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Archive for January 31, 2009

taradeck | January 31, 2009
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Six Reasons to Quit Your Day Job to Work From Home



Six Reasons to Quit Your Day Job to Work From Home

Author: Lynn Powers

Most everyone has thoughts now and then of quitting their outside jobs so they can work from home. After all, we can always find something we don’t like about where we work, the work we do or who we work with. Working from home can be a wonderful alternative. But maybe you’re just not sure. Even with the hundreds of work-at-home opportunities available today, walking away from a job you’ve had for a while, or that has become comfortable, is a big decision.

So how can you know when your reasons for quitting outweigh the reasons to stay?

1. Family Matters! If you’re paying half of your hourly wage for child care or you walk through the door after working all day and your kids don’t recognize you, it’s time to rethink your job situation. You work so your kids can have “stuff” but what they need most is you. Figure out whether more money is worth less time with your family. Working from home may be the perfect option for you.

2. Moral or Ethical Conflict. If your boss expects you to lie to land an account, fudge numbers on a report or do something else that points your moral compass in the wrong direction, you have a valid reason to remove yourself from that position. Most importantly, you’ll be teaching your kids that standing up for what you believe is honorable and maintaining your integrity is always the right decision.

3. No opportunity for Advancement. Are you stuck? Have you reached a place in your line of work where there is no more room for advancement? If you can’t see yourself doing the same old thing (probably at the same amount of pay) for umpteen years to come, it may be time for a change. And being home with your kids definitely provides opportunities for advancement every day!

4. Where’s the Challenge? The truth is, we only develop and change through the challenges we face. And if the challenge has been taken out of your job, so has your growth. Lack of growth is cause to consider replanting to another location (like home!) where you can bloom in new and glorious ways.

5. It’s not fun anymore. No job is fun ALL the time. But it should, at least, be enjoyable and satisfying most of the time. In fact, if you’re doing what you love to do, sometimes it shouldn’t even feel like work. If all of the fun has gone out of your job, and it feels too much like work every minute you’re on the clock, quitting to work from home may be a good choice for you. Being home isn’t all fun and games, but at least you’ll be able to take a break when you need a burst of fun in your day.

6. You’re burned out! If getting out of bed every morning is a chore (not because you stayed up a little too late the night before but because you dread going in to work) and you find yourself getting sick more often, it may be time to call it quits. No job is worth the stress and health-risks it’s causing to your body.

Maybe you aren’t quite ready to take the plunge and walk away from your job to work from home. But, at the very least, it may be time to reevaluate your work situation and figure out where to go from here. Quitting your day job is a big decision. But if you find yourself in any of the previous situations, it may just be one that’s necessary – and hopefully rewarding – for you and your family.

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About the Author:
Visit WahmZone, the ultimate community for the Wahm and all Work At Home Moms. Visit our Wahm Forums as well.

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taradeck | January 28, 2009
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7 Rules for Making a Good Impression in Business

Getting favorable word out on a tiny budget is one of the perennial challenges facing small-business owners. Advertising is often too expensive, so most business owners rely on good old fashioned networking and word of mouth. However some are better at it than others

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taradeck | January 26, 2009
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The Power of Using Email in Your Marketing

The Power of Using Email in Your Marketing!

Author: Jeffrey Zalewski

Without a doubt, email marketing is one of the most cost effective and work smart methods for marketing your business. You can reach thousands of prospects with just a simple click of a button. Yet, most marketers struggle to get effective results from their marketing efforts.

Not only are you faced with the CAN-SPAM Act and being compliant, but the email systems your prospects use can easily filter out your email before they ever see your message. Plus, people are bombarded with an avalanche of emails every day. This makes email marketing very challenging.

The great news is you can learn how to be effective using email as a method of marketing. Your success at using email effectively begins by understanding some very simple fundamentals regarding the use of email. These basics must be learned and applied, especially if you want to tap the true power of using email in your marketing, so you can have a competitive advantage.

As with any marketing method, it will take you time, patience, and consistent tracking of your marketing actions. Just because you have an email address and something to offer, does not mean you will get the results you want when you send an email message. There is much more to it.

As a Certified Training Consultant and Success Coach, I have worked with thousands of marketers over the years. I have also observed through their marketing efforts, as well as through all the emails I receive everyday, that most marketers misunderstand email marketing. Therefore, they get pitiful results. The misunderstanding is not only in how to use email but also in the power email marketing can provide to their business.

In March 1999, I began a track of personal success that helped me achieve a record of consistency in my marketing efforts. In fact, I personally sponsored over 800+ people total, which spanned a record of me sponsoring an average of 10+ people a month for 73 consecutive months.

The success I had did not come over night, nor did it happen with any magical tool. But it did happen with the use of technology including email. The fact is the technology helped me leverage my time and effort so I could focus my time in talking with primarily interested prospects. About 80% of my marketing efforts were connected to online marketing and email played an important part in my entire marketing strategy.

I continue to use email effectively in my business, not only for marketing but also for follow-up and support. The facts prove email works and email is a work smart tool. This is one of the reasons it is one of the 5 methods categories required in the 5 Point Strategy I use in the marketing of my business.

Why do I succeed at email marketing and others seem to fail? Simple – I take consistent action doing the things that work! The bottom line is that I have learned how to use email and unleash the power of email marketing in building my business.

Following are seven tips to follow, which will help you effectively use email in your marketing. Learn these tips and make sure you apply what you learn.

TIP # 1 – Email is Just a Tool

The method of email marketing consists of many tools and email is just one of many tools you will use. Other tools include, but are not limited to, auto responder follow-up systems, instant messaging, broadcast systems, and web sites.

Use email as a tool for leveraging your time and to supplement your communication with your prospects and downline. Do not forget the fact that network marketing is about building relationships and you can’t build relationships unless you talk with people. Regardless of what tools you use in your email marketing campaign, your most important tool in email marketing is the telephone.

TIP # 2 – Understand What It Takes to Get the Results You Want

Type a message, click send, and they join! In the reality, that rarely happens. In fact, over 97% of those marketing online with email are not getting the results they want. Why? The answer is simple, but not easy! They are not adhering to the very basic fundamentals that make email marketing work.

In marketing, there are three critical areas of the marketing mix affecting your results:

1) Your message
2) Your target market
3) Your marketing method

To get the results you want, you must make certain these three areas of your marketing mix are in balance. I one area is out of balance, you will NOT get the results you want.

TIP # 3 – Think Long Term!

Too often we are thinking short term and focus only on the immediate gain. One very important lesson I learned early on is that consistent email marketing and following up with prospects long term makes a big pay off.

I do a lot of market-testing using email and other technological tools. I also use some very basic tools that help me keep a pulse on my actions, ensuring that I am consistently doing what works. To accomplish this task, I track and I recommend you do to.

In my own business, I had done a study about three years after I started using email in my marketing. In this study, the statistics showed I averaged a 12.2%+ conversion rate in the conversion of prospect to new customer/downline.

The real breakthrough for me came from what the study revealed on long-term results. The results in this study proved to me conclusively that the greatest benefits from email marketing efforts come from long-term effort. Here is what my statistics showed and the results are Phenomenal! This study looked at the prospects who entered my email marketing system in the first 70 days of its use. What was discovered was that within 30-45 days of entering the system, 10%+ of the prospects converted from prospect to downline (customer). At the time of this study, of those prospects entering the system in the first 70 days, I also had a long-term conversion rate of 29.72%! The bottom line is, the power is in the follow-up… and email works to supplement your overall marketing efforts. Think long-term!

TIP # 4 – Do NOT Spam!

This is more than a tip, this is a rule you should never break. Spamming is irresponsible and can get you into major trouble. It can also cause a lot of problems. Spamming can ruin your reputation and credibility. Bottom line is do not do it.

With the CAN-SPAM Act, one can also be intimidated as a marketer. This is where you must become a student of email marketing and learn from what we teach you (we invest a ton of money in market-testing and teach what works). You will find, over time you will
master the necessary skills to be effective in email marketing. The extra steps you take in learning effective email marketing and how to get results without spamming, the less likely you will be accused of spam. Being responsible in your marketing is essential and is required if you want to be view as credible in the marketplace.

TIP # 5 – Keep It Simple

While the technologies we have today look great and sound like the next best thing since sliced bread, stick to the basics. You do not need all the bells and whistles. You don’t need video or even audio. But you do need an effective message focused on your prospect’s wants and needs.

Unfortunately, too many marketers do not realize that many people operate with older computer systems. Although you may have the latest technology, keep in mind most of your prospects are not internet savvy and are not working with the latest of technologies.

TIP # 6 – Personalize

People do business with people they know and trust. Personalization in your email marketing will extend a very long way. Use the prospect’s name and even relate to things you know about your prospect and their wants or needs. It is critical that you personalize whenever possible.

When sending email using an email broadcast tool, you can mail merge your prospect’s information into a canned letter, which will give an appearance of a personal letter. However, be careful not to overdo the personalization.

In addition, remember there is a real person on the other end of your email marketing message. With this in mind, periodically email a personal one-on-one letter to your prospect. Remember, people do business with people they know and trust.

TIP #7 – Communicate to Educate

The people you are marketing to have unique wants and needs. They are often looking for a solution for what they want to accomplish, fix, or avoid. With this in mind, it is critical that you communicate to educate.

While you will always have a call to action and will be marketing to generate new and repeat business, the body of your message should be on education. Just like this article, I wrote it to educate, but with an objective to build your trust and confidence in me. The fact is if you find this information valuable, you will naturally want to learn more and will either email me or look up my web site.

This will work in your own communications with your prospects as well. They are eager to learn and when you communicate to educate in your email messages, you will improve your prospect’s perspective of you and what you offer.

That’s it – seven simple and effective email marketing tips! There are more tips I can teach you, but master these first. Take responsibility in your marketing. Most of all, make sure you learn and implement what you learn, then track your progress. Be sure to let me know how this has worked for you.

About the Author:

Jeff Zalewski is a Certified Training Consultant & CEO of Direct Selling Academy, Inc., your training & performance improvement resource. Jeff intertwines his knowledge & in-the-field experience throughout his training and performance improvement resources. Subscribe FREE to his Direct Selling Pro eNewsletter at

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Category: Articles | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
taradeck | January 23, 2009
One comment

Linux Options for Small Businesses



Linux Options for Small Businesses

Author: Robert

Linux is an alternate type of system that provides hosting for small businesses and companies that run Linux applications on their personal computers and laptops. The Linux-based platform is stable platform in the industry.

The Linux operating system was developed by Linus Torvalds as an alternative to other operating systems. Most of its versions are free of costs. The most popular Linux software is Red Hat and Mandrake.

Linux was only for professionals until a few years ago but the situation has changed. Many ‘small businesses have switched to the Linux platform because of its open source architecture, meaning that users can structure the system to do what they want it to do.

Web host providers are specializing in Linux servers and the demand for this type of interface has grown by 40% over the last three years. A Unix-based platform is one of the most reliable operating system that you can ever have. It has a better up time than Microsoft Operating Systems and hosting programs in Linux are more flexible. You actually can get ore from a Linux based server than other servers on the market.

Linux supports a wide variety of application languages, more than any other operating system. The most common applications of such kind include C, C++, Shell, Perl, Tcl, Python, Java and PHP. Databases available for Unix are mSQL and mySQL. The one you choose would depend on what you plan to do on the web and the host that you choose to park your web site.

The Linux based system comes with its won web development module in some versions of Red Hat Linux that make web site creation easy as 1-2-3. FTP modules are built into the operating system to provide you with an alternative way to load the web site to the Linux host.

Linux will become a major force in the future as more small to medium businesses turn towards its hosting platform.

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About the Author:

Jonathan Locke is a writer on Linux, Unix, and Home Business Startup Ideas.


Category: Articles | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
taradeck | January 15, 2009
3 comments

Be a “Can-Be” Entrepreneur

Starting out with your own business will probably be one of the most difficult decisions you will ever make, but the ends will definitely justify the means if you can commit yourself to being successful. There are millions of people in this world that have made the decision to forgo their own dreams and entrust their futures to the corporate world. With insurance options, benefit packages and many other perks, this has always been considered the ‘responsible’ decision for educated people, until now.

Today the world is faced with failing 401(k)s, diminishing benefits and massive layoff’s. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in November alone, employers laid-off over 224,079 workers. This doesn’t even begin to touch the recent corporate layoffs for 2009, from such giants as Nortel, Microsoft, Google, and Motorola.

More and more, we are seeing an amazing trend coming out of this newly unemployed workforce, they are going solo and becoming the entrepreneurs they have always dreamed of becoming. CNN Money and the editors of Money Magazine recently created a handbook for Would-Be Entrepreneur’s that states:

If your career to date has been spent inside organizational flow charts
with more layers than baklava, starting your own shop is bound to be an adjustment.

It’s business time people! It’s time to quit being a would-be entrepreneur and start living out your dreams. Whether you want to create furniture out of recycled beer cans or you have a passionate desire to become the next Web 2.0 Guru, the world is rediscovering the Land of Opportunity that it once was, and the choice is now completely yours.

whether you’ve lost your job or you just want to switch careers,
creating a business starts with a unique idea and a solid plan of action.
- Joe Wallace, President of Growth Alliance of Greater Evansville

Once you have the idea and create your plan, success no longer becomes a matter of the economic situation, but a matter of self-discipline and ingenuity.

The future now belongs to you – where in the world are you going from here?

7 Important Questions to Get Your Business Headed in the Right Direction

  • Do you already have a business idea and think you’re ready to charge full-steam ahead?
    Start Your Online Business Today
  • Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?
    Take the Entrepreneur Quiz
  • Are you looking for business ideas?
    Find Small Business Ideas
  • Are you looking for free information and resources to get started?
    Find Free Business Resources, Courses and Start-up Information
  • Do you already run your own business but need to step-it-up online?
    Get Started in E-Commerce
  • Do you have too much work and not enough resources?
    Hire, Manage, and Pay remote contractors as if they were in your office
  • Are you looking for ways to tweak your customer service options?
    Add Live Chat Services
    Tighten Up Your Online Security
    Online Data Protection

Category: Business, Domain Registration, Internet Security, Marketing, Technology, Web Design | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
taradeck | January 14, 2009
One comment

Important Factors That Make Your Website Stand-out

Things you have to do to make a good website great:

It is a common misconception in the online world that if you build a website people will visit it.  It is just not true. There are millions upon millions of websites available online.  Your little webpage will be nothing more than a speck in the sea of information called the World Wide Web.

However, no need to despair just yet.  All hope is not lost.  Although your website may seem small, you can make that site shine for all to see.  These simple tips will help you make your website stand out from their competition.  Join us as we explore the things that make websites great.

Action Steps

Content is king.  The most successful sites in the world are driven by original and well written content.  People go to the internet for information and knowing that will set your site apart from the rest.  Make your content relevant and useful.  If you do not make your content relevant it will only be glossed over by web surfers.  They need fresh and engaging information now.  Make sure that your content is tailored for your intended user.  There are too many people in the world to satisfy every single one of them.  Instead choose a specific group and tailor your content for their needs.  If you want to cater to the youth, write content that addresses the things important to the youth.  Same with any other group, you want to capture their interests by talking about things that interest them specifically.

We recommend.  You can see from the list of alexa.com that content plays a large part of what makes a website great.  One great source of information online is Wikipedia.org.  It is just amazing how this site has remained afloat despite being a non-profit website.  It does not charge any money for its use and relies solely on donations from the kind hearted.

Be interactive.  Interactivity is another thing that makes a website stand out compared to the others out there.  If you include your viewer, chances are they will feel like they are a part of your organization.  Allow readers to contribute to your websites.  It could be as simple a comment or as complicated as a total marketing plan.  The key here is to let your viewers control certain portions of your website.  This gives your viewer ownership and with it affection to your site.

We recommend.  To see how much interactivity plays a part in the web, go to alexa.com.  In this page you will find that the top 10 sites offer original content or access to original content.  There are collaborative sites where people are encouraged to share information such as two social networking sites, MySpace.com and Facebook.com; other popular collaboration tools or websites include an online auction site, eBay.com; a collaborative encyclopedia, with Wikipedia.org; and a video sharing site, YouTube.com.  That is 50% of the top ten websites where visitors can create content for your website.

Create a Killer Design.  A design is more than just a pretty picture.  It is about form and function.  Create a design that pulls a visitor in.  A website has to be very navigational.  It needs to offer an easy to use layout.  One popular layout is the three column layout.  The middle column is usually where designers put in their headlines.  Place eye catching graphics as well.  There are plenty of wonderful photos available in public domain and even perhaps your own camera.  The way you present your text is also very important.  People will not stick around if you make your content difficult to read.

We recommend.  A great example of a great three column website design is MSN.com.  MSN makes sure that you get hooked by their headline and that you stay to read their content, which is very easy to navigate.  You can follow their lead by getting a great design from hiring a great graphics artist.  There are good graphics artists available in freelance hubs like oDesk.com.  If you are on a tight budget, why not go to Gossimer.biz, where they have an easy to use online website builder.

Tips and Tactics

  • Try to optimize your website to minimize its download time.  People that go on the Internet have a really short attention span.  If it takes long to download a page people will most likely just leave and check out a different web page.
  • Make sure your content is easy to read.  The best way to ensure this is by picking black text over a white background.  If you wish to put in a background, try to keep it light and pick contrasting dark colors.
  • One of the easiest ways to encourage interactions is through comments.  Encourage readers to comment on your articles.
  • Search engine like web pages that are constantly updates.  Regularly update the content on your website to keep your high ranking in the search engine.
Category: Business, Domain Registration, How-To Guides, Web Design | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
digitaldreamz | January 5, 2009
4 comments

Tips and ideas for Entrepreneurship on Internet

How many of you have ever fathomed of starting one’s own business?  I think most of us have at one point or the other in life.  We always like to think big but very few us actually make it big.  It all depends on the vision, implementation and luck too (but luck is not that big factor!).  Entrepreneurship comes with a never-ending conviction and zeal to do something different.  Often, the part time hobbies turn into splendid careers.  With the Internet making everything and almost everyone in this world reachable, entrepreneurship on Internet is the latest buzzword.  With recession hitting the world and layoffs on the anvil, the latest market scenario should push the wannabe entrepreneurs to start business from the comforts of home.

The Internet provides entrepreneurs the platform to start their businesses on low budgets and sometimes even with no investment at all.  Some do not require assistance and for those who do, there exists organizations that help entrepreneurs succeed.  Organizations, like Score, give counseling to business owners to kick-start their ideas.

People usually have ideas but they seldom implement them and as a result lots of people remain entrepreneurs just in their dreams.  Here are few tips to remove that psychological block:

  • If you have an idea, go ahead and implement it.  You need to take action to make your dreams a reality.  Unless you try to make it happen, nothing will happen
  • The results may not be visible immediately so believe in the fact that something is happening behind the scenes.  Soon the benefits will start to show.  Sometimes it may take a year or more, but you have to keep on striving for it.
  • Bank on your existing skills, do what you truly love to do, make the best out of those skills instead of going all out to buy unnecessary products.
  • Whatever you choose to do, be dedicated.  Most people lose hope halfway.  Once you start a job, see to it that you finish it.
  • Start by putting in a few hours every day and then take it forward to make it a success.

There are lots of ideas to start businesses online.  Professional bloggers, web designers, virtual assistants, counselors, online stores are a few of them.  There are sites like Etsy and eBay, which allow selling of your own products.  Etsy is especially dedicated to hand-made products like paintings, handicrafts, photography etc.  Certain ideas, when they take the shape of a website, turn into a huge success and sometimes are even bought by Internet giants.  Take for example Orkut, the idea of a commoner that sold like a hot cake and was later acquired by Google.

The net is filled with numerous success stories that made it big by entrepreneurship on internet.  Amit Aggarwal, one of the India’s first professional bloggers who gave up his job to pursue his hobby full time, is now playing in the millions.  Lesley Spencer Pyle, who is working from home for the last 13 years, is the president and founder of HomeBasedWorkingMoms.com and HireMyMom.com.  Margarita McClure, a mother who started making organic, cloth diapers in her free time (and selling them online) turned into a business with a turnover of $1.4 million in 2008.  The examples are many.  What made them a success story is their belief in themselves, strong conviction and sticking to the cause from start to finish.  Entrepreneurship on the Internet has the advantage of making it big with bare minimum.  To be an entrepreneur on Internet, all you need is a great idea, the conviction to see it through, and the ability to take action (and then there is no stopping you!).

Category: Business, Marketing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
digitaldreamz | January 2, 2009
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LG launches 3G Watch Phone!

Technology always works to take world one step forward.  What seemed impossible a decade ago is now a reality.  New innovations, gadgets, devices keep on hitting the market every now and then.  In this league, here comes the latest sensation in the field of mobile technology and communication; LG is going to unveil world’s first 3G watch phone that can be worn just like a watch around your wrist!  South Korea’s LG has created a watch phone with multi-tasking capabilities and this latest offering from LG is sure to turn heads and is bound to find many takers.

LG-GD910 has a 1.43 inch touchscreen which can be used to make calls and perform a majority of functions.  It has a camera along with built-in speakers to support video calls.  This 3G Watch phone will be launched in Consumers Electronic Show (CES) 2009 in Las Vegas in January.  This unique phone has voice recognition technique, can transform text into speech, and has an MP3 player (and a Bluetooth among other features!).  The first privileged takers of this phone will be in Europe (although the pricing has not yet been decided).  According to the makers, the phone is capable of making video calls over high speed Internet connections and gives a real time experience.

This device is water proof and is WCDMA (Wide Band Code Division Multiple Access) based.  WCDMA is a wideband spread spectrum 3G mobile communication interface that uses general multiplexing scheme of CDMA.  WCDMA actually combines CDMA air interface and GSM technology.  It also supports HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) which makes the processing of downloads faster.  In CSE (Consumers Electronic Show) 2008, the device was shown and now it will serve as a prototype for the actual product that is hitting the European markets probably in early 2009.

This device is another entry into the category of multi-tasking gadgets which have already taken the world by storm.  Both iPhone and the Sony Ericsson w610i have swarmed this market only a little while ago and are a huge success.  When iPhone was first released, people stood in queues and waited endlessly for their handheld devices.  The need of the hour (for busy people!) is these high-tech gadgets which can perform loads of tasks and leave nothing to the imagination.  How sensational this 3G watch phone turns out to be and if it measures rightfully against the yardstick of expectations, is yet to be seen.  More details will be available after CES 2009.

Category: Technology | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,