Category Archives: Online Marketing

Motivation for Starting Your Home Based Business

Did you know that increasing number of professionals working from home — even if they are employed with large companies? The advances in Internet and communications have made this possible.

And with such experience (or taste), some people are finally able to make a decision to start working on their own from their home office.

Most home based businesses can outsource 100% of non-key business functions. It’s a definite trend if you see the increase in project volume of sites like Elance.

We are seeing every possible work – from easy digital products to high-end investment banking work — being done from a home based business. Starting your home business is easier today than ever before, but most people don’t realize it, or don’t want to act on it!

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Here’s a thoughtful article written by Lazz Laszlo.

Has the idea of starting a home based business of your own been rolling around in your head for days, weeks, months, or sadly… even years?

You almost started a couple of times, but for some reason something came up that resulted in you deciding to delay the very first step.

The first step is truly the hardest, but there’s no denying that the first step is STARTING.

A man by the name of James Cash Penney who died at the age of 96 in the year of 1971 said something that perhaps will help you to understand that you are not the only one to have been timid about beginning a new business, in particular, your new home based business.

James Cash Penney said, “It is always the start that requires the greatest effort.”

He knew, and I’m sure you know, he’s the man behind the retailer J.C. Penney. You have to just love his middle name as it relates to his last name and capsulizes his life so to speak. He’s got a great story to tell if you take the time to find it and read it. Just to imagine that he lived through two world wars is amazing in itself.

There are lots of excuses used by people as to why they haven’t started their new home based business. Some of them include, but not limited to; just don’t have the time; just not ready yet; not sure which type of home based business to start; no money; looking for a partner; haven’t found the right product; or have to learn more.

If you’re in this zone of not being able to start, investigating the lives of others may just be the catalyst to kick you in the behind, knock you off the fence, and get you started. Benjamin Franklin said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

The money you spend on a new pair of shoes is gone forever once it is spent and after weeks, months, and even perhaps years, those shoes will be discarded. The knowledge you gain from the article you read, the book you buy, the course you take, or the mentor you befriend will be with you for a lifetime.

You are not the first to have the desire to start a business. You certainly won’t be the last, but if you don’t start, you’ll be among the thousands who wished they had. It’s your choice to either get started or just forget it.

Some of my favorite people to read about have been, but certainly not limited to just these people;

Jeno Paulucci, the creator of Chung King Foods brought Chinese food to the kitchen tables of America. One of my favorite parts of his story was when he made a split-second decision and ate a grasshopper rather than… well, you’ll have to read his story.

Walt Disney began his dream, essentially in a garage. There are a lot of companies that begin in a garage, apparently because the kitchen table wasn’t available. Bill Hewlett and David Packard began the company that bares their name in a garage and as a footnote, they wound up burning down the garage. Oops! Apple Computer is another garage beginning business.

William Wrigley Jr., essentially stumbled on his fortune with chewing gum when this item he used as an incentive became more popular than the item he was selling.

Reading one or two of what I like to call, “How’d they do it” stories can shed a lot of light on what it really takes to get a business off the ground. It would be smart to make this an ongoing practice of reading about how others built their businesses, but don’t use the excuse of having to read just one more, and another, and another, and another… delaying your own start indefinitely.

The message here is that you have to focus and disregard what the naysayers think and say, this includes that little naysayer voice in your own head. Do you really want to do what other people want you to do, or do you want to put your efforts, energy, and brain power into doing what you really would like to do?

If you’re embarrassed as to what people will think of you while you are climbing and stumbling on the ladder of success, you might as well quit now. Success is a bumpy road with lots of hazards and stress, which is another couple of reasons why people seek the safety of a job rather than beginning a home based business in their off hours.

Dean Martin, the entertainer said, “Successful people make mistakes.” Some people make more mistakes than others, but I have never met anyone who has only made one mistake in their life. I was taught that there is a lesson in every mistake, but more to the point, you can learn from the mistakes made by others. Read a biography or two of people behind some of the greatest achievements in history and you’ll see that it wasn’t always smooth sailing.

If you are not just a little bit daring and willing to spit in the face of pessimism, than you’re not living.

Malcolm Forbes said, “Venture nothing, and life is less than it should be.”

It’s time to start your journey into business. You don’t have to go at break-neck speed, but you do have to begin. It’s been said that the best part of the trip is not the destination, but the journey itself. Begin your journey today.

Yes, it sometimes hurts to be entrepreneurial and a visionary. It is full of embarrassment and behind-your-back ridicule, neither of which is lethal. Try something and if it doesn’t work, try something else. The adversities in your life will fertilize the genius within you. I’ll leave you with this Welsh proverb; adversity and loss make a man wise.

About the Author: Lazz Laszlo is a former Investment Executive and Radio & Television Financial Reporter with many entrepreneurial endeavors to his credit. He spends his time as an emcee, public speaker, enjoying life and writing about business, travel, retirement, strategy, and pleasure. To learn more, please visit Lazz’s website; http://www.925-wage-slave-alternatives.com

Google completes DoubleClick acquisition

A lot has been talked about Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick, and whether they can show tangible improvements or new services as a result of it. DoubleClick has a strong platform for display advertising, and that’s the main reason Google bought it, so that it can give a good offering for a variety of media advertisements. Yesterday, Eric wrote this note on Google’s blog:

3/11/2008 09:48:00 AM
Posted by Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO

I’m pleased to share the news that we completed our acquisition of DoubleClick today. Although it’s been nearly a year since we announced our intention to acquire DoubleClick last April, we are no less excited today about the benefits that the combination of our two companies will bring to the online advertising market.

Because we have been waiting for regulatory approval for our acquisition, we’ve been limited by law in the extent to which we could conduct detailed integration planning to map our way forward. That work will begin in earnest now. Although we don’t have detailed plans to announce today, we will communicate regularly with you about our progress in integrating our two companies.

An immediate task we’ll undertake over the next few weeks is matching and aligning DoubleClick employees with our organizational plan for the business. This will involve determining the right staffing levels for all functions and will ensure that we have the right people assigned to the right responsibilities within Google. We plan to complete this process in the U.S. by early April.

Outside the U.S., the steps we will propose are subject to consultation with employee representatives where applicable, and of course any decisions will be made in accordance with local law. The exact timing of the process outside the U.S. will vary based on the needs and requirements of each region.

As with most mergers, there may be reductions in headcount. We expect these to take place in the U.S. and possibly in other regions as well. We know that DoubleClick is built on the strength of its people. For this reason we’ll strive to minimize the impact of this process on all of our clients and employees.

For more, read Google’s blog post here.

Are You Considering Self Employment?

If you are considering starting off with self-employment on a home-based business (it’s getting common), there there is an interesting post made by Tom Lindstrom on the Home Business Archive blog:

Problems Associated With Being Self Employed

On a personal note, self employment for those with family is fraught with another set of problems. A steady paycheck keeps a family well supported and many money worries at bay, while self employment may be more akin to times of feast or famine. Are your family members willing to help you achieve your dream of being self employed?

The post is not aimed to discourage anyone — it is more to give you a feel of the typical challenges he has seen. The biggest challenge we can point towards is that there is no more a guaranteed income source. You will have to put your best efforts, and the income may not not come.

Some more thoughts from our experience of seeing various entrepreneurs:

  1. If you have a family to support, then you should have at least 6-12 months of living/operating expenses in your bank. Plan to have little or no income in the first 3-4 months. That is a very real scenario
  2. If you are offering services, don’t waste time on prospects who are not interested. Time is very important, and its better to reach as many prospects as you can, and let the interested ones reply back.
  3. If you are offering products on your website, then promote that site through a few blogs, press releases, and reputable article sites. Feel free to contact us if you feel stuck. No, there’s no fee for such help!
  4. If you have any property or inventory, that should also be insured. Also ensure that everyone in the family has comprehensive health/medical insurance. Nothing can probably hit your new business harder than sudden large outflows of cash arising from uninsured expenses/damages.

MyOrbit Lab Report: Increase Website Traffic with Web Traffic Machines

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More Test Results: These tools are working. On our test site, we have got 30% increase in real visitor traffic in 2 days – that’s a significant increase worth reporting. But we spent a whole day in learning the system. So it is important to follow the tutorials to the exact word.

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Our Original Post from March 2nd:
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Now, which online business does not want to increase their online traffic? We can’t think of any! Whether you are selling insurance, or real estate, or credit cards, or printer-ink, or any other service, you want “interested” people to come to your site. We call that targeted website traffic.

A couple of days back, a new product suite has been launched by Bishop Anders from Texas, which looks like the most comprehensive website traffic generation system there is. In addition to 26 simple and complex tools, the package includes informative videos and guides to help you understand the full framework.

The tools are showing promising results in our experiments (remember we have lab to test these new products), and hence we will recommend this product. If you have an online business that needs more visitors, then should be good for you.

It operates on a monthly subscription fee $97 (easily worth the amount) for the value, and one can also try it out for 10 days with just $37. Learn more at their website: Web Traffic Machines

It is very important to understand that not all the tools in the package will be useful/relevant for each website/online business, and that you will need to see these as long-term helpers, rather than short-term tactics which could get your website under scrutiny, which is not good.

The membership slots are limited, so if you like it, join risk-free using the trial offer rather than losing the slot.