Even the tour they offer is short and sweet. This really is a simple online tool that handles invoicing. Here’s what you can do with it:

- Replace your manual invoicing process and create invoices online using your Internet browser.

- Send invoices to your customers online.

- Stay on top of your cash flow by knowing who owes you money, how much, and by when.

- Keep your customer list online for quick reference.

- Track taxes collected from invoices.

- Grant access to your data to your bookkeeper or accountant.

If you have an accountant or bookeeper they can:

• Directly access your invoice and payment information online in order to prepare your books.
• Get an accountant’s view of your data with information such as taxes collected and total invoices sent.

Your invoices can be sent via email or as PDF files attached to emails and if you’re dealing with a dinosaur you can always print the invoice and mail the old fashioned way.

The only thing it doesn’t do for you is sell your products or services giving you a reason to invoice a customer! : )

If you try it out please let me know what you think of it and if applicable how it compares to whatever you currently use.

Scene ONE: a world away in the remote regions of the western Himalayas.

Our team had been warned of the dangers in crossing the white water rivers fed by glacier melt. The crossing would be on foot and had to be done as early as possible in the day-before the sun would begin to melt the ice pack and the rivers rise within minutes. Our team of locals had gotten us up before dawn-sending us briskly on our way after a hot breakfast. They stayed behind to pack up gear, tent, and load the mules. We made it across the frigid water by forming a human chain. Our team was too late. They had to spend the night on a rock pile, in below freezing temperatures, and cross at 5:30 am the next day.

My husband and I were up early that morning with the head guide. Suddenly, we heard a shout and in the distance saw the figures of our team coming down the slope. We cheered, waved, hollered and wrapped them in an embrace with the words, “Welcome Home.” We stood around beaming at each other. For the rest of the trek, this team seemed even more helpful, solicitous and full of extra effort for those of us who welcomed them home.

I frankly had not made the connection until another incident happened.

Scene TWO: a combination assisted living and memory care facility in Southern California.

Mom, age 93, had fallen and broken her hip. Now, two months’ from the time an ambulance sped her away to the closest hospital, I wheeled her back through the front door. Her mind and body had taken a terrible assault coupled with embolisms and a decreasing ability to emotionally or mentally cope. She would not be going back to her upstairs studio but rather into the rooms behind the locked door.

As soon as we entered, the receptionist jumped up to give Mom a big hug and said “welcome home.” Other care managers came up and knelt down and hugged her. When we walked down the hall toward the locked doors, residents who had known Mom were sitting in the activities room. They shouted to her and applauded. As I pushed her down the hall to her new room, more care managers came up to us Lastly, at the door of her new room were balloons and a big sign, “Welcome Home, Mary.” I cried.

Any lingering doubt about the wisdom of this move vanished. Despite the fact Mom can’t remember them and alternates in moods that range from pleasant to belligerent, this team of caregivers continues to serve with compassion and care. They come from different parts of the facility to tell me they are so glad our whole family has come home.

Funny. The first day I left her, the security guard at my building hollered out “welcome home.” I swear I had never heard that.

Welcome Home Insights for Leaders

(1) How do you make employees feel as if they are welcomed home? One surgeon was overheard telling a custodian, “Hey, Frank. Glad to see you this morning. I never worry about the cleanliness of this hospital when I see you here.” Don’t you think the employee felt as if he was, “welcomed home”? I do.

(2) Do you notice when employees are absent-whether for illness, travel, or even vacation? And when they come back, do you welcome them home? Sounds trite, but I am beginning to think it is the small things that help us feel valued.

(3) As the economy turns around, you might very well want to bring back employees who have been laid off. How will you welcome them home?

(4) What about your customers or clients? How do you welcome them home? One bank teller not only didn’t welcome a long-time customer “home” but insisted that he could not validate a parking ticket unless the customer made a transaction. The customer was so angry, he made a transaction: closed an account that had several thousand dollars in it.

Welcome Home Insights for Employees

(1) There are some people who bring joy by entering a room and others by leaving. Which one are you? If we had not cared for the staff at Mom’s residence and if she had not been kind, trust me-they would not have welcomed her home.

(2) Watch out for negativity, mean-spirited comments, and “all-about-me” behavior. Behavior like this, even if one is a solid performer by way of numbers, will not generate a “welcome home” feeling. In one law firm, the top rainmaker was fired because the managing partners determined that his behavior so undermined the office that they were better off without him.

(3) Always leave well. Should you leave for another company, another career or even retirement-make sure you leave speaking only well of your employer. Who knows-you might want to return someday.

Remember: home is not given but made. What will you do to make your work a place in which people feel welcomed home?

Since 1980, Hall of Fame speaker Eileen McDargh has helped Fortune 100 companies as well as individuals create connections that count and conversations that matter. Executive Excellence ranks her among the top 100 thought-leaders in leadership development. For more articles, products and services that help you deal with uncertain times visit http://www.eileenmcdargh.com

By Bonnie Jo Davis

Individual article submission sites are websites, blogs, forums and e-zines that accept article submissions.  Each site seeks articles on a particular topic or a narrow range of topics.  Accepting articles directly saves the publisher from having to search newsgroups or directories for fresh content.  Each site has its own set of guidelines that authors must read and understand before they can submit their article.

Some of the primary benefits of submitting articles to individual submission sites include:

• Direct Delivery – Articles go directly to the publisher who is interested in their particular topic, saving publishers hours searching for the perfect article.
• Improved Response – Because authors screen submission sites before submitting their articles, they have a better idea of what a publisher wants.
• Editorial Suggestions – Some publishers offer valuable feedback on articles to help you improve submissions.
• Expedited Publishing – Direct submissions, if on topic and compliant with guidelines, often are published much faster through individual submission sites than through other channels.
• Strategic Relationships – Authors can and should create a relationship with each individual site’s publisher, letting him or her know that they can provide original articles or a customized version.
• Return Link – A reputable website that publishes an article will provide its author with a one-way active link to his website.  If this is not provided the author has the option to have the article removed from the site.
• Direct Control – If an article isn’t published according to its author’s wishes, he’ll know how to contact the publisher directly for corrections.
• Submission Tracking – Article marketers rarely know who has reprinted their article.  Submitting articles directly to an individual site enables them to track their submissions easily.
• Negotiate Terms – Because authors create a strategic relationship with their publisher, they can negotiate the terms of future submissions.

As with article directories, editorial guidelines often are provided for authors, which requires them to submit only their own original work or work that they paid a writer to create; offer only articles that include proper grammar, spelling and punctuation; allow their articles to be published anywhere on the submission site, and possibly on partner sites; and agree that an article can be edited.  They also might be told that the link in their byline is the only payment they will receive.

You should submit articles to individual article submission sites only when they can comply with the rules, and not waste their or the publisher’s time by ignoring those rules.

There are so many specific article submission sites that it’s overwhelming to consider them all.  To build a list and find topic-appropriate sites, go to Google.com and search “topic + articles” or “topic + article submission.”  Either of these terms, combined with a particular topic, should net plenty potential submission sites.

Article contributed by:
Bonnie Jo Davis is an article marketing expert and prolific writer who created Article Submission Sites to teach others how to profit from the Internet marketing strategy.  Visit http://www.articlesubmissionsites.com for a free copy of “Writing for Publicity” and her Article Submission Summary Sheet.

The article below was contributed by Leah Grant. I hope you find it motivational and useful!

Top Five Reasons Why Now Is The Perfect Time To Start A Business

Turn on the TV and all you’ll hear is how the stock market still hasn’t fully recovered and how unemployment is still rising, so you might think I’m out of my mind to suggest that now is the perfect time to start a business.  But I stand by my statement.

If we look at history, more millionaires were made during The Great Depression than any other time in US history and during our last recession in the early 90s many companies still thriving today were born, like Clif Bar.

There are numerous reasons why starting a business now is advantageous, but these are the top five.

1. Increased Opportunities
Anytime the economy changes or a new technology is introduced it creates opportunities in different fields.  While some industries are shrinking, others are exploding.  For example, while Chrysler is claiming bankruptcy because their gas-guzzling vehicles have become irrelevant, a San Diego-based company, Jitterbug, who produces simplistic cell phones with extra large numbers on them designed for the elderly is hiring and growing at breakneck speed.

2. Less Competition
In the first two months of 2009 the Department of Labor reported that over 800,000 small businesses closed.  I can guarantee that these were businesses that may have been barely making it when the economy was flush and when the recession began they realized they did not have the proper infrastructure, their overhead was too high or their business model was flawed.  These closures create a lot of space for smart new business owners to open and serve their customers.

In addition, many companies have cut their advertising budgets to lower costs which can give the public the perception of fewer businesses offering the same products and services as yours.  The perception of less competition allows you to stand out and strongly establish your brand.

3. Decreased Trust
Let’s face it, the big companies melting down faster than Chernobyl this past year have withered the public’s trust.  It’s become obvious that large corporations are not looking out for their employees and many didn’t even look ahead enough to protect themselves.  Whenever the big businesses that people have equated with security go belly up, it creates a fear-based marketplace.  First, people contract and don’t buy at all.  Then they start wanting to buy, but look to do business with people they know and trust.

People who purchased their lotions and body wash at the mall are now more open to purchasing from their Mary Kay consultant.  It feels good to them to know that the money they spend with someone they know helps out that family.

4. Discounted Resources
With many companies cutting back, businesses want to maintain cash flow so they are often willing to discount their services or products or offer longer payment terms than in the past.  These options help a new business owner’s startup funds go farther.

One area these discounted resources should definitely be capitalized on is in the advertising market.  Several larger companies that ate up available ad space have lowered their ad budgets, not only creating space for smaller companies to come in, but creating open ad space that publications, radio and TV stations need to sell.  Many of these outlets will negotiate if asked.  One of my clients got two ads for the price of one.  These bargains allow business owners to make more of an impact for less money and to stand out while others are fading back.

5. Control of Your Future
Having a job is like putting all your eggs in one basket and then handing it over to a clumsy kid to carry.  You have no control over whether you will get laid off, have your pay cut, have benefits taken away, have your hours lowered, etc.  You have one line of revenue and if the powers you report to decide to cut that off, there’s nothing you can do.  No matter how many hours or how hard you work, in most cases your salary stays the same.

None of the above has to be true if you own your own business.  You can build a business model that allows for multiple streams of income so if one dries up, you still have the others.  You control the amount of income you make because you are in charge of pricing and how much and how hard you work.  You create your eggs and then you carry the basket yourself.

(c) 2009, Leah Grant Enterprises LLC.  Publication rights granted so long as article and byline are reprinted intact with all links made live.

Will you be one of the millionaires who create their success during this recession?  You could be!  The timing is right.  Get the info you need to launch a profitable venture in the New Business Mentor Leah Grant’s free success kit including a timely special report and audio Secrets of Successful Business Owners at http://www.leahgrant.com

On twitter too: @leahgrantbiz

First, the best free blog directories: (the very best are in bold)

• Blog Search
• Blogarama
• Blog Catalog
• Blog Explosion
• Blog Flux
• blogged
• Bloggernity
• BlogHop
• BlogHub
• Bloglines
• Blog Listing
• Blog Rankings
• Blog Top List
• Globe of Blogs
• iBlog Business
• MyBlog2U
• MyBlogLog
• Technorati
• We Blog Alot

A few quality paid blog directories:

• BigGuide/blogs
• BOTW/blogs
• Bloggeries
• Blog Universe
• Joe Ant/blogs

Happy blogging! Please send a message with the good ones I missed.

Personally I’d rather go to see the dentist then write a business plan but, it truthfully is a worthwhile exercise for any entrepreneur seeking to do more then simply earn an extra few hundred dollars a month.Thanks to the internet there are more resources to help you out then ever before. Simply do a search on Yahoo! or Google using something like ‘pet sitting business plan’ or something similar and you’ll begin discovering useful resources to guide you along. Two sites worth sharing with you cover both the no-budget do-it-yourselfers to the more serious entrepreneurs that know just how difficult and time consuming it is to put together a quality business plan.

The first is MoreBusiness.com that has been offering hundreds of free business plans for years. Even if you don’t find the perfect fit for your unique business you can learn a lot from reviewing plans for similar and even the not-so-similar businesses.

The second site is Masterplans.com that that creates quality business plans for their clients. While I hate spending money as much as the next gal I believe this service is worth considering if the business you’re contemplating is going to be of significant importance to your family’s finances. Their fees range from $1650 to $5000 for most business plans. It takes several weeks from start to finish and I believe you’d end up with a plan good enough to convince those who need convincing that you’re competent AND that your business has a good shot at succeeding.

I never thought of myself as a stay-at-home mom. I liked the direction my career was going and always thought that I would work outside the home, even after my children were born. And that’s exactly what happened . . . until my son Sean was 3 years old. That’s when little sister Melissa joined her big brother Sean.
After the birth of Melissa, my husband and I decided that with the stress of both of us working full time, never spending any time with our children, and the rising cost of daycare, it was time for me to come home. The question was, “Is working from home really a viable option?” Would it be possible for me to be a stay-at-home mom to my children, and have an income from a job that I enjoy and that is beneficial to our family, both personally and financially?

And so I began my search. We’ve all seen offers promising us loads of easy money with minimal investments of time and capital. Unfortunately, we don’t as often seem to personally know anyone who has succeeded at these schemes. No, the fact is, that you really can’t get something for nothing. However, that doesn’t mean that working from home will not work. In fact, we’re seeing trends of more and more people choosing to work from home.

The benefits of working from home are clear: ability to have quality family time, to be available for your children and spouse, the flexibility to arrange and re-arrange schedules, not to mention commuting and daycare cost savings. There are many benefits of having your own business, the key is to find something that you are passionate about. I have found a company that I believe in and stand behind.

So how do people do this successfully? According to a 2004 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics*, there are nearly seven million people in the United States who are currently self-employed and are successfully working from home. What is their secret? The answer is setting goals and being disciplined.

Working from home has its challenges. When you work for yourself, the term “self-motivation” takes on a whole new meaning. Suddenly you are both boss and employee. There is no supervisor handing out projects or offering reviews. It is up to you to see the work, and to make sure it gets finished. On the other hand, you never leave your office. The computer and the phone are always right there, calling you to just finish “one more thing.” The trick is to find balance. For many people, that means setting up “office hours” and sticking to them. If you decide you will work from 8am until noon, Monday through Friday, that means that you sit down and begin work at 8am and when the clock strikes noon, you stop, knowing that you will continue again tomorrow at 8am. For other people a less rigid schedule may be a better choice, where they discipline themselves to work a set number of hours each day, but are not as concerned about when they work those hours. The common denominator is that in each case, a successful work-at-home story begins with work. Just like a traditional job, you must work to be successful.

And, working from home offers its own challenges to office hours as well. You have other family commitments that require attention. Children need lunches, help with projects, etc. Not to mention friends and family who see you at home so think you will always be available for them. It takes discipline to continue to work the hours necessary.

The other secret of success…….setting goals. It is extremely important to have a specific, realistic, measurable goal, and then work to achieve it. In some industries, these goals take the form of deadlines, in others it’s sales quotas. Sometimes, it comes down to a personal goal you are working to achieve. The important thing is to continue to work toward that goal and keep going until you achieve it. This is not the time for New Year’s Resolutions that are tossed aside within a few weeks. Your goal must be something specific you are working toward, and there must be a reward for achieving it. Sometimes that reward is money (payment), other times it might be as simple as splurging on something special or taking a day off.

Soon you’ll find the benefits of being able to integrate both personal and professional goals while working from home. For example, after the birth of my children, I was determined to lose the weight I gained during pregnancy. While I worked a 9-5 job, I did not have the time or energy to focus on this goal. However, within the last six months, I have reached my objective. Working from home gave me both the motivation, and the time to achieve what I set out to do. I’ve learned both discipline in time management as well as enjoying the flexibility and extra free time provided by working from home to work out and focus on our eating habits as a family.

Of course, the most important key to being a success is making the commitment and then taking the next step to just do it. It is always scary to take the first step on a new adventure, but the rewards can far outweigh the risks. And, before long you’ll find that you really are making money from home. You have time for your children and their needs, while still bringing in a paycheck. And, you are growing and developing both personally and professionally as you continue to grow a business where you are the boss.

Since starting my own business, my family’s lives have changed. We spend quality time together as a family, and my husband and I are growing our relationship because of the time that we spend together as a couple. We are focused on our health and are teaching our children the importance of a healthy diet and exercise. And, I have the ability to show other career-oriented moms that they can have a professional career where they can not only contribute financially, but also be home with their children and enjoy the important things in life. It is not always about money, but building relationships and helping others. So the answer is an unqualified, yes. Working from home is a very realistic and viable option, and could be the secret to improving the quality of your life along with the lives of those around you.

* “Work at Home in 2004” released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. http://www.bls.gov/cps

Authored by: Barbara Murtaugh. Barbara is an independent consultant with Work at Home United where she is dedicated to improving the lives of those around her by teaching them about non-toxic (green) products and mentoring others who want to work from home. She can be reached through her website at Loving Work From Home.

Two sites I recommend you visit whether you’re on the buy-side or the sell-side are Guru.com and Elance.com. They’ve both been operating for years and have enough critical mass (i.e. a lot of people buying and selling) to make it worthwhile to join. If you’ve been looking for extra income without the hassle of a “job” then visit these sites and explore the various types of skill sets that are marketable by the hour on these sites. Everything from administrative assistance, typing, or writing to strategic consulting, business plan writing, and telemarketing is being sought and offered.

Finally, if you do decide to register as a provider of a service don’t try to be everything to everyone. Stake out a specialty and focus on establishing yourself in that niche. If the businesses looking for skills wanted a generalist they’d create one of the “jobs” to fill their need. There’s a good post on Elance worth reading on this topic: ‘Developing Skills Pays Off‘.

Have you ever hovered over a banner ad or link only to shy away from clicking on it because the link looked like code written by some pimply faced hacker?

Chances are the link was a tracking link used to record where you were when you clicked. This is how affiliate programs are tracked so the right people get credit for sending traffic and paid.

Here are two examples of typical affiliate links:

https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?ii=68188&c=ib&aff=18667&ev=af7a1c01e8

or like this if they’re trying their best to not scare you out of clicking :

http://tinyurl.com/yqe3jz

They’ll work if and when people click on them, but there is a cleaner, more effective, approach.

Here’s how you can setup affiliate links that should help your overall results:

- Log into your Web host manager (cpanel in my case) and create a new FOLDER and name it ‘more’ (or whatever you prefer). Note: You can set this folder up in your root directory (public_html) or in any subfolder.

- Next open the new “more” FOLDER and create an HTML FILE named “info1001″ or anything you like. You should keep it generic and keep in mind that you may want to create many more links in the future.

This has created a single blank page in the ‘more’ folder. This will result in a link that looks like this when someone scrolls over it:

http://www.yoursite.com/more/info1001.html

Now you have the good looking link ready… but if you want the link to work you will have to insert a little code onto the HTML page you created, which is inside of the new folder.

Here’s the code:
(REPLACE the generic info in all caps with YOUR information.)
—————————————————————

<html>
<head>
<title>YOUR PAGE TITLE</title>

<meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”0;url=http://YOUR AFFILIATE URL”>
</head>
<body>
<p>
Redirecting, please wait. If you’re not redirected within a couple of seconds,
click here:<br />
<a href=”http://YOUR AFFILIATE URL”>PRODUCT NAME</a>

——————————————————–

Change “YOUR PAGE TITLE” (whatever you want it to be)
Change “YOUR AFFILIATE URL” to the affiliate url given to you from vendor for the item or page (must be precise and complete)
Change “PRODUCT NAME” to your affiliate product name (can be anything)
——————————————
Yes, it takes about 10-15 minutes, but once it’s setup you can reuse it everywhere you want to market that program, product, or service using the easy-to-remember URL you created from scratch.

If this doesn’t work for you try this site:

http://www.forfreedom.ws/affiliate-marketing-for-dummies/how-to-hide-affiliate-links-25/

(NO… that is NOT an affiliate link! Really!)

]]> http://www.wahmbreakcafe.com/how-to-setup-an-affiliate-link-that-looks-normal/feed 1 http://www.wahmbreakcafe.com/our-first-advertiser http://www.wahmbreakcafe.com/our-first-advertiser#comments Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:07:09 +0000 admin http://www.wahmbreakcafe.com/?p=45

A big thank you to Matisse and Jacks for taking the plunge and becoming an advertiser on a Mom Ad Network I joined just a couple of days ago!

They offer healthy, nutritious, natural and junk-free, bake-at-home snacks. No doubt they’re scrumptious!

I’d link to them, but it’s better if you click one of their ads (over that way —>>>) so they know we love them for supporting Moms and WAHMs!