What To Look For in Home Based Business Opportunities

Many people are concerned with the various risks involved in home based business opportunities. This is quite a natural reaction as deciding to pursue one of these home based business opportunities is a decision to invest one’s hard earned money and valuable time.

One thing to look for in the home based business opportunities available to you is an organization that can help you through the various processes of setting up and building a business. The organization concerned should offer training and support to help you every important step of the way. Likewise, this organization should also genuinely care about your success.

In choosing and in starting a home based business, there are certain concerns that most beginners have. Here are some of those concerns and how to deal with them:

·      No prior experience with online marketing or running a home business? There are many people who had this dilemma hindering them to take advantage of the various home based business opportunities available to them. Though this is phase is not that easy to surmount, many of those who took the courage and dared eventually succeeded.

You just need to find a system that will take out the guess work that usually comes with starting your own business. Legitimate home based business opportunities usually have a network of professionals who will show you the way and guide you through the processes you need to go through, especially during the early stages of your business.

·        No idea what of the home based business opportunities to choose? More often than not, finding a quality system and a reliable support network is the way to go. Not all home based business opportunities have this, though, so you need to choose well.

Also, copying or taking inspiration from what other did to succeed is the easiest way to gain it for yourself. However, if you have a really special and unique product or service to offer, you can try having it as the center of your home based business.

·         Not comfortable with selling or no prior sales experience? Though you would need to promote most home based business opportunities over the Web, there are available systems where you need not speak to anyone just to sell your products or services. You can have ownership of your sales piece while having or partnering with a network of experienced and reliable sales force that will help potential customers understand better your product or service and your business.

·       No free time to run a home based business? This is quite tough because if you really want to try out one of the home based business opportunities available to you, you need to put some time in it. If you want to change your present situation, gain financial security, and ultimately live the kind of life you want, you need to change some of the ways you do things and you need to commit to your business if you want it to succeed.

This could mean giving up some things along the way and this small sacrifice would definitely be worth it and reciprocated ten folds or more. If you can’t afford to give a full work week to your business, just ensure to prioritize time for your business when you’re available and to be diligent when working. Without these, you can’t succeed in any home based business opportunities that you may get interested in.

·       Worried about the risks of starting your own home based business? Of course, there are certain risks in all home based business undertakings but you can’t reap rewards if you don’t take the risk involved. More often than not, the bigger the risk, the bigger the rewards. As long as you do things right, as much as possible, the road to success is not that uncertain.

If you refuse to take a risk in any of the legitimate home based business opportunities before you, you may miss out the chance you have been looking for to turn your life around.

Some of the most important things to look for in home based business opportunities are the products, training and support, and a network of experienced and competent professionals included in a comprehensive program. Moreover, as in any home based business opportunities, you need to work on it to succeed and for it to produce rewards.

How To Find A Legitimate Home Based Business

Legitimate home based business opportunities are now easily within the reach of many people from anywhere in the world because of internet technology. But the same technology that makes these business opportunities possible is the very same one also being used by unscrupulous individuals to scam those who only want to have a legitimate home based business. This is a major reason why many people do not try out the various opportunities available on the internet even if they would have wanted to a legitimate home based business.  In this article, let us take a look into the matter of home based businesses and on how to find legitimate ones.

The Beauty of A Home Based Business.  There are many legitimate home based business opportunities on the internet and you only need to choose right so that you can have your very own legitimate home based business. The income potential in such ventures is limitless because it would depend on the amount of time and work you put in into your legitimate home based business. Aside from this, your legitimate home based business can allow you to work at times convenient to you since you’re already the boss of your very own business.

Various earning opportunities are available online and you just have to find the right one suited for you.  It can be quite tedious and wearying to determine for sure whether an opportunity is a legitimate home based business opportunity or not. But this task is an indispensable one if you want to make sure that an opportunity is really a legitimate home based business opportunity. You also need to have a lot of patience to find one that is according to your qualifications, abilities, and interest.

Steering Clear of Online Scams.  Doing research is one necessary step that you need to go through to make sure that you get yourself a legitimate home based business. Search engines are valuable tools if you want to look for more information on any home based business opportunity that you are interested in.  

You can use the keywords “business opportunity/company + scam” and “company + complaints” in search engines so that you will know whether it is a legitimate home based business opportunity or not. There are websites that expose such scams and if a business opportunity is indeed a scam, the search engines will usually have a lot of hits using the said keywords.  Looking into relevant forums can also bring you helpful information.

To be sure that you have a legitimate home based business at hand, you absolutely need to research on it before you make your decision. When you find the right legitimate home based business for you, you can work on a schedule you are comfortable in since you are already your own boss and you can earn a lot of money with it. 

Common Sense.  In determining whether an opportunity is a legitimate home based business opportunity or not, you need to listen to your common sense. Be wary of business opportunities advertising that you can earn loads of money without you needing to do ANY work is not a legitimate home based business opportunity. A legitimate home based business also need not cost you an arm and a leg just to have one. Also, a legitimate company usually has its contact information indicated in the company website.

Legitimate Opportunities.  You can find various kinds of legitimate home based business opportunities online if you only search on it. You can do selling of your own product or those of others or you can choose to do freelance work. Whatever kind of home based business you decide on, you need to work on it earnestly for you to succeed and make it work. To be sure that you will enjoy working on your legitimate home based business, it would be wise to choose one that is well suited to your capabilities and interest.

Helpful Pointers.  To help you find a legitimate home based business, keep in mind the following pointers: 

• First, ones that are legitimate usually are around for at least a few years.  Scams and other fly-by-night schemes are there for only a limited time because they usually vanish after scamming many people. 
• Second, a valuable and real product is usually offered by a legitimate home based business.
• Third, affordability and the presence of a reliable support system are some of the most common characteristic of a legitimate home based business.  
• Last, but certainly not the least, is that a legitimate home based business needs for you to do some work on it and not just sit down and wait for money to pour in.

Make Work-From-Home Ideas Work For You

Of course, everybody needs money to be able to survive in this world. Every way you turn, it seems that you have to shell out some money to pay for something. There are your essential needs to spend for and a lot of other things to be able to live even the most basic of what a decent life is. But money is not the end-all and be-all of life. 

Much more than money, life is about happiness and fulfillment. Life is empty without the latter. The ideal scenario would be being able to earn while being able to pursue your passions and living the kind of life you want. Though skeptics would often dismiss the possibility of having the best of both worlds, the experience of many people who were able to do it are living testaments of such possibilities.

Many people who were able to get the very best of both worlds have done it by working from home. There are many work from home ideas to explore if you seriously consider this option. At first, they were at the crossroads seriously thinking about various work from home ideas and what will work for them. And then, they took the chance.

The Juggle.  Juggling family life, work, and personal happiness can be tough, especially if you still haven’t found your rightful place under the sun. Work from home ideas have worked out well for many people and they found what they have been searching for for so long. And work from home ideas are not that scant nowadays. The best thing about these work from home opportunities is being able to work from the comfort of your home and at your own pace, making juggling various responsibilities and interests easier to manage. You just need to start brainstorming now on the various possible work from home ideas that will fit into your overall plan of how you want your life to be.

Doing Some Research. Many people want to earn more but not everyone wants to research for work from home ideas. Whether you like it or not, research is needed for you to create a sound business plan based on the option you chose from the various work from home ideas that you have. Without research for work from home ideas and a business plan, you will only find yourself following aimlessly a program of action that you are not well prepared for. And do not be afraid to take the first step to bring your work from home ideas to fruition.

Creating Shortlist.  Sifting through all the work from home ideas can be a headache. There are so many possibilities and so many different things that you can do if you think about various work from home ideas.  All you need to do is narrow down the work from home ideas available to you by taking into consideration your interests, resources, and capabilities. Having a shortlist of work from home ideas is necessary to organize your thoughts and options so that you can view your position from the proper perspective.

Marketing Your Own Products.  One of the most popular work from home ideas is selling your own product or service. If you don’t have a product, the next best option among the popular work from home ideas is joining a network company. When you opt for this, make sure that the network company you will be joining is a reputable one. 

Networking Marketing Perhaps?  People are always on the lookout for good products. And network marketing companies always have great products to offer. As this is one of the best options among the work from home ideas today, it may be the right place for you to start turning your life around. 

Aside from the kind and the quality if the product offered, it would be wise to choose a network company that provides good training and good mentoring in the package. You will need to learn how to generate leads as these are your potential customers. You need to choose the right people and the right company if you want to succeed in the business.

Network marketing, as one of the proven successful work from home ideas, is not that hard to get into. If you are in the right line of business and with the right team to train and mentor you, the process is so much easier and you’ll find that the road to success is not that arduous after all.

Do You Really Need A Career Change?

The thought of a career change does not appeal to everyone; a career change means the possibility of changing one’s lifestyle, environment, and building another career from square one. It can be stressful just thinking of the idea of a possible career change and the things that go with it. However, if you can’t find the happiness and the fulfillment with your current job anymore and just feel that you are doing it for a non-existent purpose and principle, it is time for a career change. 

When you find yourself in this predicament, don't worry.  Almost every professional has undergone this experience once in their life, especially the young professionals, before establishing themselves to their more permanent and lasting jobs.   

There will come a time when we ask ourselves if we are really happy and contented with our choice of career and if we are really going to stay with that job until we get old. There will be a time when you will feel empty in some aspect of your career and you would feel that you need to work that missing piece out for yourself. Reevaluating of your life will be needed when that moment comes along and a career change might be needed.

There are certain measures that you will need to do before deciding to pursue a career change because this can change your life forever and can also change the life of your family. You will need to reevaluate your current profession and the major problems you are having with it. You would also need to find possible new career options and to equip yourself with the right skills and education that you will need for the new career that you want.

Reflect On Your Current Career. It is very important that you reflect on your current career first before considering a career change and the importance of doing it. Do not jump into another career immediately if your only reason is a short term clash between your co-workers or a little misunderstanding with your boss, or if it is only an impulsive and reckless thought that happened to enter your mind. If this is your only reason, go on with your job and wait for the matter at your office to settle down before seriously thinking about changing careers. On the other hand, if you have been feeling unsatisfied and unfulfilled with your current job for a very long time now and have been thinking of a career change, go for it, if you think it will help you grow professionally and personally.  

Know The Reasons Why You Need A Career Change. It is important to know whether there indeed are reasons for needing a career change and to know what those reasons are. It is also important to you ascertain the factors that led to your dissatisfaction with your current career.  This way, you can avoid career options that have the same factors that you have known to affect your job satisfaction.  After determining that working the grave night shift or working long hours is a big factor why you are not satisfied with your present job, for example, you would need to cross out the career options that have these factors from your list.

Know Your Career Options.  Aside from determining the elements that contribute to your dissatisfaction with your present job, you would also need to identify those that you find enjoyable.  Knowing so can help you narrow down your choices and to have a shortlist of career options that will be good for you.

Several career options are out there where you can find something that will match your education, your personal skills, and the passion that you have for a certain work.  You would also need to ascertain whether there is room for you to improve yourself both personally and professionally and whether it is the kind of change that you need in your life right now.

Prepare And Arm Yourself With New Skills Through Education And Trainings. For you to be able to be successful in your new career, you may need to have another set of education and trainings required for it. After eliminating other possible career options, focus on the education and trainings that are necessary for the new career path that you are planning to embark on. See whether the education and trainings that you currently have matches with the requirements of the new career you are considering. You also have to ask yourself if you are willing to give the needed time, effort, and money to have the knowledge and skills for a new career. It will be easier that you choose a new career that closely matches your education and personal skills rather than starting from scratch all over again.

Before pursuing any career change moves, be sure that it is what you really need and want in your life. Cover the basics of your planned career move before you pursue your passions. Our very own talents and skills are meant to be expressed and be used to enrich our life and that of others. It is very important that the career change will make you feel fulfilled, contented, and happy with your work for you to be able to be more productive, useful, and be more creative.  

Chris Hughes: From Facebook to The New Republic

As one of the original co-founders of Facebook, Chris Hughes was catapulted into the elite group of young millionaires who made it big with the help of the Internet.  However, Chris went beyond the distinction of being a Facebook co-founder and spokesperson and went on to carve his very own niche in history and society.  

After successfully orchestrating Barack Obama’s online presidential campaign in 2008 and founding Jumo in 2010,  Chris Hughes is now more identified with his political causes and as the new Editor-in-Chief and publisher of The New Republic magazine, which he bought in 2012.  Interestingly, Chris used his wealth from the new media to invest in the traditional media.

Family and Educational Background

Born in November 26, 1983, Chris is the only child of Ray and Brenda Hughes, a sales manager and a math teacher respectively.  Chris was raised in the small town of Hickory, North Carolina as an evangelical Lutheran.  When he was 15 years old, he got accepted to the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts on scholarship.  After excelling academically at Andover, Chris clinched a scholarship to Harvard, where he spent perhaps the most life-changing years of his life.  

Harvard and Facebook

At Harvard, Chris majored in History and Literature.  During his sophomore year, he became roommates with Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, and Dustin Moskovitz.  They later became the four original co-founders of the worldwide phenomenon called Facebook.  Though Chris was not that proficient in computer programming and coding, he became interested in what his roommates were developing and offered suggestions.  Since he is outgoing and articulate, he became their group’s salesman and spokesperson during the early days of Facebook.

Like Eduardo Saverin, Chris refused to drop out from Harvard and move to Palo Alto when Facebook started to gain ground.  He finished his Bachelor of Arts in History and Literature degree from Harvard in 2006 as magna cum laude before working fulltime in Facebook’s product team.  A few months after, he left Facebook.  As Facebook co-founder, Chris Hughes earned around 1% of the company’s stocks, which is estimated to worth at $850 million, making him one of the youngest millionaires in the world when he was barely 23 years old.

MyBarackObama.com, Jumo, and Beyond

Before the 2008 US Presidential Election, then-senator Obama’s personal aide, Reggie Love, asked Chris for help in putting up Obama’s Facebook page.  After leaving Facebook, Chris worked as the director of the presidential campaign’s online organizing for Obama.  He developed and ran the social media operations of Obama’s campaign.  He came up with MyBarackObama.com, the online social networking site for Obama’s presidential campaign, which was Chris’ personal project that he incorporated into Obama’s official site. 

 MyBarackObama was a kind of Facebook network for Obama’s donors, canvassers, and grassroots organizers.  Aside from engaging the young supporters for Obama, this site also helped raise around $30 million for Obama’s campaign.  In April 2009, the Fast Company magazine featured Chris and his work in the Obama campaign with its "The Kid Who Made Obama President: How Facebook Cofounder Chris Hughes Unleashed Barack's Base - and Changed Politics and Marketing Forever" headline.  Chris Hughes was 24 years old when he helped his boss into the White House.

In March 2009, the General Catalyst Partners, a venture capital firm based in Cambridge, Massachusets, named Chris as its Entrepreneur in Residence.  He also worked as Managing Director of MondayCall Solutions, as VP for Marketing of Medivo, and as Board Member of Fancy.

In 2010, he put his social media and political expertise to work by founding Jumo and working as its Executive Director.  Jumo was a non-profit social networking organization that aimed to maximize the social media to help organizations and individuals who want to change the world for the better.  In April 2011, Kerry Dolan of Forbes negotiated with Chris about Jumo and talked about helping small and medium nonprofit organizations to establish interactive online presence.  In August 2011, Jumo merged with GOOD.

Political Causes and The New Republic

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS or UNAIDS appointed Chris Hughes to its High Level Commission, which is composed of 17 members who are renowned politicians, human rights activists, scientists, and business leaders.  In 2011, he went to St. Moritz, Switzerland to attend the Bilderberg Conference, the annual, invitation-only, and very exclusive conference attended by around 120 powerful people from around the world.

Being openly gay, he has also supported the various causes of the LGBT community. He attended the first state dinner hosted by President Barack Obama with his boyfriend Sean Eldridge, who was Freedom To Marry’s Political Director that time.  He married Sean on June 30, 2012.

In March 2012, Chris bought the majority stocks of The New Republic, a highly regarded, albeit struggling, arts and politics magazine with liberal inclination based in Washington DC.  As the Editor-in-Chief and publisher of the magazine, he promised to keep The New Republic up with the latest information technologies while upholding serious journalism.  With Chris, the guy who set off to make a better mark in the world, at the helm, The New Republic has more to celebrate in its forthcoming centennial year.

Brian Solis: Blazing Along The Social Media and Internet Marketing Trail

As one of the trailblazers in the realm of social media and internet marketing, Brian Solis has indeed come a long way.  Currently recognized as one of important and most prominent leaders in the new media industry, he is also an award-winning author, internet marketing guru, digital analyst, futurist, and aspiring social scientist.  Brian Solis is also a leading blogger via his BrianSolis.com blog, which is in Technocrati’s Top 100 business blogs and in AdAge Power 150’s Top 10 marketing blogs, and the host of Revolution, his very popular online video interview series.  He also hosts and curates the yearly Pivot Conference.

After establishing FutureWorks Labs and propelling it to the top, Brian Solis remains as its advisor while serving as one of the principal analysts of the Altimeter Group, a Silicon Valley research-based advisory company.  As he continues to study how new technologies affect human behavior and how the future of the popular culture can present opportunities to improve the relationship and experience of consumers with companies, Brian confesses to find himself assuming the student role once in a while.

CAREER

Early Beginnings.  As a kid, Brian Solis confessed that he was really fascinated with technology and anything related to it.  He learned programming early on and started his career in a Southern Californian technology marketing agency as a database programmer.   Eventually, he found himself switching his interest and focus to advertising and marketing. 

In 1991, he officially entered the field of technology public relations when he worked in the Dodge and Mansfield firm, an agency based in Ventura, California.  He also became Director of Silicon Valley’s The Benjamin Group from 1993 to 1996.  During the 90s, Brian Solis began to become involved in early blogs, message boards, and communities.

Unlike most other marketing strategists, Brian did not believe in fluff, hype, or buzz words.  Instead, he believed in transforming specifications, capabilities, and benefits into timely solutions for the problems and opportunities in the real world.  It was during the mid-90s when he experimented with direct customer/consumer engagement via dedicated technology boards and forums.  From this, he developed new methods to engage people in a more informed and social way while marketing a product. 

FutureWorks Labs.  This eventually led him to start FutureWorks Labs, an agency dedicated to doing interactive marketing, in 1999.  FutureWorks eventually specialized in branding, business strategy, and new media marketing.  Through this company, Brian led the social and interactive programs for notable celebrities, Fortune 500 companies, Web 2.0 startups, and many leading brands. 

Altimeter Group.  In March 2011, Brian Solis joined the Altimeter Group as a principal analyst.  He works on new media frameworks and strategies with businesses in order to connect the companies with consumers, employees, and the other stakeholders. He also specializes in organizational transformation in order to help businesses introduce and implement new media resources, management layers, and systems and processes that respond to the needs of the social consumer.

PUBLISHED WORKS

Brian’s first book, Engage: The Complete Guide for Brands and Business to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web, was published in 2010.  It became helpful guide for effective social media practices and strategies and an important reference for organizations on how to conduct business and assess their success in the new media.

His latest book that was published in 2011, The End of Business As Usual: Rewire the Way You Work to Succeed in the Consumer Revolution, examines how top companies find success with their connected customers or the Generation C.  Aside from exploring the emergence of the connected customers, the book also looks into how businesses can compete effectively for the consumers’ attention and loyalty, build relationships with them, and improve a business’ relationship with its employees and consumers.

Brian also worked with Deirdre Breakenridge to publish Putting the Public Back in Public Relations, which became one of the communications industry’s important bestsellers.  He also partnered with Geoff Livingston in 2007 to do Now is Gone, a critically-acclaimed book that helped companies know why, how, and where to start in the new Social Media.

He contributed forewords to other published works, including Vincenzo Cosenza’s Social Media ROI, Michael Brito’s Smart Business, Social Business, Becky Carroll’s The Hidden Power of Your Customers, Deirdre Breakenridge’s PR 2.0, Jacob Morgan’s Twittfaced, and Sean Percival’s MySpace Marketing.  He also contributed to BusinessWeek, Fast Company, Mashable, AdAge, and Harvard Business Review.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND INTERNET MARKETING CONTRIBUTIONS

During the early 2000s, Brian realized that big changes were unraveling and that many others like him were finding success with the internet, which was becoming a more social and democratic form of media.  He spent time to share everything he knew and learned via the articles, blog posts, and books he wrote.  He actively wrote about new marketing and businesses, emerging business models, and disruptive technology. 

Brian was also one of the leaders who worked to define and organize the “Social Media” movement, which significantly helped in establishing it as a definite media category.  He also wrote “The Social Media Manifesto” in 2007, a certified worldwide hit that detailed why organizations should rethink their business, service, and marketing strategies in the face of the developments in the social media. 

In 2008, Brian designed an infographic that depicts the various social media categories and called it The Conversation Prism.  In 2011, he came up with another infographic that depicts how brands propagate on the transmedia or digital media landscape.  His admirable work in the emerging social enterprise earned him accolades like the CRM Magazine’s 2010 Influential Leader and SoftwareAdvice’s 2011 Authority of the Year awards.