Archive for the ‘Entrepreneurship’ Category

Getting Cash From the Top 20% Paid Surveys

Friday, November 21st, 2008

Finding the paid survey sites is both easy and difficult to do. While you can certainly do a search for “paid surveys” or “online surveys” through Google or another search engine, the results you get back may not always be as helpful as you would hope. It’s likely that many of the results you get back are membership sites that require a payment to join. Otherwise, you need to go through hundreds of results to find all the good paid survey sites that you should be joining to be successful as a survey taker. While this works, it is a long and time consuming process.

In all honesty, the membership sites in most cases have done a very good job finding the relevant survey sites for you and they are worth considering if you want to get a fast start in getting paid to take surveys. If possible you may even find a free paid survey directory although these are getting harder and harder to locate.

Whether you decide to pay for membership to a survey directory or try to find a free survey directory or even take the time to locate all of the good survey sites yourself one thing is always going to be true. The majority of your earnings in paid surveys will come from a small set of the total survey companies. This has also been called the 80/20 rule which means that 80% of your survey earnings will come from just 20% of the survey companies you join.

While you might now wonder if you should avoid joining all the survey companies you can find I suggest you still register for all of them because you never know which are the 20% that are going to pay YOU. Different people will have different results with each company simply because each company is often looking for people with a different profile. Young people may do good with company A while older married folks will do best with company B and so on. You never know for sure which survey site will be best for you, so you need to join them all and find out for yourself.

To have the best chance to make money with paid surveys try to find a survey directory, free or paid, that will give you links to hundreds of paid survey sites you can register with. If this means you need to pay $30 to access a quality database of survey sites then so be it. You’re likely to make that money back within the first few days anyway as long as you take action after joining.

Paid surveys can be a great way to make some extra money, especially for those with lots of free times. If you could use some extra cash then I think it’s time you looked into paid surveys for making money online.

Learn more about making money from paid surveys and why YOU should start taking paid surveys if you need extra cash by visiting the authors website.

In Business, Now More Than Ever, It Is Survival Of The Prepared

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

Who knew? Who saw all of this coming? Not very many and quite a few depending on whom you listen to and what day of the week you hear it!

One thing always remains constant in small business: you need to generate revenue greater than your expenses to remain in business.

Elementary you say? Not quite.

When times tighten –for whatever the reason(s) — the Classic Truth of Small Business Success comes to the surface: businesses that identify an unmet or underserviced need of a specific reachable target market large enough to sustain revenues over the long haul and who serve that precise market better than their competitors will do well in good times and survive in bad.

Whether the economic climate is tough or not, the small business owner who has identified precisely who they are and what they sell; who their target market is, where they live and how they can be reached cost-effectively; and then markets accordingly improves their chances of survival in almost any economic conditions.

Marketing is the key to not only growth but survival when the economy gets the hiccups or turns sour. Those who have properly prepared can actually improve their business at the same time their competitors are frozen in the headlights.

This particular economic storm — sparked by bad housing loans, investment-bank collapses and stock market schizophrenia — means small businesses will need to adjust pricing, marketing strategies and cash flow assumptions. How do these kinds of things actually happen in real businesses on real Main Streets?

*A restaurant might need to drop the $32 steak –This place is expensive!– and concentrate on building a truly to-die-for hamburger at $8.50. Wow, that burger was the best I have ever eaten! People still want to eat out, but cannot afford the high end items right now. Adjust to the reality of the times!

*Retail businesses might run smaller ads daily in place of one large splashy advertisement once or twice a month. These smaller space ads might feature limited quantities of desired items -NOT stuff you are stuck with! Only ten to sell at this unheard of price. Advertise a different item each day. Limit quantities on wanted items and boost traffic at the same time.

* Speaking of stuff you are stuck with, what a great time to face up to reality and move this junk out! Do NOT try to fool anyone. The market spoke to you long ago and you chose not to listen. Mark it down and get it out of your hair and your inventory. Make someone happy. Turn dogs into cash.

* Do good deeds for your customers. When people are struggling, they never forget even the smallest gesture. When business is flourishing customers may often overlook the nice things you do for them.

Recessions are opportunities to nurture long lasting business relationships. The reverse is also true. Treat a customer badly in tough times and they will drop kick you out of their life the first chance they get.

* Never compromise on the quality of your products or your services. Whatever happens, no matter how hard it is, even if it means not making a profit, deliver a consistent, quality product or experience to your customers every time.

That philosophy will pay dividends in the long run. The last thing anyone remembers about any transaction is the price they paid.

The prepared business has three vital concepts indentified:

1. What is unique and special about their business as compared to their competitors

2. Exactly who their target market is, where and how they live and how to reach them

3. What their own precise positioning statement is and how to convey it to customers, employees and anyone else who is paying attention.

Bob Schumacher giveS entrepreneurs a clear coffee-shop English perspective on how to steer their business or profession into the top 20% who achieve 80% of the business and profits. Visit http://www.RedMeatMarketing.com for a complete directory of his articles and books and a free ad book.

Real Estate Success in a Downturned Market

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

Today’s real estate professionals face challenges that the industry hasn’t seen in years, perhaps in the entire history of selling real estate. New housing starts are down as builders struggle with their own issues of rising costs, and a lack of interested or capable buyers. Homeowners, flush with cash from the sale of overpriced homes a few years back, bought houses that they really couldn’t afford using variable rate mortgages. These mortgages, of course, were issued when interest rates were low. As the rates began to rise, mortgage payments became untenable and these expensive homes were put on the market. As the law of supply and demand dictates, the glut of homes on the market drove prices down drastically, forcing homeowners to sell at less than what they paid, and in some cases, less than what they owed.

Compounding all of this of course is the meltdown of the sub-prime mortgage market. Greedy lenders, in their pursuit of massive financial gain, granted loans to people who really didn’t qualify for them. As these people began to default on their loans, the lending institutions were in turn forced to default on their own obligations. The result - today’s economic morass that is being called the worst global calamity since the Great Depression, if not in the entire history of mankind.

In short, it’s not a good time to be selling real estate. So what’s a real estate professional to do? How do you go about finding success in a downturned market? The short answer is easy - sell something else.

Increasingly, people who make their living selling real estate are seeking alternative careers. In some cases, they seek to supplement their declining incomes as they wait for the market to come back. Others, perhaps the more pragmatic, are moving on altogether. Real estate training notwithstanding, these people realize that they are in fact sales professionals, and that there has to be a better way. Earning an income in real estate is no longer a realistic profession.

As these professionals evaluate career alternatives, many are looking at internet based direct marketing opportunities for a number of reasons. Apart from the huge potential that the internet represents, a home-based direct marketing business can be started while still continuing with current employment. So someone who realizes that change is necessary but isn’t quite ready to make the leap can simply ease into it. However, once these individuals see the success that awaits them in their new endeavor, many simply give up real estate and become full time internet network marketers.

Changing any career is not easy. But if you are trying to eke out a living today in real estate, now might be the time to consider it.

Janet Giacoma is a business coach and marketer who assists serious entrepreneurs in building a profitable online business with multiple income streams. To contact Janet visit: http://www.TheAbundantAlliance.com and http://www.TheAbundantAllianceBlog.com

Four Things You Must do to Have Success in Difficult Times

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

Success means different things to different people: for some it is building wealth; for some it is successful relationships; for some it is creativity and independence; and, for others it some form of leadership.

Whatever constitutes your definition of success, you will find some common principles that are needed to make it achievable. Consider the following four actions. Notice that they are called actions. Some would call them attitudes, but attitudes are birthed out of actions that you willingly embrace over time.

Action # 1: Embrace New Information

Successful people embrace new information. Leaders are usually not content to stay as they are or leave things around them as they are. It has been noted that even if you are on the right track you will get run over if you just sit there. Success demands change, especially in a constantly changing world such as we live in.

The problem for many people is they listen to wrong information. To be successful requires getting new information from people you already have the kind of success you want. If you want to be healthy, learn from people who have taken charge of their own health. If you want a successful business, learn from those who have built a successful business themselves. If you want a larger network, learn from those who are good at networking.

If the old information got you where you are now and you are not satisfied, then it only makes sense that it will take new information to give you new results.

Action # 2: Develop Long Term Vision

Imagine setting sail on the ocean and only looking at the breakers on the shore. If you fail toset your sights on the distant horizon, you will never get there.

However the vision needs to be specific and sequential. Not just vague mental pictures of riches at the end of a rainbow. Rather, a smart vision, that sees the end result and back-fills to where you are now so that you understand the steps it will take to get there.

You need a dream but that is not enough. It needs to be a dream that is turned into action steps. When we understand that it is a process, even our subconscious will go to work for us to figure out how to make it happen.

Envisioning a new future is a growth process. The vision process teaches who to learn from as we define it. The vision is more than a vague future, it is a vision of the things we need to do to get there.

Action # 3: Delay Gratification

The vision should burn within you. It should create the passion that drives you to pay the price to give up the safety of the shore for the undiscovered possibility of the ocean. The more you have grown in putting the vision into practice, the more real it becomes to you.

You find yourself willing to give up the false reality of a TV program, to get lost in learning how to realize your vision. You will find yourself willing to delay doing what is fun, to do what is necessary.

Delayed gratification is an important component of emotional intelligence. It is something you can learn, if your vision is strong enough.

Action # 4: Make it Duplicatable

The most successful people in life are those who turned their vision into systems that allowed actions and results to be replicated. Thomas Edison did nott make his money from the light bulb he invented in his lab or the electricity he generated there. It had to be duplicated. When running electricity from house to house became a system, when a light bulb could burn in the living rooms of other people. Then and only then did Edison reap the rewards.

To succeed in business: you have to have a product you can sell over and over; you have to have a system you can implement over and over; you have to have information (training) than you can pass on from person to person.

When you duplicate, you lay the perfect groundwork for your success. It may be a home based business, a volunteer role of leadership, or some other entreprenurial endeavor. It may be local, national, or international. These four actions will help you succeed.

Rick Hubbard - B.A. in Communication and Organizational Leadership and an M.A. in Educational Technology He is a university media specialist, a communication consultant. He is a rep for OceanGrown International.He enjoys helping people successfully market their home-based businesses. The Perfect Ocean

The Basics Of Becoming An Online Freelancer

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

Everyone whether they admit it or not deep down wants to be their own boss. But not everyone wants the responsibility of running their own business. They don’t want to have employees that rely on them each week to produce their paychecks and they don’t want to deal with all the day to day hassles that running a business entails. All they want is the chance to be their own boss. And being a freelancer can allow a person to do just that.

What is the difference between a freelancer and an entrepreneur though? It is actually pretty simple to distinguish between the two. A freelancer is a skilled worker that is willing to sell the use of those skills to someone else for a short period of time. Usually for the length of a project or a set amount of time, possibly only days, weeks or months. And once the contract is done a freelancer gets to move on to the next job.

Many freelancers will handle multiple projects at the same time as well. The more projects that can be handled successfully the more money a freelancer can make. An entrepreneur wants to own a company and develop a business concept.

Someone looking to become an online freelancer has the opportunity to build a solid career if they are willing to go out and find the work. Luckily for an online freelancer going out actually means sitting down at your computer and surfing the internet for work. But before you start your search for work you need to decide what it is you want to do.

Online freelancers have many fields that they can work in. Besides a traditional field like writing they can find work as website designers, accountants, online marketers, computer programmers and in many other fields as well.

There are literally thousands of jobs available for people that handle freelance job assignments. And with time a person can develop a solid reputation which will lead to a steady flow of jobs.

For online freelancers the steady supply of work is facilitated by a number of middlemen. Specifically web companies that act as the middleman between available freelancers and companies looking for someone to do a job.

Most of these sites allow freelancers to sign up for free and a freelancer then can put together a profile of who they are and the work they specialize in. Essentially an online resume for potential clients to peruse when they are deciding which freelancer is the best fit for the job.

On these websites jobs are posted by various companies and freelancers are allowed to place a bid on those jobs. Freelancers can bid on as many jobs as they like. Each job has a window of time in which it can be bid on.

Once the bidding is closed then the company offering the job will choose who the winner is. The bid amount will factor into their decision of course but the lowest bidder will not necessarily be the winner. Your presentation and experience are factors as well.

The life of a freelancer can be hard at first but if you persevere and strive to learn all you can about the field you can be successful. You can become your own boss but without all the pressure running a small business can entail.

Your expertise in a particular field can also be used to benefit many businesses instead of just one. Freelancing is not for everyone but for many it has become a very rewarding experience.

Cash Miller is an expert in small business affairs. To receive more tips that can help your business and allow you to crush your competition you can sign up for his FREE Newsletter. Once you’ve signed up your going to receive access to 5 FREE E-Books that can help your business prosper. And as a Bonus FREE Newsletter Members can expect to receive an additional FREE E-Book each week.

How To Make Money With No College Education

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Okay so you did not go to college and it is hard to get a good job. A lot of people think that college is the answer to everything in the job and business world but they do not know that 60 out of the 100 richest people in the world just graduated high school. The thing that makes it so easy and you do not have to have tons of money is the internet.

When doing an online affiliate business you make your own hours and put in as much work as you want. Also the more efficient you are the more you get paid for your time. The average salary for someone who went to a 4 year school is in the range of $50,000 to $70,000 a year but they are working 40-70 hours usually. They also have limited time off and need permission for that time off.

If you figure it out for the hours they put in a week they are actually only making $17 an hour. With this you can make up to $200-$500 an hour depending on how good you are. I know people who work 2 hours a day and make $1000. They have the rest of the day to spend time with their families and friends. Also, you never have to call in sick because you are your own boss. You decide everything and that is probably one of the most rewarding aspects. If you want the day to spend with your family you do not have to worry about what your boss is going to say. You always have the option as to whether or not you want to work. It is important to remember though that in order to be successful you have to put in the time and effort.

I take success as how much time you get to spend with family and friends. The thing is these days people are always working and they say there fun years were when they were in school. I personally do not agree with that and think that from 22-70 should be the best years of your life.

Another thing is that people are working until they are 65-70 because they do not have enough money to retire. I think that the retirement age should be much less and hopefully this program will allow people to retire much sooner. We tend to live to work instead of work to live and that should not be the way of life.
If you choose to become an affiliate you should be able to retire sooner and enjoy your life by doing what you want instead of waking up to work each day.

Melissa Finney is an established online marketer who has learned many tips and techniques about online marketing that have made her very successful and she wants to teach you what she knows. For more information please visit http://www.thesecret2onlinemoney.com

What Is Value According To The Customer?

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Imagine a builder whose plumb line was somehow defective. Let’s say due to magnetic forces. The plum line missed the perpendicular by one degree. Such an error would probably be inconsequential on a ten foot wall of a bungalow. It may not even be such a big problem for a 25 foot wall on a two story mansion. But it starts becoming a precariously hanging wall on a 80 plus foot wall on a ten floor storey building. If you building a one hundred plus floor story building like the former towers of the collapsed World Trade Center in New York, one degree error in laying the foundation of the walls would require you to bring down the building and start again.

So it is with your understanding of value in business. If you miss it you will create a business model that will need to be completely remodeled ground up as you grow and find yourself a misfit. Remember that the internet is a very agile environment, capable of accommodating some seriously warped business models. And there are so many “magnetic forces” that can even swing that plumb line to horizontal!

Unfortunately the term value often does not seem to communicate much to many. And to further complicate the matter is the subjective nature of value. This makes it hard to wrap ones mind around the concept. But the trick is to stop looking at value as a business and look at it as a customer. Basically the value of the business is often communicated in terms of shillings and cents; Return On Investment (ROI), Cost per Click (CPC), Earning per Milli/Thousand (EPM). But when it comes to satisfying you customers you need to look at it differently.

So what is value? Value is the feeling of worthiness you visitor derives from engaging your website. The greater the prospects or customers appreciation, the greater the value. For example when a surfer engages a page in your website do they find or feel that it was worth their time? If they buy, do they feel it was worth the money? Were they glad they found your site? Or do they think “Oh same old, same old”. Are you revelatory or are you regurgitating? Are you insightful or shallow? Is your visitor thinking “Wow”, or are they thinking”Oh Well”. And God forbid they are thinking “Where is that back button”. All the former states of mind and emotions show value while the later is a state of lack of it. But where they are looking for the back button, your visitor feels cheated and deprived.

Value is about showing that you understand your market. Ineffect, if you understand them than you can solve their problem, relieve their pain. It starts by creating value for a market. Then telling the market you have a solution. Understand what value is according to your market, create value for them. Then if you develop a system to deliver that value to that market profitably and sustainably, you are in business.

The author recommends an All-in-One Small Online Business solution by SiteSell called SiteBuildIt. Get a detailed review of Site Build It here.

Mindset You Need For A Succesful Business

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Finding first a hungry crowd to sell food to rather than making the food first is advice that many entrepreneurs do not get early enough. Indeed its nuances can even be evasive to a seasoned entrepreneur. This we can view as a technical error in an internet business start up. But it does have a antecedent. And this precursor is a state of mind. It’s the underlying reason you want to go into business, online or off.

Ask anyone why they want to go into business and the variety of answers can always be summed up as “to make lots of money”. Yet this falls among the weakest and poorest reasons you should really go into business. Weak because it carries with little if any drive to succeed and poor because it lacks the specificity required.

Right now there are over 8 billion web pages from millions of websites online. It’s widely believed that 98% of websites designed to make money do not make any money at all. And this does not include those that do not make a profit. Every day tens of thousands of domain names expire without renewal as websites go under. This has even grown a whole multi-million dollar industry called Domain Parking. Yet even more new domains in just as much time are registered, showing new entries into internet business. So what gives? Why are people that go online to make lots of money make none of it?

If you have been online for any appreciable time, some one will most likely have told you were the money is. The likes of Mike Filsaime teach “the money is in the list”, Joel Comm the Adsense guru teaches making money with Adsense, while Scott Boulch of the famed “The Death of Adsense” report is emphatic that “the money is in the money”. All create systems around these persuasions with astonishing results - until you try it yourself. They will tend to be ill-fitting and this is not because they do not work.

All this systems teach you how to get your visitors money. They are strong on how to sell your visitors. This may create a mindset that is inconsistent to the altruistic nature of business. Yes, I put it to you that for a business to be longeval and sustainable it needs to be essentially altruistic. The good book note in Proverbs 11:24 “One man gives freely, yet gain even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty”; so much for primarily going into business to make lots of money.

Lately, I have been overly repetitive on the focus on the customer and creating value. Yet it is better to be redundant than to be remiss. Business is essentially not a game of wits. It’s not about how you can trick, arm twist or coerce money from your customer. It’s about creating something a customer wants and directing them to it. It is this mind set, this altitude that positions you to find a hungry crowd. You are not only going into the market place to take, but also to give. It is true that many people have no business being in business. Indeed, if you are yet to find something valuable to offer online, find one first.

The author recommends an All-in-One Small Online Business solution by SiteSell called Site Build It,click here to read more. Get a detailed review of Site Build It here.

Are These Cash Gifting Systems for Real?

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Cash gifting programs may be very easy for the people who already have experience in internet marketing but people who are new to it need some training or guidance. Obviously they will require some time and dedication to understand the system before using it to their advantage.

With knowledge in your hand you will be able to drive traffic like the one that has to drawn for any other internet marketing business. The sky is the limit to earning money via the cash gifting programs. And anyone can earn money if they put in the time and efforts.

In cash gifting programs no products are involved. There is no selling involved. You are under no pressure to sell products to run your company. You are not being forced to promote any product. You are not acting like a salesman always, convincing people to buy your product. Many a times the product you buy is not used completely. It becomes part of your garage.

Cash gifting is sharing your goodness and becoming a part of chain which consists of people who are not selfish. There is a plethora of cash gifting programs on the internet.

Cash gifting programs are an excellent legitimate alternate to the home based business programs. People are looking at alternate means to make money online ever since the world economy has taken a negative swing. People from all types of cultures and traditions are seeking ways to sustain the looming recession.

MLM programs are fast becoming a flop. Due to less money in the market people are not investing and are wary of indulging into luxuries. In such troubled times cash gifting is the buzz across the globe. It is the ultimate work as a home opportunity. With correct support and guidance cash gifting will change the pace of your life while providing you with extra earnings without the investment of money and time.

Cash gifting is not a scam. It is not a pyramid either. In real cash gifting program the member is not required to do huge amount of work in order to earn any income. But the member has to promote the opportunity while the basic web site maintains all the data and do the legwork.

In cash gifting programs each member gets an equal opportunity to make money. The money is there almost every other day; the cash gifting programs take the responsibility to deliver it to you regularly without fail.

Stanislaw Pena,
Home Based Business Entrepreneur
For more information on what he is involved in right now please visit:
To Find out Your Way to success Click Here

Do You Know Why You Fail Doing Cash Gifting?

Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

Cash gifting can make you fast money but you need to have a mentor. The mentor will guide you through the program in a smooth fashion. All you need is a desire and commitment to work in a dedicated manner.

A mentor will tell you the best ways to earn a distinct name in your community. When you will have a good name in the business community, then your business will become successful.

Yet another way for not failing the cash gifting program is to make a strategy. You have to understand the legal limits and follow the strategy you make. Any vague plan will definitely go haywire and your cash gifting business can fail. The mentor will tell you how to reach out to your customers or sponsors in an effective way.

The right mentor will offer you his expertise in telling all the marketing techniques. He will let you know the tactics behind a successful training program. Cash gifting is a team work. Without you being successful, none of the members in the chain will become successful and make money. You success is significant to other peoples success.

According to a business axiom, a successful business man works patiently and knows all the rules of the trade. It is not necessary that you will taste success overnight. As a matter of fact any site that promises this is a scam. Therefore give your self some time. Many successful people have taken several days and months to become successful in cash gifting ventures.

Joining the correct cash gifting program and team is the most vital part if you have to ensure your success. Many people look for the person behind the cash gifting program and they look for numbers. However some wish that the system is automated and they do not have to do any calling. The mentor will let you know intricacies of an automated system and also about the best one available in the market.

One of the problems that many people run into while they are building their cash gifting business is that their mentors are not very experienced. Many of the mentors have actually been in the business for a very short while and with a few successful chances they have declared themselves to be the mentors. These gurus are far from being the best. They are unable to guide you well and consequently your cash gifting programs fail.

The question is how to choose a good mentor? There are no rules but you must keep this in mind. The mentor should have established his business while making steady profits. He should have ample internet marketing experience.

Stanislaw Pena,
Home Based Business Entrepreneur
For more information on what he is involved in right now please visit:
To Find out Your Way to success Click Here