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    <title>Business</title>
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   <id>tag:www.improvingyourworld.com,2009:/business//8</id>
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    <updated>2009-11-07T17:00:34Z</updated>
    
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<entry>
    <title>Home Business Idea:Alterations</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/home_business_ideaalterations_005087.html" />
    <link rel="service.edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/cgi-bin/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=8/entry_id=5087" title="Home Business Idea:Alterations" />
    <id>tag:www.improvingyourworld.com,2009:/business//8.5087</id>
    
    <published>2009-11-07T16:49:58Z</published>
    <updated>2009-11-07T17:00:34Z</updated>
    
    <summary> Business description-If you know how to and enjoy sewing you can put your talent to work sewing items or offer repair and alteration services. Home based alterations businesses can find themselves making changes to cheer leading squads and drill...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>K</name>
        
    </author>
            <category term="Small Business" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/">
        <![CDATA[<p><img alt="family30327547.jpg" src="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/images/family30327547.jpg" width="175" height="144" align="left" style="border:3px solid #e7e7e7;margin-right:10px" /><br />
Business description-If you know how to and enjoy sewing you can put your talent to work sewing items or offer repair and alteration services. Home based alterations businesses can find themselves making changes to cheer leading squads and drill team uniforms, making draperies, tablecloths, quilts, pillowcases and sheets, costumes, doll clothes, or even making cloth labels for children's clothing. You might want to design and sew original items such as tote bags for the beach, diaper bags, overnight duffle bags, or infant and kid's clothing as part of your alteration services.  However the bulk of many alteration businesses are still that of repairing zippers, turning up hems and other basic repairs that many people simply do not know how to do or feel that they do not have the time.<br />
	<br />
Materials needed-You will need a sewing machine and sewing supplies, such as thread, needles, etc.  In addition most alterations experts have advanced sewing skills. A computer can be helpful for processing orders and using it for billing. <br />
</p>]]>
        <![CDATA[<p>Space requirements-You will need room for sewing and alterations. In addition you should have a separate, suitable room for greeting and dealing with clients (this is the room that can be used for fittings as well).  You will also need suitable parking for clients.</p>

<p>Time requirements-This is a business that you can truly work as much or as little as you want to.  However with that being said most alteration services have a turnaround time for their clients.  Much of your reputation and therefore your success will be determined by how fast you can turn items around for your clients.</p>

<p>Income potential-2 ½ The income potential on this job will vary widely from one area of the country to another. When pricing you should have a detailed price list of what you will be sewing and it should be printed with your business name and graphic prominently showing. Keep in mind that each service you provide needs to be priced with the cost of materials and your time included. Customers will want to know your pricing, timeline, and any other policies they should be aware of. You should not under value your time and price your hourly fee appropriately. It is important to do your research to see what others in your area charge and price your seamstress/tailoring services competitively.</p>

<p>Keys to success-The following tips can be helpful in making your at home alterations a success: <br />
<ul><li>	You should make a professional portfolio that demonstrates the scope of your skills.</li><br />
<li>	Create a catchy business name and have business cards made up. You will want to use the same graphic on the portfolio, business cards, and everything else you create. This will help generate "branding" of your business.</li><br />
<li>	It can be helpful to join your local Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, or other creative clubs in your area.</li><br />
<li>	Work with your local Dry Cleaner, Boutique, Dance Studio and formal wear business owners to see if a cross-referral relationship can be arranged. Referrals can become your best marketing tactic in growing your business.</li><br />
<li>	Always pass out your business cards to everyone you come in contact with. You may be surprised how many acquaintances you have at the grocery store, church, kid's events, etc.</li></ul></p>

<p>Risk-If you are not a seamstress to begin with the costs of setting up shop can be high.  If your business fails you could be left with a studio of sewing equipment that could be hard to get your money back on. However most alterations businesses report a steady demand if you can continue with a high degree of professional looking work. <br />
</p>]]>
    </content>
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>Home Business Idea: Affiliate Marketing</title>
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    <link rel="service.edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/cgi-bin/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=8/entry_id=5088" title="Home Business Idea: Affiliate Marketing" />
    <id>tag:www.improvingyourworld.com,2009:/business//8.5088</id>
    
    <published>2009-11-06T16:52:49Z</published>
    <updated>2009-11-06T17:00:29Z</updated>
    
    <summary> Business Description An affiliate marketer either sells products or promotes other larger companies over the internet. Affiliate marketers would be paid a commission for every item sold or they may be paid for every customer that they send to...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>K</name>
        
    </author>
            <category term="Small Business" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/">
        <![CDATA[<p><img alt="ladywithheadsetsmiling30342942.jpg" src="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/images/ladywithheadsetsmiling30342942.jpg" width="116" height="175" align="left" style="border:3px solid #e7e7e7;margin-right:10px" /><br />
Business Description</p>

<p>An affiliate marketer either sells products or promotes other larger companies over the internet.  Affiliate marketers would be paid a commission for every item sold or they may be paid for every customer that they send to the main company.  For example, if a customer clicks on an advertisement for the main company on the affiliate marketer's website and purchases a product or fills out a survey, the affiliate marketer would be compensated by the main company. <br />
  <br />
Materials Needed</p>

<p>An affiliate marketing home business requires a computer with an internet connection.  If the affiliate marketer is planning on doing this as a full-time job, they may also want to get a strong server to store data and a fast processor.  This will make handling multiple websites at a time much more effective.  The business will also need the basics necessary for any home business.  <br />
</p>]]>
        <![CDATA[<p>Space Requirements</p>

<p>An affiliate marketer will need at least a large desk at which to work.  They will also likely need some place to keep paper files.  For those planning on doing affiliate marketing full-time from home, they may need more room to store their server.</p>

<p>Time Requirements</p>

<p>Getting started as an affiliate marketer can take quite a bit of time.  An affiliate marketer needs to first establish clients that are willing to pay him for helping them gain customers or make sales.  Some affiliate marketers pay a small yearly fee to each company in order to be allowed to advertise for them or sell their products.  This is called direct marketing, a form of affiliate marketing.  This is a quick and easy route to go because they will generally give you a website and all of the products to sell.  Other affiliate marketers, the more successful ones, have developed a website that receives a high volume of traffic.  Then, the affiliate marketer has a little more bargaining power when they approach the big companies.  The companies will see how much traffic flows through the affiliate marketer's site and will want to have links to their site on the affiliate marketer's webpage.  This all takes quite a bit of time and energy.</p>

<p>Income Potential: 4.5</p>

<p>Affiliate marketers have the potential to make upwards of ten thousand dollars per month.  However, this job only ranks a four because the number of people who make that much are very few.  The people who work hard at affiliate marketing and are knowledgeable in the area on average can make around thirty thousand per year.  On the other hand, because of the difficulty of breaking into the business and learning the ropes, many people do not make a dime.  </p>

<p>Keys to Success</p>

<p>One key to success in affiliate marketing is learn the business.  Many people figure if they sign up with a direct marketing company they will end up making millions from their own home without doing anything else.  The reality is that just like a normal business, people need to know where to find a website before they can purchase anything.  There are many books for sale that outline strategies for getting an affiliate marketing campaign off the ground.  </p>

<p>Another key to success is to plan to spend time on the business.  While some affiliate marketers with established clientele may not work many hours each week, those just starting out will need to spend countless hours building a network of people that visit their website.</p>

<p>Risks</p>

<p>Remember that many times it takes money to make money in the affiliate marketing business.  If an affiliate marketer wants to sign up with a number of direct marketing companies, they will need to pay yearly fees.  Also, they will likely need to spend money on their own marketing in order to get people to purchase their products.  </p>

<p>Another risk to consider is that everyone who finds staying home every day from work enticing is likely trying to make it as an affiliate marketer.  This means that there is steep competition in this field.  While there is plenty of work available to be done, finding it can be difficult.<br />
</p>]]>
    </content>
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>Website marketing</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/website_marketing_004584.html" />
    <link rel="service.edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/cgi-bin/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=8/entry_id=4584" title="Website marketing" />
    <id>tag:www.improvingyourworld.com,2009:/business//8.4584</id>
    
    <published>2009-11-06T12:00:00Z</published>
    <updated>2009-11-06T12:00:57Z</updated>
    
    <summary> Search engine marketing is a form of website marketing that companies can use to increase their customer base. Search engine marketing is a set of marketing methods that are used to increase the company&apos;s website standing (page rank) in...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>K</name>
        
    </author>
            <category term="Extended Entry" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/">
        <![CDATA[<p><img alt="laptop41857993.jpg" src="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/images/laptop41857993.jpg" width="175" height="116" align="left" style="border:3px solid #e7e7e7;margin-right:10px" /><br />
Search engine marketing is a form of website marketing that companies can use to increase their customer base. Search engine marketing is a set of marketing methods that are used to increase the company's website standing (page rank) in search engine results pages. The higher your page is ranked the higher you are listed on the results pages and the more traffic you are going to be able to generate from the search engine results pages. But one thing that you need to know about search engine marketing is that it is made up of a variety of different marketing methods. Here is a brief look at the various methods that make up search engine marketing:<br />
<ul><li>	<strong>Search engine optimization -</strong> improves rankings for relevant keywords in search results by improving a company's website</li><br />
<li>	<strong>Pay per click -</strong> sponsored search engine listings to drive traffic to the company's website. Advertisers bid for search terms, search engines rank the ads on a competitive auction</li><br />
<li>	<strong>Paid inclusion -</strong> feeds listings into search engines</li><br />
<li>	<strong>Social media optimization -</strong> places ideas within online communities in hopes that they will spread to others</li><br />
<li>	<strong>Video search marketing -</strong> promotes companies by placing short video clips on websites that will be picked up by search engine spiders.</li><br />
</ul><br />
If you think that search engine marketing is a good choice you are going to need to know what steps you should follow in order to effectively use it for your website marketing. Here are the steps that you will need to follow to enact search engine marketing.</p>]]>
        <![CDATA[<p><strong>Step one:</strong><br />
Learn about key words for search engines by doing research on key words and how to use them. Key words are the words that your customers are going to type into the search engine to find your product. What you want to do is use the key words or key phrases that your potential customers will to market your website.</p>

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<strong>Marketing on the Web:</strong>

<p><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" style="width:225px; height:185px;" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/MeyWlxyloic"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MeyWlxyloic" /></object></p>

<p><a href="http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/checklist.htm">The Web Marketing Checklist: 32 Ways to Promote Your Site</a><br />
This article talks about how a part of today's business is done on the internet and when doing business on the internet one thing that you need to take into account is website marketing.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.majon.com/">Internet marketing, search engine marketing, email marketing</a><br />
This website provides you with the chance to use their services that they offer. The main services that they offer is services that are designed to help you with website marketing.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.websites-marketing.net/">SEO Technologies</a><br />
This website belongs to a company that specializes in website marketing. Some of the services that they offer are strategy, optimization, development and design for businesses websites.</p>

<p><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" style="width:225px; height:185px;" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/r6--NfGKbsA"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/r6--NfGKbsA" /></object></p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_marketing">Internet marketing</a><br />
This article talks about every aspect of internet marketing. This includes tips and tricks that you can use when it comes to marketing your website through the various forms of internet marketing.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.make-a-living-online.com/">Website marketing expert's guide to promotion and Making A Living</a><br />
This website gives you the chance to purchase the book that was written by Jim Daniels about website marketing. In the book he gives you step by step instructions on how he made money online.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.coyotecom.com/webdevo/webmrkt.html">Market Your Website both Offline and Online</a><br />
This article talks about the various things that you can do when it comes to marketing your company's website. The article gives you ideas on what you can do both on and off line.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.seochat.com/c/b/Website-Marketing-Help/">Website Marketing Help, Website Marketing Tips</a><br />
This entire website is designed to help you with website marketing. The website offers you a variety of tips that you can put to use when it comes to website marketing from your help page to your contact us page.</p>

<p><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" style="width:225px; height:185px;" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/ISWW28WGEoM"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ISWW28WGEoM" /></object></p>

<p><a href="http://www.theinternetdigest.net/">Internet Marketing Tips for Small Business</a><br />
This entire website is designed to help the small business owner. On this website it includes things that you can do to help build your companies website and market it more effectively.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/marketing-tips/">Free Internet Marketing Tips/Articles</a><br />
This website has numerous articles that you can read to help learn about internet marketing including tips on what you can and can't do with your website. You can also republish these articles if desired.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.hubspot.com/internet-marketing-tips">Strategic Internet Marketing Tips</a><br />
This website is designed to offer you sound advice on internet marketing, but it also includes tips that you can follow on strategic internet marketing, internet marketing promotion and a variety of other things. </p>

</ul>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>

<p><strong>Step two:</strong><br />
The main fact of search engine marketing is understanding and using search engine optimization. This step involves changing your website so that it is search engine friendly. This will make your company's website more accessible to search engines, in order to do this you will have to learn what search engines look for when they visit your site. Some things would be domain name, meta description, meta key word tags, and many others.</p>

<p><strong>Step three:</strong><br />
After you have made changes to your website to make it search engine friendly you are going to need to submit your website to the various search engines. You can either pay to have your site indexed by the search engines, submit with a free submit form or you can let the search engine find your site through links to your site from other sites.</p>

<p><strong>Step four:</strong><br />
Link popularity is next in line. This is important because search engines actually rank your website based on its popularity. So what you are going to need to do is to increase the number of links that are available for people to use to connect to your site. This is usually done by placing links on other websites. But you not only want to increase the amount of links that are available you are also going to want to ensure that the links are being advertised on quality sites. The better the quality of the site the higher your page will rank in the search engines.</p>

<p><strong>Step five:</strong><br />
Another way to have your page rank higher in the search engines is to pay the various search engines to index your site. Keep in mind that not all search engines will allow you to pay for site indexing, but some of the less popular ones will. Also this method should only be used if your company can afford to spend that kind of money, meaning it is a viable option for your business.</p>

<p><strong>Step six:</strong><br />
Pay per click advertising is another way to increase your position on a search engine, but keep in mind that not all search engines provide pay per click advertising. But keep in mind that pay per click advertising can cost you money, but it can also make your company money. </p>

<p><strong>Step seven:</strong><br />
One thing that you are going to have to do is to review your site's log files which will tell you what the best sources for traffic are on your site, what search words people are using to find your site, and how people are finding your site. This can help you customize your search engine marketing by providing you with valuable information.</p>

<p>But search engine marketing is not the only website marketing strategy that you can use to help increase the amount of traffic that is coming to your business. Another popular form of website marketing that you can use is email marketing. Email marketing is a form of internet marketing, since emails can only be accessed while connected to the internet. The most common forms of email marketing are sales letters and newsletters that are sent out to current and potential customers. </p>

<p>The great thing about email communications rather than printed communications is that the recipients can simply click on a link and go directly to your website and get any information that they need about your product or service. But keep in mind there is a fine line between email marketing a spam, and as a responsible marketer you don't want to cross the line.</p>

<p>If you plan on using email marketing as a form of website marketing here are some tips that you should follow to make sure you are using it effectively.</p>

<p><strong>Tip one:</strong><br />
You want to make sure that when sending emails to potential customers that you personalize the emails. The best way to do this is to use their first or last name, which one you use is going to depend on what one is more appropriate for your marketing campaign. The reason that you want to do this is because it has been proven that when receiving emails with their names on it people feel more like humans and less like a number which increases the chances that they are going to read your email and perhaps click on a link or two.</p>

<p><strong>Tip two:</strong><br />
Avoid sending any type of emails during the holidays. The reason for this is because of how busy people are during the holidays they do not always have the time to go onto the computer to check their email. So when they do get the time to check their email they are probably going to end up deleting all of the stuff that they do not consider important, meaning if they don't know the sender they will end up deleting it.</p>

<p><strong>Tip three:</strong><br />
Make sure that when you are sending an email message that you include what you expect your recipients to do and what they can expect you to do. After doing that you are going to want to make sure that you hold to your promises about what they can expect from you, basically you need to follow through with what you have said. Doing this helps you build trust with your potential customers.</p>

<p><strong>Tip four:</strong><br />
If you don't do anything else with your emails to potential you are going to need to make sure that you include a link that allows users to unsubscribe from your email marketing list. The reason for this is that if you don't stop sending them emails when they no longer wish to receive them it can be considered spam which is not a good thing to be known for. But on the unsubscribe page you can ask why they have chosen to discontinue receiving your newsletter or ways you can make improvements to get them back, but whatever you decide keep it short and to the point, not many people want to fill out a survey about why they no longer wish to receive the newsletter. Also let your subscribers know how long it will take to remove them from your emailing lit and what they can do if they continue to receive messages after that time period has passed.</p>

<p><strong>Tip five:</strong><br />
But most importantly if you plan on using email marketing as a form of website marketing you are going to want to ensure that you tell your internet service provider that you are going to be sending out bulk emails ahead of time. The reason for this is that if you fail to inform them of this they can think that you are a spammer and they can end up suspending your account.</p>]]>
    </content>
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>Write-offs for your home business</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/writeoffs_for_your_home_business_004505.html" />
    <link rel="service.edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/cgi-bin/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=8/entry_id=4505" title="Write-offs for your home business" />
    <id>tag:www.improvingyourworld.com,2009:/business//8.4505</id>
    
    <published>2009-11-05T16:00:00Z</published>
    <updated>2009-11-05T16:00:30Z</updated>
    
    <summary> A home business has different tax write-offs than a small business does. Here is a look at some of the write-offs that you can take for your home business....</summary>
    <author>
        <name>K</name>
        
    </author>
            <category term="Taxes" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/">
        <![CDATA[<p><img alt="printer37735768.jpg" src="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/images/printer37735768.jpg" width="175" height="116" align="left" style="border:3px solid #e7e7e7;margin-right:10px" /><br />
A home business has different tax write-offs than a small business does. Here is a look at some of the write-offs that you can take for your home business.</p>]]>
        <![CDATA[<p><strong>Number one: Miles driven</strong><br />
If you use your personal vehicle for your home business then any miles that you drive for your business can be deducted as an expense for your home business. To help keep track of miles you will need to get a notebook and a pen to keep in the car at all times. If you get in the car to drive for business purposes you will need to write this down in your notebook. Be sure to record the date, the mileage when you left and the mileage when you returned, as well as the total miles driven. Also, be sure to include what the purpose of the trip was. At the end of each month, you can input the information into your computer using a spreadsheet or similar software; do not get rid of the papers from the original notebooks. When the notebook is full or if it is the end of the tax year, you should file the notebook with your tax papers.</p>

<p><strong>Number two: Computers and other electronic devices</strong><br />
If you plan to use your personal computer and any other personal electronic devices that you for your home business as a home business write-off you are going to need to keep a log of all activity. With this kind of a write-off the IRS requires stricter reporting when it comes to using computers, video cameras, etc for business expenses because so many of them are also used for pleasure. To do this you should keep a notebook of some sort right next to your computer to record the day and time spent using the computer for business purposes, you should do this every day. Then make sure that you file the records with your tax papers at the end of the year so you can prove to the IRS that you did use your computer for business purposes.</p>

<p><strong>Number three: Business expenses</strong><br />
You want to make sure that you keep a list of all your business expenses through the year or at the end of the year, you can write a list of all of the possible business expenses that you had throughout the year. If waiting until the end of the year to do it take your time when making the list because you can easily overlook the most obvious expenses. Some expenses that you might consider is paper for your printer, your coffee that you drink during working hours, computer software that is used for your business (if you also use it for personal use you should not deduct all of the expense) and the list goes on. By keeping track of your potential deductions, you can maximize your business write-offs and can keep better records of the expenses. You will also need to have receipts for all of these expenses for your tax records, so be sure to keep all of your receipts throughout the year.</p>

<p><strong>Number four: Home office</strong><br />
If you have a home office you can deduct it as a business expense, however, you need to be sure that it meets the IRS's requirements of a home office. In order to claim a home office the room has to be used only for business purposes and can only have one entrance and exit to the room. If your home office qualifies, you need to record in your tax records the exact location of the home office, how many square feet it is, and the square footage of your home. This will make it easier if the IRS ever wants proof that you are using a home office for business purposes.</p>

<p><strong>Number five: Utilities</strong><br />
You need to keep all of your utility bills throughout the year so that you can deduct a portion of them for your home business. When deducting utilities you cannot write-off the entire utility bill, unless it is something that is used strictly for your home business, such as a separate phone line. The reason for this is that most of your utility bills are going to be from personal use, so you will only be able to deduct a portion based on how many hours you work at home.</p>]]>
    </content>
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>Will MLMs work for you</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/will_mlms_work_for_you_004504.html" />
    <link rel="service.edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/cgi-bin/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=8/entry_id=4504" title="Will MLMs work for you" />
    <id>tag:www.improvingyourworld.com,2009:/business//8.4504</id>
    
    <published>2009-11-04T16:00:00Z</published>
    <updated>2009-11-04T16:00:30Z</updated>
    
    <summary> A MLM or a network marketing home business opportunity is going to allow you to work from home like other home businesses because you will be working on your own. At the same time, MLMs are different than other...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>K</name>
        
    </author>
            <category term="Marketing" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/">
        <![CDATA[<p><img alt="laptop30457513.jpg" src="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/images/laptop30457513.jpg" width="116" height="175" align="left" style="border:3px solid #e7e7e7;margin-right:10px" /><br />
A MLM or a network marketing home business opportunity is going to allow you to work from home like other home businesses because you will be working on your own. At the same time, MLMs are different than other home businesses because you are going to need to recruit other people to join the MLM and sell their product while you are selling the product. Like home businesses, MLMs are not just for everybody, it takes a certain person to be able to succeed with an MLM. For other people MLMs are not the answer because they just won't fit in with all that is required from people to work a MLM. The main reason that a MLM is not right for everybody is because of personality. In order to be successful with a MLM you are going to need to have the right kind of personality to make it succeed.</p>]]>
        <![CDATA[<p><strong>Here is a look at some of the personality traits that you need to have to be successful with a MLM.</strong></p>

<p><strong>Number one: Leadership</strong><br />
To work in a MLM you are going to need to have leadership skills. The reason for this is that you are going to need to lead the people that you recruit to the MLM. You are going to need to train them and keep them going, not to mention answer any questions that they might have. You are also going to have provided support and assistance for all of the people that you recruit.</p>

<p><strong>Number two: Friendly</strong><br />
You are also going to need to be a friendly person in general, make sure that you have a friendly manner. This means that you are going to need to be comfortable dealing with different types of people. Depending on what kind of MLM you join this might have to be face to face, if that bothers you but you can deal with people over the phone or through email you should look into MLMs that are done strictly online. Therefore, you are going to have to have good communication skills and be able to communicate effectively.</p>

<p><strong>Number three: Committed</strong><br />
You are going to need to be committed to your work so that you can succeed. With a MLM, you are going to be working from home, which means that you will no longer have a boss. You need to be committed to your work so that you can please your customers and keep going so that you are successful. You need to make sure that you are committed to doing everything that you can for your customers so that you can keep them happy, which means they will continue to give you business.</p>

<p><strong>Number four: Dedicated</strong><br />
You are also going to need to be dedicated so that you can succeed. What this means is that you are going to have to work longer and harder at starting a home business then you had to work before. In addition, this can get in the way of your family life or social life. If you want to be successful at a home business, you have to put in the work to get it started and then the work that is needed to keep it going. You also have to keep your family happy, which means that you are going to have to set boundaries about when you are working and then stop when you say you will.</p>

<p><strong>Number five: Motivated</strong><br />
You need to be motivated enough to actually get the work done. Many people find that working from home is harder, but more comfortable, because they don't have the "work environment." If you think that you can be motivated to work from home a good thing to do is set up some kind of schedule and work place and then stick to it. You are going to need to be a self-starter because there isn't going to be anybody there to tell you when you have to work or what you have to be done; you have to do it yourself.</p>]]>
    </content>
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>Home Business Idea: Using purpose statements to motivate teams</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/home_business_idea_using_purpose_statements_to_motivate_teams_005089.html" />
    <link rel="service.edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/cgi-bin/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=8/entry_id=5089" title="Home Business Idea: Using purpose statements to motivate teams" />
    <id>tag:www.improvingyourworld.com,2009:/business//8.5089</id>
    
    <published>2009-11-03T16:54:33Z</published>
    <updated>2009-11-03T17:00:29Z</updated>
    
    <summary> What is a purpose statement A purpose statement is a stated sentence which pretty much summarizes a business&apos; goal or goals. Purpose statements need to be specific and not be too general or broad. They should be around one...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>K</name>
        
    </author>
            <category term="Small Business" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/">
        <![CDATA[<p><img alt="businessmeeting33030027.jpg" src="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/businessmeeting33030027.jpg" width="261" height="175It can be a wise idea for businesses to set up teams of employees to work on certain projects for the company. Many times teams are able to do things that a single employee could not do. But even though they may be able to do amazing things, employee teams still need to be motivated. One way to motivate employee teams is by using purpose statements. This article will discuss what a purpose statement is and how to use them in business to motivate team.</p>

<p><strong>What is a purpose statement</strong></p>

<p>A purpose statement is a stated sentence which pretty much summarizes a business' goal or goals. Purpose statements need to be specific and not be too general or broad. They should be around one or two sentences and be very clean and goal-oriented." align="left" style="border:3px solid #e7e7e7;margin-right:10px" /><br />
</p>]]>
        <![CDATA[<p>Purpose statements do not just need to be used to talk about the business as a whole, they can also be used to encourage and motivate teams of employees who are working for a business.</p>

<p><strong>Discussing goals</strong></p>

<p>When a business manager sets up employee teams, they need to take the time to sit down with them and discuss their aims or their goals. This gives the employees the opportunity to discuss the aims and make sure that everyone is on the same page. It is during this first meeting, that purpose statements could be used to motivate the teams. </p>

<p>There are a couple of ways that an employer or business manager could go about using purpose statements. First, the business manager or employer could brainstorm with their employee teams and develop a good purpose statement. Involving all of the employees in the development of the purpose statement may make it more affective. Since each employee would feel they have a say in how they want to reach a specific goal, they make work harder to achieve their goal.</p>

<p>The second way that a business manager or employer could use a purpose statement to motivate their employee teams is by telling the teams a statement that they have already developed beforehand. Because a purpose statement should be clear, specific, and concise, it should be very easy for the employees to understand.</p>

<p><strong>How purpose statements motivate</strong></p>

<p>It may seem strange that one or two short sentences could motivate a team of employees, but it can. One way that a purpose statement can motivate employees is that it can remind them of their goal and purpose. Managers or employers should pose the team's purpose statement in a place where each team member can see it everyday. Being constantly reminded about a goal can help it be achieved.</p>

<p>Another way that a purpose statement can motivate a team is that it gives them a purpose. Yes, being on a team does give an employee a little more of a purpose than if they were not a member of a team. But if the team does not have a purpose, each employee will quickly forget that they were even placed on the team in the first place. Purpose statements do just that, they give each team member and the team a purpose.</p>

<p>Purpose statements help a team work together. That is very motivating. A team that has team members who work together can motivate each other. When a team has members who work against each other, they will slowly break apart. But a team that has a purpose statement as a core of their team work will motivate each other as they work together and are motivated by their purpose statement. </p>]]>
    </content>
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>What marketing techniques are best for a new home business</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/what_marketing_techniques_are_best_for_a_new_home_business_004503.html" />
    <link rel="service.edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/cgi-bin/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=8/entry_id=4503" title="What marketing techniques are best for a new home business" />
    <id>tag:www.improvingyourworld.com,2009:/business//8.4503</id>
    
    <published>2009-11-03T16:00:00Z</published>
    <updated>2009-11-03T16:00:35Z</updated>
    
    <summary> Marketing your new home business is one of the best ways that you can attract potential customers. However, the problem that most new home business owners have with marketing is that they do not have a lot of money...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>K</name>
        
    </author>
            <category term="Marketing" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/">
        <![CDATA[<p><img alt="telemarketers30343184.jpg" src="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/images/telemarketers30343184.jpg" width="175" height="116" align="left" style="border:3px solid #e7e7e7;margin-right:10px" /><br />
Marketing your new home business is one of the best ways that you can attract potential customers. However, the problem that most new home business owners have with marketing is that they do not have a lot of money to spend on marketing their business. Even if you do not have a lot of money to spend on marketing you can still effectively market your business, what you are going to need to do is choose marketing techniques that are best for a new home business. These marketing techniques are going to be effective marketing techniques, but they are also going to be inexpensive, which means they will work for any marketing budget.</p>]]>
        <![CDATA[<p><strong>Here is a look at some of the best marketing techniques for new home businesses.</strong></p>

<p><strong>Number one: Your website</strong><br />
Having a website for your home business is a great way to market your business, but it is also essential for a successful home business today. With your website, you are going to want to provide useful content for your customers; you do not want to feature only the products that you sell. You will want to include things like how to articles, which can be how to use the products that you sell or articles that provide useful information on the types of products that you are selling. When creating your website you are going to want to make sure that it is eye catching for your customers. When using any form of internet marketing the first thing that people are going to see when they click on your ads or links is your home business's website so you want it to look amazing.</p>

<p><strong>Number two: Domain name</strong><br />
Choosing your domain name for your home businesses website is another form of marketing for new businesses because it is going to give your internet users some useful information. You want to choose a domain name that refers to your company or the products or services that your company is offering. Choosing the correct domain for your website is important because it is going to determine how searchable your domain name is for search engine placement. However, also choosing the right domain name will make it easier for your customers to recall the website, which means they will have an easier time finding it again.</p>

<p><strong>Number three: Surveys</strong><br />
Surveys are another effective, but inexpensive marketing technique that new home businesses can use. This type of marketing technique can increase the awareness of your company, but it can also increase people's awareness about the products or services that you are offering. Surveys can also be used by you to help make your home business better because they can give you ideas on what your customers want to see more of and where you need to make improvements or do better. Not to mention that survey's are probably the most flexible things to use for marketing campaigns. The reason for this is that with surveys there are varieties of different ways that you can have them filled out and sent back in. You can have them faxed back in, mailed back in, or you can have them completed face to face in malls or other busy locations.</p>

<p><strong> Number four: Email marketing</strong><br />
Email marketing is an inexpensive marketing technique that you can use on the internet, it also happens to be highly effective. In order to be successful with email marketing you are going to need to have a website, this way your customers can go from your email directly to your website with just one click. You can use email marketing as a marketing technique without having a website, but you will not be as effective because after reading your emails your customers have nowhere to go. </p>]]>
    </content>
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>Home Business Idea: Tips for measuring progress periodically</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/home_business_idea_tips_for_measuring_progress_periodically_005090.html" />
    <link rel="service.edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/cgi-bin/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=8/entry_id=5090" title="Home Business Idea: Tips for measuring progress periodically" />
    <id>tag:www.improvingyourworld.com,2009:/business//8.5090</id>
    
    <published>2009-11-02T16:56:15Z</published>
    <updated>2009-11-02T17:00:58Z</updated>
    
    <summary> Set up a schedule A helpful tip for a business manager to measure progress periodically is to set up a schedule for when they plan to measure the progress. A person needs to know when they will be measuring...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>K</name>
        
    </author>
            <category term="Small Business" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/">
        <![CDATA[<p><img alt="mencommunicating19220419.jpg" src="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/images/mencommunicating19220419.jpg" width="261" height="175It takes a lot of work to make a business successful. Measuring the progress that a business makes is an important step to making a business successful. This article will offer business managers and business owners some tips for measuring their business' progress periodically.</p>

<p><strong>Set up a schedule</strong></p>

<p>A helpful tip for a business manager to measure progress periodically is to set up a schedule for when they plan to measure the progress. A person needs to know when they will be measuring their business' progress whether it is monthly, bi-monthly, yearly, etc.</p>

<p>Doing this can help the business remain more organized. Businesses will frequently need to refer to past business information including the reports that state their progress. Having progress reports from similar time periods can make comparing past year's progress to the current progress of the business much easier and more accurate." align="left" style="border:3px solid #e7e7e7;margin-right:10px" /><br />
</p>]]>
        <![CDATA[<p><strong>Know what to measure</strong></p>

<p>When a person is measuring their business' progress they definitely need to know what to measure. It is important for a business manager to measure progress in the business that can be measured. For example, the increased number of sales from year to year or month to month is an example of progress than can be measured. An increase in profits, or increase in customers can measure progress.</p>

<p>There are some things in business that could be considered progress but may be a little more subjective when measured, such as public relations and marketing.  These things still need to be measured. Most business managers may choose to measure this type of progress in the way that works for them.</p>

<p><strong>How to measure</strong></p>

<p>Before progress can be measured, a business needs to set the standards that they will measure their progress against. A business could also measure progress against past business performance as well. Some businesses may want to do both. There might be certain goals that the business hoped to meet and they can measure their progress against those goals.</p>

<p>It is also important for a business to develop a method for measuring their progress. Once they have a method in place they could use it year after year with only one or two slight adjustments.</p>

<p><strong>Pick a person or group</strong></p>

<p>It can be helpful when measuring progress to choose one person or one group of people to take on the task. This way there are specific people that are in charge of getting it done and if the person or the group of people do it year after year, they will be more familiar with the process of measuring the progress.</p>

<p><strong>Consistency</strong></p>

<p>It is important to keep things consistent when measuring progress periodically. In the documentation the terms and other data and definition should be the same each time progress is measured. It can get really confusing and it will be harder to read the progress reports if the data is put in different order or different terms are used each time progress is measured.</p>

<p><strong>Looking at reports</strong></p>

<p>Another tip for measuring progress periodically is to take time, after the information is gathered, to review it. There is no reason to measure progress if the data is just stored and never looked at. The periodic progress reports can help a business see how they are doing compared to the goals they had so it is important for the business manager or business owner to study the data that has been collected concerning their business' progress.</p>]]>
    </content>
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>Ways to keep your personal life separate from your home business</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/ways_to_keep_your_personal_life_separate_from_your_home_business_004502.html" />
    <link rel="service.edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/cgi-bin/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=8/entry_id=4502" title="Ways to keep your personal life separate from your home business" />
    <id>tag:www.improvingyourworld.com,2009:/business//8.4502</id>
    
    <published>2009-11-02T16:00:00Z</published>
    <updated>2009-11-02T16:00:34Z</updated>
    
    <summary> When running a home business many people find it difficult to keep their personal life separate from their home business. One of the reasons that people have such a hard time keeping them apart is because they are working...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>K</name>
        
    </author>
            <category term="Home Based Business" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/">
        <![CDATA[<p><img alt="homeoffice30349194.jpg" src="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/images/homeoffice30349194.jpg" width="175" height="152" align="left" style="border:3px solid #e7e7e7;margin-right:10px" /><br />
When running a home business many people find it difficult to keep their personal life separate from their home business. One of the reasons that people have such a hard time keeping them apart is because they are working at home, so during the day they tend to deal with personal matters. Another reason that people might have such a hard time keeping the two separate is because they have no idea on how to start keeping their home business separate from their personal lives.</p>]]>
        <![CDATA[<p><strong>Here are the steps that you will need to follow to keep your personal life separate from your home business.</strong></p>

<p><strong>Step one:</strong><br />
You need to set up a home office inside of your home. In the home office, you are going to want to make sure that you have everything that you are going to need for an entire days work. You are also going to want to make sure that the home office is in a space that will not allow for distractions and somewhere that is away from the main activity of the house.</p>

<p><strong>Step two:</strong><br />
You need to review your business plan to see what you have written down for the hours that you plan to work each day. If you have not yet written a business plan you are going to need to figure out how many hours you plan to work each day and put it down in writing. Once you have figured out how many hours you plan to work each day, you will need to determine what hours you will be working. For example, you want to work 8 hours a day, so you plan on working from 8 am to 5 pm with an hour lunch.</p>

<p><strong>Step three:</strong><br />
You are also going to need to determine what days of the week you plan on working. For example, do you only want to work Monday through Friday or do you want to have days off in the middle of the week and work on the weekends. The days that you are going to work will vary depending on the type of business that you have.</p>

<p><strong>Step four:</strong><br />
Now that you have everything planned out, you are going to need to follow your plan. You are going to want to make sure that you stick to the hours that you plan on working, which is similar to working in an office. What this means is that as soon as you have worked your eight hours you are going to need to get up and walk away from your home office, no matter how tempting it might be to continue working. After you are done for the day, you need to shut off your computer and close your office door and focus on your family. This doesn't mean that you can't work overtime sometimes, but like at a regular office you want to work overtime as little as possible.</p>

<p><strong>Step five:</strong><br />
Another thing that you are going to need to do is to keep your finances separate. It is important to keep your business finances separate from your personal finances because of taxes. You are going to need to be able to provide proof of certain expenses for your business, so if you have separate finances it is easier to find the proof that you need.</p>

<p><strong>Step six:</strong><br />
You are going to need to open up two separate checking accounts, one for your business, and one for your home finances. You want to make sure that once you have opened the two separate accounts that you never use your personal account to pay for your business expenses nor should you use your business account to pay for your personal expenses. You also want to have a separate credit card for your business; it can be in your name but never use it for anything but business expenses.</p>]]>
    </content>
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>Home Business Idea:Tips for assessing your employee&apos;s skills</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/home_business_ideatips_for_assessing_your_employees_skills_005091.html" />
    <link rel="service.edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/cgi-bin/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=8/entry_id=5091" title="Home Business Idea:Tips for assessing your employee's skills" />
    <id>tag:www.improvingyourworld.com,2009:/business//8.5091</id>
    
    <published>2009-11-01T16:58:15Z</published>
    <updated>2009-11-01T17:00:32Z</updated>
    
    <summary> A well run business needs good employees. And one way for a business to make sure that they have good employees working for their company is by assessing their employees&apos; skills. This article discusses a few tips that can...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>K</name>
        
    </author>
            <category term="Small Business" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/">
        <![CDATA[<p><img alt="charttwo30340387.JPG" src="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/images/charttwo30340387.JPG" width="116" height="175" align="left" style="border:3px solid #e7e7e7;margin-right:10px" /><br />
A well run business needs good employees. And one way for a business to make sure that they have good employees working for their company is by assessing their employees' skills. This article discusses a few tips that can help businesses assess their employees' skills.</p>

<p><strong>Know what skills are needed</strong></p>

<p>Each company should have a good idea of what skills their employees should posses. They should also have a good idea of what skills an employee needs to be able to fill certain positions in the company. Once the company knows what skills they want and need to have their employees possess, they can better assess their employees' skills tailored to their company's goals.</p>]]>
        <![CDATA[<p><strong>Have a set time</strong></p>

<p>It is important for a company to have a set time when they will assess their employees' skills. Many companies will assess their future employees, which is essential to hiring good employees. They may also set up times to assess their employees' skills throughout the time that the employee works for them. These assessments could be done, for example, every few months during the first year of hire and then once a year after that.</p>

<p>There may also be some employees that a company feels should have their skills assessed more often to make sure that they are reaching the standard that the company has set for them.</p>

<p><strong>Interview</strong></p>

<p>An employee assessment could be done by a one on one interview. The manager or boss should have a set of questions that they plan to ask the employee. It is important during an interview that the manager compares the employees performance with what was expected of them during the time that they have been working for the company. Employees should have been told specific goals that they were supposed to reach and whether or not they reached these goals should be assessed during the interview.</p>

<p><strong>Performance review</strong></p>

<p>A performance review is a good way to assess an employee's skills. Since businesses do very different things, a performance review will need to be done in such a way that fits with a particular business and its employees. For example, in sales, a manager could assess their employee's skills by accompanying them on a sales call. This will give them an opportunity to assess the employee's skills in a live setting.</p>

<p>If a manager would like to assess the skills of a phone representative in the customer service department, they could listen to the calls that an employee takes. Each department in a company may require different types of performance reviews since they each do a different job, but this can be a great way for a manager to assess their employees' skills.</p>

<p><strong>Take notes</strong></p>

<p>It is important that during an employee assessment, that the manager or boss (whoever is assessing the employee) takes notes. There are many templates available online or the company could make their own. These notes should be placed in the employee's file so that they can be referred to later.</p>

<p>It can be helpful, during a later assessment, for an employer to see if there has been an improvement in their employee's skills or if the employee has not gotten better at his or her job or has continued to lack certain important skills.</p>

<p><strong>Self-assessment</strong></p>

<p>Sometimes it is helpful for employees to do a self-assessment of their skills. This can help them to be reminded of what skills are important for them to have in their job and they can evaluate the areas that they need to further develop as well as the areas where they are excelling.</p>]]>
    </content>
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>Ways to grow your home business</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/ways_to_grow_your_home_business_004501.html" />
    <link rel="service.edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/cgi-bin/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=8/entry_id=4501" title="Ways to grow your home business" />
    <id>tag:www.improvingyourworld.com,2009:/business//8.4501</id>
    
    <published>2009-11-01T16:00:00Z</published>
    <updated>2009-11-01T16:00:30Z</updated>
    
    <summary> Just because you have gotten a home business, up and running doesn&apos;t mean that you can just sit back and do nothing. Your work does not stop just because you have gotten your home business up and running. Once...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>K</name>
        
    </author>
            <category term="Building Your Business" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/">
        <![CDATA[<p><img alt="coworkers30381299.jpg" src="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/images/coworkers30381299.jpg" width="175" height="116" align="left" style="border:3px solid #e7e7e7;margin-right:10px" /><br />
Just because you have gotten a home business, up and running doesn't mean that you can just sit back and do nothing. Your work does not stop just because you have gotten your home business up and running. Once you have gotten everything started, you need to start thinking about what you can do with your business to make it grow, so that you can reach all of the goals that you have envisioned for you and your business.</p>]]>
        <![CDATA[<p><strong>Here are three things that you can do to help grow your home business.</strong></p>

<p><strong>Number one: Build up the business that you have started</strong><br />
Building up the business that you have started means watching your business grow and become more complex, which can be done two different ways. The first thing that you can do to help your business grow is to add products or services. This is usually done when you have found that there is a demand for your products or services, so you slowly start to grow your business by increasing what you are offering your customers. You can offer similar products lines, which is going to give your customers more choices, you can add complementary product lines, which is going offer products that appeal to your customers but are different what you are already offering, or you can add unrelated product lines, which just simply adds products to your business.</p>

<p>The second thing that you can do is hire help when the workload gets to be too much. Before you hire an outside employee, you should look to family members first. The reason for this is that sometimes the workload becomes too much because of seasonal demands, which means that it will die off so if you can get your kids or spouse to help out you will save more money because you won't have to pay taxes and other such expenses for an employee. Another thing to consider before hiring a full-time employee is to consider outsourcing or subcontracting. This is a great option because you will be getting extra help, but none of the worries about if there is enough work to justify hiring another person.</p>

<p><strong>Number two: Stay small, but get involved in other small businesses</strong><br />
You can still keep your home business small, but in running your business, you might discover that a slight change in your product or services can attract a new market. What then can happen is the new creation can be a spin-off business that you can run side-by-side with your other business. The best part about this is that starting up these new home businesses is the same process as when you started your first home business, however, the work might be a little easier because you already know what to do and you have a head start on your potential customer base.</p>

<p><strong>Number three: Use your home business to gain experience and funds</strong><br />
You can simply use your home business as a way to reach your ultimate goal. What this means is that you can use your home business as a stepping-stone to reaching your ultimate goal. This really comes in handy if your dram business is going to require a lot of capital or even expertise. By opening a home business you will gain plenty of practice on running a business, which will give your more and more experience as the time goes on. Running your home business will also give you the chance to save up as much money as you need to get your dream business up and running, which includes purchasing inventory.</p>]]>
    </content>
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>Turning your home business into a profitable enterprise</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/turning_your_home_business_into_a_profitable_enterprise_004500.html" />
    <link rel="service.edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/cgi-bin/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=8/entry_id=4500" title="Turning your home business into a profitable enterprise" />
    <id>tag:www.improvingyourworld.com,2009:/business//8.4500</id>
    
    <published>2009-10-31T16:00:00Z</published>
    <updated>2009-10-31T16:00:35Z</updated>
    
    <summary> If you have a small home business, you might be interested in growing that home business into a profitable enterprise, meaning a bigger enterprise than it currently is. If you have a small home business that only caters to...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>K</name>
        
    </author>
            <category term="Building Your Business" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/">
        <![CDATA[<p><img alt="coworkers30395475.jpg" src="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/images/coworkers30395475.jpg" width="175" height="116" align="left" style="border:3px solid #e7e7e7;margin-right:10px" /><br />
If you have a small home business, you might be interested in growing that home business into a profitable enterprise, meaning a bigger enterprise than it currently is. If you have a small home business that only caters to a select clientele, chances are you are going to be struggling each year just to make ends meet. If you expand your home business rather than struggling to make ends meet each year, you will be a profitable enterprise.</p>]]>
        <![CDATA[<p><strong>Here are the steps that you will need to follow to turn your small home business into a profitable enterprise.</strong></p>

<p><strong>Step one:</strong><br />
You are going to need to determine just how much commercial viability your home business has, you want to find out just how well it is going to sell in the current marketplace. Even though your home business worked at a smaller level, you need to see how a bigger marketplace is going to accept it. Family and friends might approve and use your home business, but if you expand it to a nationwide level will you still have customers?</p>

<p><strong>Step two:</strong><br />
To find out what is going to happen if you expand your home business into a profitable enterprise, or if it is even possible to expand your home business, you are going to need to do some basic market research. You are going to have to figure out if there is a market for your products, how you can actually reach that market, plus what you will need so you can mass-produce your product.</p>

<p><strong>Step three:</strong><br />
You will also need to determine if there is enough long-term demand for your product or services to make your business profitable. One thing you have to keep in mind is that if you are making or creating things to sell you are going to have to come up with new ideas to keep bringing your customers back because if you only have one item to offer your customers you are going to go out of business fast.</p>

<p><strong>Step four:</strong><br />
To expand your home business you will need to start acting like a professional business. Many people who have a home business that they just started tend to not treat it like a business because they view it as more of a hobby rather than a business, which increases their chances of failing. </p>

<p><strong>Step five:</strong><br />
The first thing that you are going to have to do to start treating your home business like a professional business is to change your current mind frame. You need to get away from thinking of your home business as a hobby that you can work on whenever you get the chance. If you want to expand your home business, you are going to need to think in terms of a business, which means working on your business on a regular basis.</p>

<p><strong>Step six:</strong><br />
To help treat your home business like a business you will also need to open up a separate checking account for your home business. If you are trying to grow your home business into a profitable enterprise, you are going to need to track your business's income and expenses so you can know if your business is making money or losing money. The best way to track these expenses is to have a separate checking account, make sure that you never use it to pay for any of your personal expenses.</p>

<p><strong>Step seven:</strong><br />
You will also need to maintain accurate records for your business. This is important when expanding your home business because you will need to be able to prove what equipment you have purchased to help expand your business.</p>]]>
    </content>
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>Top 10 tips to avoid being scammed</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/top_10_tips_to_avoid_being_scammed_004499.html" />
    <link rel="service.edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/cgi-bin/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=8/entry_id=4499" title="Top 10 tips to avoid being scammed" />
    <id>tag:www.improvingyourworld.com,2009:/business//8.4499</id>
    
    <published>2009-10-30T16:00:00Z</published>
    <updated>2009-10-30T16:00:53Z</updated>
    
    <summary> Here are the top ten tips for you to follow to avoid being scammed....</summary>
    <author>
        <name>K</name>
        
    </author>
            <category term="Home Based Business" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/">
        <![CDATA[<p><img alt="email16219009.jpg" src="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/images/email16219009.jpg" width="175" height="116" align="left" style="border:3px solid #e7e7e7;margin-right:10px" /><br />
Here are the top ten tips for you to follow to avoid being scammed.<br />
</p>]]>
        <![CDATA[<p><strong>Number one: Never pay for the chance to work</strong><br />
If you are looking for a work at home job, you are not going to want to pay to get work. You want to treat work at home jobs just like you would an office job and you don't have to pay for an office job. This same no paying for work even applies to home based businesses; you can get independent contracting work from companies without having to pay them for it. If you are opening up a home business that requires you to have inventory on hand, it makes sense to pay for the inventory, similar to opening a small business with inventory.</p>

<p><strong>Number two: Research the business before you pay anything</strong><br />
You want to do some research on the company that you are going to be doing business with, especially if you have never heard of them. You want to make sure that you get a physical address and a phone number. You also want to call the phone number to ensure that it is a real number. You can also do an internet search to find out about good and bad things about the company. Most of all you need to be sure to check references.</p>

<p><strong>Number three: Use your credit card</strong><br />
Most people tell you to avoid using your credit card with certain purchases because of identity theft, however, if you are going to be buying some kind of starter kit or other investment into owning a home business you want to make that purchase on your credit card. The reason for this is that if something goes wrong you can dispute those charges with your credit card company, so you are not wasting all of your savings.</p>

<p><strong>Number four: Research the market for the proposed business</strong><br />
You want to look into each business that you are considering finding out if you can make any money doing that kind of work. For example, if you are thinking of doing a medical billing business call around to a few local doctors and hospitals to find out if there is a market for your services. Most work at home businesses are very limited in their markets.</p>

<p><strong>Number five: beware of vagueness and incredible claims</strong><br />
If the company is not giving out their name, costs, or other important information in the ads that they have placed stay away from them. The reason for this is that your scammers are going to leave out this information, so that they are not discovered right off the top. You also want to stay away from claims that you will make tons of money in a short period. For example, start now and you will earn $1,000 a week, doing little work.</p>

<p><strong>Number six: Put yourself in the employer's/client's shoes</strong><br />
When looking at the offers that you are considering you want to think about if you would make that kind of offer if you were the making the offer, you want to look at it from another perspective to see if it would still make sense to you. For example, companies that promise to pay you $1 to $2 stuffing envelopes when they have mailing equipment that can stuff thousands of them an hour. Why would they want to pay you more money to do it?</p>

<p><strong>Number seven: Consider starting your own home-based business</strong><br />
You can spend the same amount of time researching different types of products that you can sell for your own home based business. It is also going to require some type of investment, so you want to be sure that you are willing to put in the time and money to make it a success.</p>

<p><strong>Number eight: Don't come across as desperate</strong><br />
Even though you might desperately need a job, you never want to act desperate when looking for a home based business idea. The reason for this is that it can cause you to fall for obvious scams because you got careless. Not to mention that posting that you need a job because you have no money and that you are willing to do anything for money is going to bring all of the scammers out of the woodwork, and you will be inundated with all sorts of phony offers.</p>

<p><strong>Number nine: Be patient</strong><br />
If you are trying to start a home based business, you are going to have a lot of work ahead of you. Do not let yourself get impatient and fall for the scams that people are pushing at you. If you are giving a limited time offer, it is because scammers know that applying pressure brings in the people who need a job. If you stay patient you won't lose any money to scams.</p>

<p><strong>Number ten: Never reply to spam</strong><br />
You don't want to waste a minute on reading spam that comes into your inbox. Scammers are going to flood your email box with promises that are too good to be true, so the better it sounds the more likely that it is a scam. All you need to do with unsolicited email, which is considered spam, is delete it and move on.</p>]]>
    </content>
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>Top 10 home business scams</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/top_10_home_business_scams_004498.html" />
    <link rel="service.edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/cgi-bin/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=8/entry_id=4498" title="Top 10 home business scams" />
    <id>tag:www.improvingyourworld.com,2009:/business//8.4498</id>
    
    <published>2009-10-29T16:00:00Z</published>
    <updated>2009-10-29T16:00:49Z</updated>
    
    <summary> Here are the top ten home business scams that you need to be aware of....</summary>
    <author>
        <name>K</name>
        
    </author>
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/">
        <![CDATA[<p><img alt="notebook22903580.jpg" src="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/images/notebook22903580.jpg" width="175" height="107" align="left" style="border:3px solid #e7e7e7;margin-right:10px" /><br />
Here are the top ten home business scams that you need to be aware of.</p>]]>
        <![CDATA[<p><strong>Number one: Envelope stuffing</strong><br />
This scam has actually been around since the US Depression of the 1920s and 1930s, so it is safe to say that it is the oldest home business scam. However, it now is no longer just available in newspapers or magazines; it is also available on the internet. This scam has several variations; however, how most of them work is you are paid a certain amount for each envelope that you stuff. The only catch is that you have to send in money to receive your envelopes to stuff, which is usually a guaranteed amount of like 1,000 each week. After you send in your money, what you receive is a manual that you have to follow that includes flyer templates that you put up around town, which encourages people to send you money in a pre-addressed and pre-paid envelope. Then you simply stuff a flyer into that envelope and they are on their way. This scam is turning you into a scammer to make money.</p>

<p><strong>Number two: Make Money Fast or Chain Letters/Emails</strong><br />
These letters or emails are sent to from a variety of sources, in your email or in the regular mail. What they do is promise that all you have to do is send the email or letter along and a dollar or two to the top names on the list, and then add your name to the bottom and someday soon you will be a millionaire. This type of letter is a classic pyramid scheme, and most of the time the list of names are manipulated so that only the people at the top of the list make any money, which those are the scammers.</p>

<p><strong>Number three: Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)</strong><br />
There are some MLM companies out there that are legitimate, such as Amway, what these companies focus on is selling a product or service to customers rather than recruiting new people. The ones that you want to watch out for are the ones that are more concerned with recruiting new people than they are about selling the product or service.</p>

<p><strong>Number four: "Turn Your Computer Into a Money-Making Machine!"</strong><br />
How this scam works is that you answer an ad about how to make money with your computer. You will receive instructions that require you to send in some money to receive your start-up kit. Once you have received, your startup kit inside there will be instructions for you to follow that will allow you to set up your own ads on the computer to get people to turn their computers into money making machines.</p>

<p><strong>Number five: Typing at home</strong><br />
Many people like this idea because it allows them to stay at home and type, which they probably spend a lot of time doing already. How the scam works is you send in money to the scammer asking for more information. The information that you will receive is a disk and some printed information that tells you how to place home typist ads and copy the disk so you can sell it yourself and make money. This scam actually turns you into a scammer.</p>

<p><strong>Number six: Just call this 1-900 Number</strong><br />
You need to stay away from this one because 1-900 numbers cost you money just to call, which is how the scammers make their profit. Never call a 1-900 number for more information on a job.</p>

<p><strong>Number seven: Companies looking for Home workers</strong><br />
You pay money to receive a list of companies that are looking for people to work from home. However, when you get the list most of the companies don't take home workers, or they did a long time ago, but not anymore. The list is made up of a bunch of generic companies.</p>

<p><strong>Number eight: Email processing</strong><br />
This is actually a variation of the envelope stuffing one. How this works is that you pay a membership fee to get started working from home processing emails. You are not going to be forwarding or editing emails, what you are going to be doing is spamming people with the same email that you responded too. Most people sign up for this one because you are promised $25 for each email that you process, however, what legitimate company is going to pay that much for you to read an email?</p>

<p><strong>Number nine: Medical Billing</strong><br />
This scam costs you a lot of money because you pay anywhere from $300 to $900 for everything that you need to start your own medical billing service at home. You are promised software that is considered state of the art and a list of potential clients in your area. What you are not told is that most medical clinics do their own billing or they outsource it to other firms, not to individual people.</p>

<p><strong>Number ten: Craft Assembly</strong><br />
This scam can be putting together anything from your home, including toys, dolls, and other craft projects. You are promised a high per-piece rate and all you have to do is pay a fee upfront to get your starter kit, which includes instructions and parts. Once you assemble the crafts you are told that they do not meet the specifications that were given to you, no matter how good of a job you did. These scammers make money on selling the starter kits not the assembled items.</p>]]>
    </content>
</entry>
<entry>
    <title>Tips on valuing your home business</title>
    <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/tips_on_valuing_your_home_business_004497.html" />
    <link rel="service.edit" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/cgi-bin/mt-atom.cgi/weblog/blog_id=8/entry_id=4497" title="Tips on valuing your home business" />
    <id>tag:www.improvingyourworld.com,2009:/business//8.4497</id>
    
    <published>2009-10-28T16:00:00Z</published>
    <updated>2009-10-28T16:00:41Z</updated>
    
    <summary> If you are considering selling your home business or if you just want to know how much your home business is worth you are going to need to put a value on your home business. The best way to...</summary>
    <author>
        <name>K</name>
        
    </author>
            <category term="Home Based Business" />
    
    <content type="html" xml:lang="en" xml:base="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/">
        <![CDATA[<p><img alt="speaker60499985.jpg" src="http://www.improvingyourworld.com/business/images/speaker60499985.jpg" width="175" height="116" align="left" style="border:3px solid #e7e7e7;margin-right:10px" /><br />
If you are considering selling your home business or if you just want to know how much your home business is worth you are going to need to put a value on your home business. The best way to determine the value of your home business, even just for informational purposes, is to draw up the figures based on selling the home business.</p>]]>
        <![CDATA[<p><strong>Here are some tips that you can follow to help you value your home business.</strong></p>

<p><strong>Tip one:</strong><br />
You need to figure out what you are going to be selling with your home business. For example, are you just going to be selling the basic concept with no office equipment or will you include the office equipment as well? To figure out the resale value on your assets you are going to have to do some research to find out what the prices are and you are going to have to know what kind of shape your assets are in. Assets in new or like new condition are worth more than assets that have a lot of wear and tear. To figure out prices you can look at consignment stores and yard sales to see what the going rates are for used items. You can also find books that can give you a resale value on certain types of assets. Your financial statements will also help you determine the value of certain things because they will show you any deprecation, plus how much value is left in the assets.</p>

<p><strong>Tip two:</strong><br />
You will also need to consider goodwill and decide if you are going to include that in your price. However, when it comes to goodwill it is a very tricky thing to put a value on because it doesn't really have a monetary value. The value of your goodwill is going to be the value that you are putting on your company's reputation, products, services, and customers. Most businesses that have been in business for a few years have some goodwill built up and if you are going to sell your customer list to the new owners you should get paid for it, after all it was all of your hard work that got you to this point.</p>

<p><strong>Tip three:</strong><br />
Another important aspect of valuing your home business is any patents and/or trademarks that your home business owns. While they are similar to goodwill in terms of putting a value on them, you actually had to pay to create a patent or register a trademark, so you at least want to get back the money you have invested.</p>

<p><strong>Tip four: </strong><br />
Once you have decided what everything is worth you are going to need to set a realistic asking price for your home business, even if you are not going to sell it you need to place an asking price on it. The reason for this is because this is what you would expect to sell it for, so it is how much you think it is valued at. If you plan on selling your business, you need to make sure that the price isn't too low because even though your business will sell quickly, it will be selling at a discount and you will not be making much of a profit. However, if you price your business too high nobody is going to buy it.</p>

<p><strong>Tip five:</strong><br />
There are different methods that you can use to put a value on your business, you can use any of the methods separately, or you can combine them to get different results. The first method is to add up all of your assets and add on a sum for your good will and use that price or you can do some research and find out what similar businesses in your industry has sold for both locally and nationally and set that as your asking price. The third way is to use an industry formula that will help set a price range and then based on what you figured the company is worth you can set an asking price.</p>]]>
    </content>
</entry>

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