When you work at home, you often need some ready cash in order to get started. The financial backing may be to pay more a membership in a listing service, or to receive some needed training, or the purchase an e-book that tells you about methods or procedures that will help you toward your financial goals. You may even need to purchase additional equipment in order to do the job you want to do. If you are as strapped for cash as many people who begin the journey toward financial freedom at home, you are probably looking for a way to get started in your chosen business. Here are some ways you can use to get that initial boost financially in order to get started quickly.
Use your nest egg
When you work at home, you can plan ahead for your project by setting aside a few dollars from each paycheck or by cutting back on a less than vital expenditure and dedicating the savings toward your new project. After all, the enjoyment of anything that you succeed at is in direct proportion of the effort that is required to achieve the success. It is surprising how much can be put toward savings when you make a dedicated effort toward a goal.
Sell something you don't need
Would you sell an unneeded item to provide the needed equipment and resources to work at home? Most people would rank their priorities so that they could accomplish something by getting rid of an item they no longer need. You could easily have a yard sale and get a few hundred dollars toward your goal in just a single weekend. Some areas have consignment auctions where you take your unwanted goods to an auction house and receive the cash after the sale, less the amount for auctioneer's fees. Of course, you can also offer items at one of the online auction sites.
Tap your friends and family
Even if your friends and family can't come up with cash to help you work at home, they may be able to help in other ways. Perhaps their creative talents can be used in designing a web site or a product label. Maybe they will offer to provide labor temporarily to ship your product. Perhaps they have a computer or printer that they are willing to let you use temporarily or permanently. Sometimes family members are willing to come up with a short term low interest loan to you so that you can get your business started properly.
Barter
Barter arrangements or no money down arrangements are more common and easier to obtain than you might think. If you offer to trade services for goods, or vice versa, you can often set up a scenario where your work at home cash outlay will be much less than you would normally expect. Remember, not only do you need to find backers for setting up your business, but you must create a cash flow that will allow you to continue your business.
Choosing Work from Home or Work at Home as your major information source on work from home programs makes a lot of sense. You'll find numerous tips as well as other valuable information and a FREE Report here to learn more.
April 22, 2008
The Mistakes I Made in my First Year Online
My website is just over a year old, so I've been reflecting on my first year and the mistakes I made. I think at the top of the list would have to be the fact that I didn't ask this question of other marketers:
What would you do differently in your first year if you knew then what you know now?
Here are my own answers to that question:
1) Trying to go in too many directions at once. In my first year of internet marketing, I was like a kid in a candy store. I could see and smell success all around me and I knew I wanted some, so I tried a little of this and a little of that. End result - not a lot of progress. I switched lanes way too often. Sort of like following one car for several blocks, then choosing to follow a different car on a whim. Needless to say, you don't reach a destination that way.
2) Being a serial buyer. Along the same lines, I was intrigued with way too many products, many of which were useless. I wish I could have back some of the money that I spent foolishly so that I could spend it with forethought and planning.
3) Not sticking close enough my mentors. I have a couple of people that are at the core of any success I have achieved. At the top of the list is Ken Evoy, the brains behind Site Build It. If you purchase a site through Site Build It, one fringe benefit is an incredible forum full of very experienced and helpful people (many of whom have sites in the top 1% of all websites). In fact, the forum alone is probably worth the price of SBI.
Another example of sticking close to people that are willing to teach you, Napoleon Hill in "Think and Grow Rich" talks about needing a Master Mind group - in other words, putting your head together with others who have similar goals. Or in his words, he defines the Master Mind as "Coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose."
An old friend of mine used to say, "A smart man learns from his mistakes. A smarter man learns from the mistakes of others." I probably didn't have to make all the mistakes I made, if I had only listened to those with more experience.
4) Not using a daily or weekly planner. I rely way too much on my brain. I expect myself to remember things, and often I let myself down. When I sit down to work, I find myself often wasting time "warming up" because I don't remember where I left off or what I was trying to accomplish. This is one big thing that I am working on in the coming year - making out a schedule for the coming week at the beginning of the week, so I remember exactly where I'm trying to go.
Mistakes aren't all bad - they always offer lessons. Or as John Powell said, "The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." I'm looking forward to a better year because of the mistakes I made last year.
Valerie Dansereau is a banker turned entrepreneur. Visit her website at www.work-at-home-parenting.com. For more information on building a site through Site Build It, visit Build a Website.
What would you do differently in your first year if you knew then what you know now?
Here are my own answers to that question:
1) Trying to go in too many directions at once. In my first year of internet marketing, I was like a kid in a candy store. I could see and smell success all around me and I knew I wanted some, so I tried a little of this and a little of that. End result - not a lot of progress. I switched lanes way too often. Sort of like following one car for several blocks, then choosing to follow a different car on a whim. Needless to say, you don't reach a destination that way.
2) Being a serial buyer. Along the same lines, I was intrigued with way too many products, many of which were useless. I wish I could have back some of the money that I spent foolishly so that I could spend it with forethought and planning.
3) Not sticking close enough my mentors. I have a couple of people that are at the core of any success I have achieved. At the top of the list is Ken Evoy, the brains behind Site Build It. If you purchase a site through Site Build It, one fringe benefit is an incredible forum full of very experienced and helpful people (many of whom have sites in the top 1% of all websites). In fact, the forum alone is probably worth the price of SBI.
Another example of sticking close to people that are willing to teach you, Napoleon Hill in "Think and Grow Rich" talks about needing a Master Mind group - in other words, putting your head together with others who have similar goals. Or in his words, he defines the Master Mind as "Coordination of knowledge and effort, in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose."
An old friend of mine used to say, "A smart man learns from his mistakes. A smarter man learns from the mistakes of others." I probably didn't have to make all the mistakes I made, if I had only listened to those with more experience.
4) Not using a daily or weekly planner. I rely way too much on my brain. I expect myself to remember things, and often I let myself down. When I sit down to work, I find myself often wasting time "warming up" because I don't remember where I left off or what I was trying to accomplish. This is one big thing that I am working on in the coming year - making out a schedule for the coming week at the beginning of the week, so I remember exactly where I'm trying to go.
Mistakes aren't all bad - they always offer lessons. Or as John Powell said, "The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." I'm looking forward to a better year because of the mistakes I made last year.
Valerie Dansereau is a banker turned entrepreneur. Visit her website at www.work-at-home-parenting.com. For more information on building a site through Site Build It, visit Build a Website.
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