on the time and effort you intend to commit as goes with any other business.

What's An Affiliate Program?

Affiliate Programs are a way for you to sell another company's products or services and receive a commission (or when you are ready, it is a way for you to get others to sell your products). Selling through another company's affiliate program is a great hands-off way to sell on the Internet. You promote the product or service on your web site (and don't forget your email). The company is responsible for the product or service; they process payments and ships the goods. You get the commission.

The Best Affiliate Programs:
- pay fair commissions
- pay you for returning customers
- provide you with detailed statistics on your sales
- ideally, are two tiered- pay you on the sales of the affiliates that you refer

The Best Way to Sell Affiliate Products & Services

Don't expect to paste up a banner and have the commission start rolling in. Choose products that visitors to your site would purchase and that relate to your web site content. In addition, ensure you include editorial comment about the product on your site. Make people interested in the product before they click on your link. A banner won't necessarily accomplish this. The best way to sell affiliate products is to use them yourself. That way you can promote a product that you believe in and about which you have knowledge. Don't spend all your savings, but do try products when you can.

Above all, before you sign up for any affiliate program, ensure you read the agreement. Make sure you are comfortable with all the terms and that you are receiving a fair commission. Then, enjoy the easy way to sell on the Internet.

'Take Dead Aim' with Affiliate Programs

One of the key success secrets for those that are successful with affiliate programs is to focus. You must take dead

aim.

There are many thousands of affiliate programs you can join. Yet to succeed you must ignore 99% of them. You must select a subject area and stick to it.

The days of taking the scattergun approach with affiliate programs are long gone. Once upon a time this was a good method for making money with affiliate programs but now the opportunities in this area are all but gone. Today, you need to be a sniper and sniff out the best affiliate programs around. You need to take a shotgun approach. Do some affiliate marketing research by reading as many articles on a subject as possible. Pick an area you are good at and know something about.

Then pick 3 affiliate programs in this area to join. That's right, just 3! This way you will focus. You will force yourself to concentrate on fewer areas and fewer affiliate programs. If you focus and find your own niche you will stand a much better chance of making decent money with affiliate programs.

You see, one of the biggest problems with affiliate programs is there are just TOO MANY opportunities. The irony is that by ignoring most of the opportunities you will actually do well.

The real key to success is not which affiliate program you chose but the affiliate marketing strategies you choose to implement. With 3 affiliate programs you are able to focus more energy and effort into these products. You may even be considered an expert in this particular area because of your knowledge.

Taking dead aim means becoming a specialist. The internet is a great place to specialize and affiliate programs make it just that much easier. The new breed of affiliate that focuses on particular products or services is succeeding now. They are spending all their time on affiliate marketing because that is what differentiates the successful affiliates from the rest.

Take aim with your affiliate programs. Pick just a few. Concentrate all of your time into marketing these programs - because you are so knowledgeable about the product or service you are selling, you will automatically drive more targeted prospects to what you are selling.

Tips For Successful Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing can be an excellent resource for income. Whether it be part-time with a supplemental income or full-time with a large income flow is entirely your choice. It all depends on the time and effort you intend to commit as goes with any other business. The following are a few tips to increase the effectiveness of your marketing.

Writing articles with worthwhile informational content is an excellent strategy for successful marketing. Make sure that your article contains useful information that targets your audience and doesn't sound like a sales copy or ad.

Studies have shown that banner ads are not the best strategy and that visitors actually avoid them. If you must use them make sure they're used sparingly and well placed. Do not place a banner on the same page as your article. Placing a banner on the same page as your article can very quickly turn your well-written article into nothing but a huge ad.

One very important tip to remember is that as an affiliate it is not your job to sell. The only job you have is to pre-sell. Once you've done your job correctly and "get the click" then it's the merchant's job to close the deal.

Last but certainly not least, another important tip is to know your product. If you know everything there is to know about it then it's much easier to inform your readers of how it can work for them or why they should buy the product. So, therefore, if it's in your budget you should buy it before you pre-sell it.

Work at home jobs can be genuine!!

2009-01-01T23:13:00.001+00:00

Finding genuine work from home opportunities isn't difficult once you know what to look for. I have been working from home for the past 2 years and have enjoyed having the flexibility of spending time with my family and earning a substantial income at the same time. I also worked from home and had a ‘real’ job meaning that, whilst my salary covered living costs and the odd treat my self-employment income was put into savings to allow us to build a nest egg.

There are, however, an increasing number of scams as well as unscrupulous people who prey upon housewives and those who are interested in earning a living from their home. Knowing what to look for in a legitimate home job can help ensure that you won't be taken advantage of.

The first step that you should take to prevent yourself from being tricked into a scam is to check the references of the company with either the Better Business Bureau, the Rip off Report, or even by using the Who Is feature to find accurate data relating to the company's website. By using Who Is, you can see how long the website has been in operation and who owns the site. If a company claims that they have a long successful business history, yet their website shows that they have been in operation for a few weeks, you may want to proceed cautiously.

The first rule of thumb to remember is that you should never have to pay for a legitimate job opportunity. This is the number one ploy used by scam artists to take consumers money. If you are going to be working from home, then a company will hire you based upon your skills, your attitude, and your resume. You will not need to pay a company to be employed; neither will you need to pay for a list of "legitimate work from home jobs."

Every job that you can work for is available to find online, and for free.

Have you ever heard the saying, "If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is? Well, this simple piece of advice can go a long way in your legitimate work from home job search.

Many job search boards will post legitimate work from home jobs, but they are also often targeted with numerous scams. Unfortunately, many people mistakenly believe that if the job posting was listed on sites such as Monster.com, Career Builder, or Hot Jobs, that it is a legitimate position. This couldn't be further from the truth. You must do your diligent research before choosing a business or company to work for.

Something that I found to be very helpful when I first began working from home was to network with other work at home moms. I found that this was easily accomplished by joining message groups or forums. There are two forums that are wonderful resources for those who are seeking legitimate work from home jobs. They are: WAHM.com and Work Place Like Home. Not only do these forums and message boards list legitimate work from home opportunities, but you can also ask questions regarding companies that you may have discovered in your job search. Boards like these are also hotspots for finding timely job leads as well. By taking the time to research, network, and ask questions you can rest assured that you will find legitimate work from home jobs in no time at all.

Freelance Jobs

2008-09-07T09:24:00.000+01:00

Outsourcing Services? Try Freelancer.com.

Freelancer.com is #1 for crowdsourcing!

Resources

2008-08-29T19:18:00.002+01:00

Over the next few months we will be collating all of the useful resources we have in one place, here. These should help you get started in home based business, answer many of your questions and drive you to further information outside of this site which can help you succeed and, most of all, create a good living from working from home.