The Home-Based Business Blog

That book I mentioned is called Deliver and Measure - you can find it here... www.deliverandmeasure.com ...

I really like the points you brought up, but what caught my attention was the comment from "Ed." I recently purchased a book by the president of the company he uses (Mindshare). It has helped me learn a lot about customer care. I would recommend it!

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Alot of products are drop shipped which is a huge economic advantage and fairly well developed . Where suppliers are frequently lacking is developing the whole package including customer service , selection, web design ,information , inventory management , marketing , and descriptions .

Recognizing the difference between auto pilot and auto ignore is the key. When imagining setting up systems and processes to automate your business it's easy to dream of turning away completely from the business but that's probably not the best idea. I use systems and web tools to manage little processes that I don't want to worry about. I use surveys by Mindshare for customer feedback and that plays a hufe role.
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I recently just got into the MLM travel industry and was wondering if anyone could take a look at what I had got into!.. It is still in pre-launch and was hoping to get as much info as I could..
heres the address.
www.travelstar.biz/dlevinson

any advice would be greatly appreciated
Dan Levinson
d_levinson@yahoo.com ...

It is very true what you had written here...I have tried a few business on line and I could say I havent been on the top,just a few results I had yet I never give up and I keep on trying and reaching what is there. What is really behind business on line? I truly believe there is a what we call success there thats why patience and keep believing plus application are factors to consider to be successful on line. As a matter of fact, I recently started my new venture on line and everyone is invited to visit my website. http://www.t10wah.com/3134.html ...

Internet business is headed toward the focus on the vertical, the niche market segments. Get ahead of the game and become an expert in one now. With so many opportunities to connect with like-minded people, there is an available market automatically. If you love seashells and are an expert on them... open an online seashell resource... here's more tips to get creative towards niche-oriented businesses.. www.readtheanswer.com/index.php?RTA=web2 ...

Hi, I wanted to say that I found this blog very helpful. I always think I know it all and then I read one of these blogs and I realize I don't know much. I started this business: www.2008cashheaven.com
I hope it works well. I am going to use the advice you give and utilize it towards this business.
Thanks...

Terapeak is free as long as you have an ebay store which only cost $15.95 per month and even that cost goes down according to your sales and feedback. It may only be free for awhile, I do not know yet, as it suddenly appeared on my listings page. If it goes away, then it is not free, but so far it is and has been for over a month. So do not pay for this-get it free by opening an ebay store which by the way only cost 3 cents to list something but 12% of final value fee. God Bless, Kathy ...

Refreshing to see a blog on the realities of working at home! You would think by now that people would stop LOOKING at "get rich quick" promotions...every time I hear of someone actually believing they might work I cringe...then I wonder if they have any sense of reality..and rationalize it by saying not everyone knows the realities of business...Personally, I think the trick is finding something you love to do, then do it and make money from it, then it won't seem like work.

Now if I could stop reading blogs I could actually get back to work...

Agreed,

As a former traditional travel agency, I saw these card mills popping up in MLM and saw them for what they were, card mill operations who were nothing more than pyramids paying headhunting fees for recruting others.

Sadly, this has hurt the industry over the years, but I saw this early on, and along with last recession, I sold agency, and I am glad I did.

Most who are in the traditional travel industry know it has gotten less and less profitable, so it is no wonder MLM got involved to attract those who wanted to travel for less, and earn money from home.

I use to run travel agent training classes, and they were booked solid every month, so I had no doubt there was a huge demand, too bad most MLM deals focused on money rather than quality services, it might have worked.

With so many still trying, I doubt it will ever be what the industry needs to be, dedicated long term relationship building client based business is where you make it or break it in travel, not paying recruiting fees.

Just when I thought I saw it all, a truly unique new travel related service has just started. Travelencia is different from all the rest, they are focused on long term travel program without the huge upfront fees of $400.00 to $800.00 and up to $80.00 a month, Travelencia is only $50.00 and $19.95 per month, and what makes them unique is they are offering no credit trip financing options.

Travel is way down due to recession in U.S. and other parts of world, and with dollar at all time low value, international travel is all but non existant. I feel travelencia is filling a huge niche no one in travel has addressed before. I know I wish I have this option when I was in the industry when last recession all but killed most small agencies. This could be the answer to all those who want to be in travel industry, but don't want to commit the time and effort to get fully trained.

I feel this is the niche which will attract all those who could not justify the high cost of all the MLM travel deals we have seen over the years. Besides, unless you were a big recruiter, you rarely earned enough to cover monthly fees, never mind recoup your initial investment.

Better yet, with simple compensation plan, low cost, high value guaranteed lowest travel rates without the need to become fully trained, this is perfect for the average passive effort housewife or stay at home Mom which makes up the largest catagory of travel agents. I like this, and if you need help getting your initial $50.00 and cover your $19.95, there is a group who work to place your first four under you to break even, which will eliminate attrition, the number one killer in all MLM's.

Now you can access discount travel, plus earn more than enough to cover the cost of your own travel arrangements, and all for very little out of pocket expense. When you research them all, no doubt in my mind, this is the best of the best, way above all the rest in value and ease in which to break even. Share it with others, simply tell it, no need to sell it, and I like that. Nice to be back in the travel industry for so little. (g)

Good luck to all, Travel-FAMS.com ...

Wow! That is some list. There are some things in there even I had not thought of - thanks!

Obviously there are advantages and disadvantages to every work situation.

Here are some advantages and disadvantages between Being Self-Employed vs Being Employed:

DISADVANTAGES OF BEING EMPLOYED
Boss watching over you
Fixed schedule
Limited opportunity to increase your income
Fixed vacation period
Set office attire
Office gossip
Office politics
Co-worker problems
Company rules to follow
Morning and evening commute
Government gets paid first
No tax advantages-deductions
Follow a set of rules
Limited flexibility for family & personal time
Limited freedom to make decisions
Get paid to do something you don?t love

ADVANTAGES OF BEING EMPLOYED
Predictable income
Sick leave pay
Fixed earnings
Health insurance
Less responsibilities
Less discipline

ADVANTAGES OF BEING SELF-EMPLOYED
No boss
Flexible hours
Unlimited opportunity to increase your income
Free vacation period
Free work attire
No office gossip
No office politics
No co-worker problems
No rules to follow
No morning and evening commute
You get paid first
Many tax advantages-deductions
No rules
Total flexibility for family & personal time
Total freedom to make decisions
Get paid to do something you love

DISADVANTAGES OF BEING SELF-EMPLOYED
Unpredictable income (is up to you)
No sick leave pay
Uncertain earnings
No health insurance
More responsibilities
Need self-discipline and be a self-starter

The important thing is to adopt the one where we can excel the most according to our desires, skills, and personality.

http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

If you use MongoSCAN you can accomplish the same thing as you were doing (scanning, saving as a PDF, and then emailing it), but with less steps. In a nutshell, MongoSCAN allows you to scan hardcopy documents from your standard fax machine, and they arrive via email.

All the sender would have to do is replace their existing fax cover sheet with the Cover Page you create and print at www.MongoSCAN.com

The signed documents instantly arrive as scanned PDF attachments into the recipients inbox, and you (the sender) would receive a digital copy for your records too.

This is really a great and simple to use service that requires no special equipment, hardware, software, monthly commitments, or accounts to set up. It was designed as a pay-per-use service and costs .25 cents per page making it cheaper and more convenient than running to your local Kinko's :)

Here's a two minute demo of how the product works:

http://www.mongoscan.com/V14/howitworks.mongo?cid=30467

Hope that helps and that you find the service useful! The product is in beta so we certainly appreciate and welcome any feedback!

Sincerely,

Shawna Barabas
www.MongoNet.net

shawna@MongoNet.net
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http://www.pricepicture.com tracks music CDs on the Amazon Marketplace and has a free Music Bargains Report that is updated daily.

Hi Mr. Ross,

We offer private mail boxes to clients and we are located in an NON-shared location. So you don't have to deal with a suite number that is already in place. We've had a lot of clients comment that that helps.
YourUSaddress.com ...

Frank, I structure my work schedule in the same manner. Working from home I am able to start my day early with a cup of coffee here in the office. Then I get up stretch or whatever I need to do between projects. I take an hour break for lunch and I don't work (except for reading your advice) between the hours of 4-7pm. Then I work a few more hours, if necessary and rap up the night. It's great.
Having my own business is the best decision I ever made. It is very important, however, to structure you day and your work week so you are in control.

After all, isn't that why we left the corporate world to begin with.
---Jeff Bayne www.BuildaFutureOnline.net ...

I signed up for an internet voicemail service which required me to upload personal greetings. With my handy desktop mic and sound editing software the personal greetings came out great. With 101voicemail service I can use as many voicemail greetings as I want.

This was hysterical! I wonder how many people use that paypal link to get this person's information. It is really amazing to see all of the scams, and "send me money now" links everywhere.
I am sure the "Poor Loser Handbook" would include markers and crayons at no extra charge. (free with $15.95 in shipping/handling charges)
I am very glad I have a REAL business and talk to REAL people everyday. Visit http://www.BuildaFutureOnline.com for more information on what I do to be a work at home dad am still able to make six-figure income.

That's funny! The really sad thing is, I bet he/she made a ton of money off of that even at $7 per sale. I must admit, I like their style! Straight and to the point! Did you notice at the bottom of the page that their website is for sale?? LOL! Way to go and get your retirement set up!!

No matter what home based business opportunity you choose marketing your goods or services will be essential to your success. Hey, everyone needs to know about your website! Get started with 1,000,000 real visitors - (no joke!). Get the full details @ https://paydotcom.com/r/17261/sabre23/18062236/
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No matter what home based business opportunity you choose marketing your goods or services will be essential to your success. Hey, everyone needs to know about your website! Get started with 1,000,000 real visitors - (no joke!). Get the full details @ https://paydotcom.com/r/17261/sabre23/18062236/ ...

Generally, if you need more business coverage, you can expect to pay about 10 percent more than you are currently paying for your personal policy.

Depending on a number of factors, such as the state you live in to the type of car your business owns, a commercial auto policy can cost more, or less, than your personal auto coverage. Keep in mind, however, that prices in the auto insurance industry overall are on the rise.
http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

Most large and small businesses don?t understand the importance of writing website content that satisfies their visitors. Instead, they concentrate in providing a ?sales pitch?. However, you must always remember that when you start a business from home, you?re serving two masters: your visitors, and search engines, and you?re pleasing both through informative, valuable content. Your Internet home business idea will grow at a faster pace when you provide your visitors with a content rich website. Search engines will notice your site and will increase your rankings. You?ll attract more visitors and they?ll keep coming back. In turn, those visitors will become customers and the snowball starts rolling. That?s the power of content, informative, focused, targeted content. http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

Dear Mr. Ross, Pushing $5.00 a gallon for gas, loaf of bread, or gallon of milk, OJ. or what about the mortgage market? This video isn't about selling fear! It's called a "reality check!" Some people, beleive it or not don't know that there is a problem until you hit them over the head... I could show you three prominent examples running for president! I think this website is a very good example of helping people wake up to the problems we are really facing as a society and maybe some posible alternatives to fight back.

The 2 best motivators in the world are Fear and Greed. we do things (most of the times) out of fear or greed. We fear what we don?t know, and one of the best ways to avoid fear is by obtaining knowledge. With regards to a home business, first, you need to identify your fear. Maybe you?re afraid of not having a steady income if you work at home, losing money, lacking the knowledge to get started, etc. All of these boil down to fear of failure. Face your fear, take the first step, and with prudent and informed actions you will overcome your fear of starting a home business. http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net/overcome-your-fear-of-starting-a-home-business.html ...

Things have been going better than I would of ever imagined. I simply plugged into the system in place saved myself money on services I already use and have a new technology (videophone) that allows my whole family to talk and see each other, which the kids and grandparents love using everyday. It's a win win situation for me and my family. Oh and then there's the extra money that comes in every week also on top of everything else. It really brought a lot of excitement and joy into my family.

An online business is one of the best ways to create multiple streams of income. Besides thousands of affiliate programs available, you can place Google AdSense ads on your site, or set up a referral commission with local merchants. Another great advantage to these incomes is that they can become "Residual Incomes". This means that you put the time and effort at the beginning ONCE, and then the income keeps coming 24/7. That's what I call leverage! http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

Meg Whitman made a bad deal or two when running Ebay. Now the sellers who built Ebay have to pay for it. With postage and all the other expenses associated with doing Ebay for small sellers this is what is going to be the straw that breaks the camel?s back and it may even break Ebay. Allot of people have left Ebay over the past year and thousands more are expected to leave this year. The upper level executives at Ebay failed Econ in college, or just never went. Ask them to draw a supply and demand curve or tell you what an equilibrium is and they would ask you, what?s that? The people who built Ebay the sellers will also be the ones who destroy Ebay. How you might ask, they will stop selling. Why because Ebay is no longer Ebay. It is now called fee bay a market place that acts like a parasite that sucks the life out of you until you are dead, but needs you to live. Check out my Ebay store at www.primeonly27.com while it is still around. I pay about $1 to $5 an add or more just to sell an item. If it does not sell I am out the $1 to $5 I paid for the add. If it sells then I pay 8.75% plus about 3% to pay pal then the tax man, the internet company, Intel to make me a Cpu, a web hosting service, the post office, and rent for some hole in the wall. The only people who will continue to do Ebay will be the thieves and people who have no business skills that can afford to pay someone to take their stuff away while wasting all their time programming the Ebay site with stuff that they bought in the 50?s or before and paid about nothing for the item hoping that someone still wants it and will pay them a few bucks so that they have gas to go to the post office with nothing left over. If you get a monthly government entitlements you can make Ebay work for you. All you need to do is pick up your entitlement check at the same time as you take your packages in once a month. Please don?t talk to bad or nasty about Ebay on their website go to a communist country and learn about state run media corp. In life if you get greedy you get burned, some people never learn. Ebay will get burned at the stake by their sellers if they keep their fee?s up and up. Ebay will go up in smoke, short term their stock may be a good buy before it goes bye bye. Amazon is a better trade. It is better to sell Ebay on a short sale. Meg Whitman is a _____ bag.

Myspace is full of amateurs. It was cool about a year ago because you could steer traffic from your myspace page onto your blog or squeeze page and make offers or collect newsletter sign ups, but now because of all the spamming that went on, I would recommend youtube or squidoo. Cheers, http://www.ceosalarynow.com ...

Onlywire is a great service that allows you to submit your website link to several of the top bookmarking sites with a single click. You create a free account at Onlywire.com, then enter your username and passwords for all your bookmarking sites. This not only saves you a lot of time but gives you effective leverage! http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

I am a member of a number of social networking sites. As someone who is fairly new to network marketing, I discovered and learned a lot from members of theses sites. You are correct that you will learn a lot. I am new to network marketing. I started about 8 months ago, but many are surprised when I tell them how new I am. I feel that the social network marketing sites are one of the reasons I have learned so much so quickly. Thank you for letting me share...

This article is really helpful. I know what it can be like to decipher IT jargon or even attempt to use some of the programs to design your own website or logo. After doing some research I found a low cost and easy site to use. Most of the individuals are based in China, but I was surprised about how many of them speak Enlgish and the quality of the work is good as well. If you're worried about payment the site mytino.com uses an escrow payment service so you can be sure you will have the work completed before you pay. Also I found it useful that I could set the price that fit my budget and because you are dealing with a Chinese economy, you benefit from having lower costs.

I think the feedback change is a good thing. There are sellers selling useless wholesale lists and they have 100% feedback, isn't suspicious to anyone? The only thing a seller should care about is if he gets paid or not. Most buyers are honest and they pay so it's all good. Few don't pay and very very very few are scammers. In those cases, you can always report to eBay. You can blacklist them. You should automatically blacklist buyers with 0 feedback in the first place. If the buyer is really bad, you can even submit their ID's to www.rottenbidders.com - a site where sellers share their bidder blacklists.

I work from home as a Virtual Assistant and although I use electricity, heat and a computer at home, these are things I would be using at home even if I worked elsewhere. I have been impressed with the number of software programs which are web based or can be downloaded from the web, which saves production, delivery and disposal. Using a Virtual Assistant to do tasks from their home instead of from your business is a green way to go! Terri Carey Virtual Assistant for Coaches TLCServicesOnline.com ...

These new fees is make it more difficult and expensive to sell low-cost products. Amazon is catching up with eBay and keeps building a non-auction alternative. Amazon has a complete system with independent sellers and a used items marketplace growing at a rapid pace. http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

These type of centers are excellent for home-based businesses that don't have a need for permanent office space. I had a "virtual office" arrangement with one of these centers for over ten years. They took my calls and I was able to secure meeting space whenever I needed it -- all for one low monthly fee.

Daniel, outsourcing isn't as expensive as you may think. Speaking as a Virtual Assistant, our rates vary from small tasks to large projects. My answer to you is YES it is worth it if you are finding yourself 'wasting' time on repetitive tasks. Frank, thank you for exposing the outsourcing options for small businesses. There just isn't enough exposure to this idea!

Good concept. An email with your domain name not only makes a better impression, but it reminds your clients of your business name. http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

This is a good post. I agree that you have to test to see if images enhance your website or not. I think it is also very important to have professional, clear pictures. A pet peeve is pictures that are "fuzzy" or unprofessional looking. Laurie Neumann www.christianhomebusinessconnection.com ...

ALLBUSINESS,ANY CHANCE OF GETTING A NEW SCREEN SHOT OF THE STORE CATEGORIES AND THE NUMBERS.MAYBE SOME TYPE OF CHART THANKS MELVIN ...

Blujay is definatley taking off to a good start.There are people pouring in like mad over here.Everyday people are being welcomed in the forums and explaining that they are coming from the dark side{ebay} mainly ebay refugees as they are called by most.They are looking to get away from ebays steep prices and strict policies.The sales at Blue jay are also taking off at a good as expected pace and getting better everyday.The forums are exploding with excited new comers as well as blujay veterans that have been there since the opening day.The new comers just can't believe how nice they are being treated and how much everyone is helping them with the small minor adjustment problems that take place in any transit. What could anyone expect,it's 100% free and most can't believe how nice it is.They now accept google & paypal checkouts as well as the usual checks & money orders.Some people are bringing in verbal communications for use with customers and fellow blujayers.The auction counts are up to about 350,000 and all categories are rising.WoW people you just have to come check this place out. MELVIN of USED HOUSE STUFF http://melvin.blujay.com ...

Sandy that's a great idea for tasks like mass mailing - local high school kids. And these days, they can often do more advanced work such as lightcomputer programming and web design. Daniel, only you can decide if outsourcing costs too much. The key questions to ask would be how much time can you free up by outsourcing "x" and would that be enough time to help you add value to your business in other ways.

I only run a small website so i find that outsourcing my tasks would be completely inappropriate since my turnover is only just maiking me a profit. I have started fairly recently though and i do understand what you are saying, it does take so much time to horrible, boring and repetitive tasks. Do you think outsourcing would be worth the investment in the way that i can spend more time focusing on my home business growth?

Outsourcing can definitely save your sanity. One company I used successfully for website or blog help, as well as newsletter design, etc. is elance.com. They are easy on your checking account too! For direct mailings, you can also try using a high school student who wants to make some money part-time. Sandy Reed Soulpreneur Sucess Strategies ...

Skylights are helpful for natural light but I have found them to suck out heat! At least that's the case where I live. I believe they have a device you can install on your TV to shut it off after a certain time. Might that help instill a good practice?

That's a new option Sergio and it can really benefit people in states where there is no state income tax (such as Washington where I am). That means you can use sales tax as a deduction. But one caveat - you need to keep good records if you're going to do that!

Those are great Sergio, I am guilty of hitting print too soon myself. I will definitely keep that tip in mind. And Kim, I can only imagine what kind of paper must be in that industry - Forms forms and more forms. But I'm glad to hear it's making a move toward paperless.

Thanks for the tips Mark - That sweet spot is hard to hone in on and not everyone is an expert.

Thanks for the tips Sergio - whois.sc is a great resource!

Great tips for working at home and trying to do your part. I never thought of turning off the router at night. Of course, I am apt to be on the computer at odd hours, so I don't know if that will work here, but great idea nonetheless. A another thing that home basers help out with is take out trash. I know that sounds a little silly, but when I am working at home, I tend to eat at home. The days when I am out running around, it seems that I always have a sack in the car that gets full of trash! I also have many windows and skylights so I don't even turn on a light unless it's raining or dark out. I can sure tell a difference when the kids are home all day though! If someone could figure out how to instill in their brains that all televisions and lights don't need to be left on it would be great! You would think after 18 years of that being drilled in their heads it would sink in!

Sellers rating buyers absolutely does happen outside of eBay, and has been happening for years. Many retail stores and hotels have sophisticated tracking systems that allow them to monitor "bad buyer behavior" trends (excessive complaints, excessive refunds, etc.) and even ban certain customers, when possible. I've worked with three such systems. When casinos find cheaters, they publish their names in a black book, and they usually immediately phone all other casinos in the area to warn them that the cheater may be on the way to their establishment. And I can remember my local stores used to rate buyers before the advent of such technology. Before Telecheck came along, stores would post signs saying "Don't take checks from these people!" next to each cash register. Word would get around town, and those deadbeats weren't welcome many places -- and rightly so. There is nothing "quaint" about networking with other merchants and tracking trends to ensure you do business with as few scammers as possible.

Both, GIF and JPEG image formats are compression based formats. Whenever you have images in both formats and don't know which one to use remember: Lots of colors, use JPEG. Solid colors or no gradations, use GIF. Regardless of the format you use, keep your image size within 20KB, otherwise it will take a lot longer to upload when visitors enter your site. http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

In the mortgage business, it's all paper, paper, paper! I have been in this business for about 10 years and can say I unfortunately have been responsible for the demise of many trees! That is the one side of this business that I have never liked and pushed to change. I can gladly say now that most mortgage companies have gone paperless! It is such a relief to not go through 2 reams of paper a day. Now, I have electronic files for all my clients and store everything there. It is such a change and has saved a fortune in paper expense not to mention the green effect!

I recently did my income tax for 2007 and my accountant said the following: "This year you have a choice to either deduct your state income tax or your state sales tax". So he calculated both to see which tax deduction was higher. In my case, the state income tax was higher. Depending on your type of business, this option will benefit many home business owners. http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net/ ...

Here are a few procedures that help me print less pages: 1. Review your document before printing. We tend to push the "print" button too soon, only to find out that there are mistakes on our documents and we have to print them again. 2. Reduce your margin settings. When working on Word documents with multiple pages, you can go to File>Page >Setup and reduce your margin settings. This will enable more text per page, therefore, reducing your total page count. 3. Don't print in color unless you have to. Color ink is more expensive and all you have to do is go to the Printer's Property Box and change the settings from "Color" to "Black and White", and from "Normal" to "Draft" 4. E-mail your documents. I e-mail my invoices to ALL of my clients. Besides saving money, it saves you time and they get them almost immediately. http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

I agree that longer domain names are difficult to type in and you will lose some of your customers there. Further, there is a school of thought that preaches domains with multiple hyphens are penalised by search engines who see them as "spammy" and contrived. At the same time new domains that hit the right spot are hard to come by now, yes. I have one brilliant suggestion for your readers: Buy a short domain. There are people selling domains are very affordable prices if you know where to look. First, you can pick up "dropped" domains really cheap. And you can use notification services like domainbroadcasting (google it) to find you these domains. Places like sedo also provide notification services. Not all sellers are highly skilled domainers. Many are ordinary webmasters and let go of domains they don't need anymore. Here are some places where you can find such domains for sale. http://www.experienced-people.co.uk/ ...

For a longer domain name is always better to use hyphens to break the words apart and make it easier to read. For instance digital-photography-resources vs. digitalphotographyresources. Another good idea is to use a domain name that is spelled exactly the way it sound to avoid being misspelled. www.whois.sc is a good place to find a good domain name. They combine your keywords together in a number of ways to try and find the best available domain. http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

Hi we are members at blujay and absolutley love it.The price is right FREE.Unlike ebays high prices and harsh policies,blujay is a better enviroment all around.Yes blujay does need to make adjustments in it's services but please remember that it is a free site.The owners have a full time job and only does this in spare time.You won't find nicer sellers and customers anywhere on the internet than what blujay offers.This site is growing in a fast pace since ebays new policy changes and come may-june it will explode.The listing on blujay is only slow once in a great while,maybe one out of every 30-40 listings might be a little slow.This is actualy pretty good for a small site.If a person wants to give blujay a shot,everyone there will give them a very warm and friendly welcome,just check the discussion boards and you will see. THANKS MELVIN ...

When I call leads for my business, I focus on their quality. I like to generate my own generic home business leads which are either live or very fresh, I get a great response that way. I own http://libertyhealthnetleaders.com ...

When I started my home translation business, I'd make cold calls from an Exporters Directory offering my services and most companies said "NO". About 120 calls later I got a new client that gave me a $12,000 project. From then on, I did all of their translations for about 5 years totaling more than $80,000. The best way to figure it out, is to divide the total earnings from a client by the number of calls. My calls WERE NOT A WASTE OF TIME, I figured each of my phone calls was worth about $666. http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

I am a newbie in studying and analysing on how to start a home based business, your content let me clear about some queries I have had and thank you for the useful tips. By that, I also sign up as a member and wish to learn from you more about this catagory. Thank you from : lamchu http://10homebasedbusiness.blogspot.com ...

I am from the insurance and finance sector. You might enjoy this information. I have overseen 250 million in premium in the construction insurance market place in the past five years. I'm sure your readers will appreciate my view on the economic change. http://pipelinephil.blogspot.com/ ...

A highly recommended site is elfingo.com for online auctions. They are the new ebay. Many smaller sites like this offer buyers far better deals than ebay ever could. Buyser also save a ton because this site charges little or nothing depending on the day. One more reaso I like elfingo.com is because they don't take a part of the sale at all. No commissions or final value fees. A+++ http://www.elfingo.com ...

Time is an extremely valuable resource. Your home business allows you time flexibility, but you need time management activities to achieve top productivity. One thing is being able to move your schedule around and another is to lose focus, become disorganized and waste valuable time. Time is an asset and you can either benefit from it or waste it. http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

I think that's very helpful information and a great idea. My teenage kids are starting to look for ways to earn some extra money. I'm learning how to do affiliate marketing, so while they help me around the office, I can teach them some e-commerce tools and how to take advantage of so many Internet resources for their future. From what I've learned so far, "Blogs" are a fairly simple and inexpensive way to get started promoting products and services. http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

I think you have some great ideas for things that are less intrusive that a phone call. Reminders can come in other forms too. Thanks.

With the increasing wave of telemarketers, clients are fed up with phone calls, even if they are just courtesy calls. I think cards are a better way to keep in contact with them. When I get a new client, I try to get their birth date. I contact them twice a year: once with a birthday card and then a Christmas card. I also post a note requesting any suggestions to improve my services. This takes extra time and effort but clients appreciate it more. http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

Wendy, your Squidoo lens looks great! It looks like you are spending some time on it and getting it full of detail quality content.

It's always great to hear success stories as many of the things I write about are not actually from first hand experience. Thanks!

My brother-in-law is very pleased with his transcription business. He started doing transcriptions for a hospital, which according to him is the best way to gain experience, and many times, a requirement to get hired. Gradually he started offering his services to other hospitals and doctor offices. Now he works at home and is totally self-employed. His main equipment expense was a machine to retrieve the dictation. He already had other things he needed such as a a computer with word processing software, a phone and a desk. This surely beats working for someone else, not to mention the flexible schedule he now enjoys! http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

Frank, thank you for the tips. I actually did get a major and a minor tip from you that I didn't really have in my arsenal. I'll be watching to see if you have any more internet marketing or Squidoo tips. I'd also be interested to see more about eBay. I had a pretty bad experience with "selling" on and tend to be bias (against them); yet, logically, I know my experience is not what happens the majority of the time. I am open to continuing to learn about them. I don't want to shut out an opportunity because of one experience. Thanks!! P.S. If you want to check out my lens on Squidoo... http://www.squidoo.com/internet-marketing-guidance :) ...

Shukree, yes there is life outside eBay and this fundamental shift is part of the process of eBay growing. Growing to what? We have to see.

I'm having problems with my browser. I kept waiting for the message indicating that my message was posted, so I clicked again twice and still nothing happened. I restarted my browser and realized my last comment appeared 3 times. I apologize for the inconvenience.

If a company's name is not included on the site due to an agreement with a parent company, at least there should be some contact or similar information to show reliability. Consumers are becoming more aware of the increasing wave of "business opportunity frauds". This practice doesn't help to improve the credibility of these offers in the eyes of consumers. Here are some ways to avoid being a victim of fraud within this industry: 1. Doing a background check on the potential company to join 2. Checking the company out with the Better Business Bureau 3. Signing up only with companies that have a refund policy and customer support. http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

I think your right somewhat. I want to highlight one thing. I like my space. I dont want a guy calling me everday, hastling me. I think it's the responsibility of the downline to get with their upline...not the other way around. Just my 2 cents. http://www.squidoo.com/littleguynetworking ...

That really sucks. I have sold many items on ebay and most buyers are really rude and impatient. It seems that ebay power sellers will REALLY have to step their game up! http://www.squidoo.com/littleguynetworking ...

It seems ebay is totally revamping their whole system since they started losing alot of money recently. Ebay used to be a really great place, now it has truned into a beast. It's about time for an overhaul. http://www.squidoo.com/littleguynetworking ...

Wow...I didn't know about this tool. I had a problem once where someone just copied all of my content. Nothing major but it was annoying because what I wrote wasn't copywritten. Thanks for the post! http://www.squidoo.com/littleguynetworking ...

It's about time! Ebay has been going crazy with listing fees over the years. I have spent a ton of money on high ticket items that didn't sell because of those rediculously high rates. Personally I'm done with ebay...they have too many ambiguous listing rules. Great Post. http://www.squidoo.com/littleguynetworking ...

I found out some ways to make my ad stand out from others and therefore, increase traffic to my site. First, I optimize my ads by adding an asterisk before and at the end of my title. The text is a brief description of my business (about 150 characters) where I try to include at least 2 important keywords/phrases. Then I make these keywords bold by using html codes. Usually within an hour, the title of my add appears in the first page of the Google search. http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

After reading the various comments, I am more concerned that ever that seller?s will not be in a position to leave neutral or negative feedback for the buyer. It is quite obvious from the comments made that there are some very vindictive people out there who can?t wait for the new rules to take place. SELLERS?S PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THE FOLLOWING: Now there is a website where you can leave neutral or negative feedback for those buyer?s who warrant it. WWW.VOX-POPULI-ONLINE.COM is a site where you can list your feedback about the buyer. It?s a very clean looking site, easy to navigate and it is a free service. So stop worrying about buyer?s holding you to ransom and take a look. We are currently looking for moderators who would like and help and monitor the site to keep it fresh and to stop abuse. If you are interested, login and contact us through the contact us link.

Here's another good trade show calendar: 2008 Wholesale Trade Shows ...

For years I went through these problems, but finally I built my dream office. After a few years of sacrifice, I was able to have a garage detached from the house and my office on top. Now, I not only have a beautiful view of mountains, trees, and a quiet place but the total privacy I always wanted. This creates an optimum environment for peace of mind, motivation and productivity. Make plans for a private room, the sacrifices are worth it, this is a blessing! http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

Try www.swapblaster.com . This site has a unique approach to selling and it costs only 7c after coming out from its beta state. For the next 6 months the buying and selling will be free. The approach may be strange in the beginning but you will get a feel of it, trust me. Go through the wiki pages and spread this word around. I believe this will be an integrated solution for all your day to day needs, material and non-material. Let us make this movement successful and find some NIRVANA in the sphere of online transactions. Good LUCK and God BLESS AMERICA.

http://tinyurl.com/27nzaf ...

http://www.walletpop.com/2008/01/17/multi-level-marketing-is-counter-cyclical-sign-of-a-pyramid-sch/ ...

Yes, it's true. Multi-level marketing companies (pyramid schemes) do prey on consumers even more during economic downturns. It's easier to for people to believe the lie of "financial freedom" when money is tight. Unfortunately, 99% of people who participate in these schemes LOSE MONEY. That's what we call an abusive system. You'll also never hear that statistic from the companies themselves. Who in their right mind would ever sign up if they knew that?

Sergio - that's an important point. The best and more complete an answer, the more value it will convey and will hopefully get voted up up up! Thanks.

Rebecca - that's an important point. One greeting doesn't fit all days does it? Especally true if you are going away for an extended period of time, like a vacation or a convention out of town. Thanks!

Sergio, thanks for bringing that up. I guess that raises an issue about buying domain names that have been previously used doesn't it? Bob, thanks for the reminder about what a good tool Google Analytics is.

Rebecca thanks for that point of view. It's easy to forget that not all eBay sellers are in it strictly as a business. Drew, I did not know that BestBuy labeled their customers as such. How do they accomplish that? Anyway, thanks and keep those comments coming!

MANY of the sellers on eBay are not Power Sellers with huge inventories that make their living selling there and use eBay as a "storefront" site. A HUGE chunk of them are folks like myself, that use eBay to clean out the attic, dispose of one's parents accumulated years of things when they move into retirement homes, or clothes that the kids have outgrown or toys they no longer play with, etc. I am not a store. I use the site, when I am selling, as a garage sale with a wider market than if I stuck the stuff out in my yard to get rid of it, in the hopes that the saying "one man's junk is another man's treasure" will hold true. It is AN AUCTION SITE. Not a brick and mortar store. At auctions of any kind, online or not, buyers can NOT back out of an auction they have placed a winning bid on in the same way they can change their mind at the cash register. It is not the same ball of wax folks, and some of the comments I'm reading show a complete lack of recognition of that fact. In case you were not aware, auction houses DO forbid non-paying bidders from coming back to their auctions. If you ever attend an estate auction, and either don't pay for what you've won, or bounce your check and never make good on it, you won't be issued a bidding number card at another auction held by that auction company. . . . That said, when someone bids on an auction, and does not pay for it, it costs money for the seller to relist, and take the chance that the other folks who had previously bid, but not won the auction, might be back again. I have a good rating which is made up of about 2/3 buying, and 1/3 selling, and I know that when I do sell, people are going to look at that rating and judge my buying and selling record to make a determination as to whether or not they want to take a chance bidding on one of my auctions. When I buy, I look closely at the seller rating, and if there are some negatives I look closely at the nature of the negatives and make a determination as to whether there is a recurring theme (slow to ship, poor communications, etc.) or if the person complaining is actually the problem. Many of the people who do leave negatives tend to be people with an extremely low rating themselves. And quite frankly, the ONLY time I personally have had problems with non-paying bidders, is when they had a rating of less than 5, which ultimately forced me to decide to block buyers with a very low rating, or a negative one. Conversely, the only time I had issues with a seller was when they had a low rating, too. No surprise there. There are a LOT of flaky people who bid on online auctions with no intention of ever paying. Then there are the ones who do not thoroughly read the auction description, or change their minds, or have buyer's remorse, or discover that they can't squash their size 14 body into that size 4 dress and want to make it the seller's fault it doesn't fit and feel this is adequate reason to give the seller a negative. OF COURSE the seller is going to respond with a negative. While it is true I have seen some sellers leave horrific feedback comments (please note that I won't buy from someone who does this since it illustrates poor character and makes me suspect of whatever it is that he or she is selling) I usually see the reverse - buyers who leave unwarranted negatives. I DO NOT agree with eBay taking away the ability for sellers to negatively rate the droves of deadbeat bidders out there. Overstock.com, Amazon.com, etc. are NOT auction sites. They are online stores. Some of you are trying to compare apples to oranges.

Definitely, verifying your site with Google helps in many ways. I couldn't get my site indexed by Google for many months, but couldn't figure out why. After some research I found out that someone previously had my domain name and had been banned from Google. It took me more than 3 months and 3 requests to Google before my site was finally indexed. So "better safe than sorry". http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

I heard positive comments about Yahoo Answers, so I decided to give it a try. I agree, this is not only an excellent medium to help others about a particular topic, but it also helps build traffic and links. This is specially true when one of your answers is voted "best". Yahoo Search considers that the reference is coming from a quality, resourceful site and therefore increases its ranking. http://www.legitimate-home-based-businesses.net ...

This is terrific advice for those of us who work from home. I find it's also helpful to change my message on days when I will be out of the office for all or part of the day. This makes callers less likely to think they are being ignored if they don't get a quick return call.

You people need to wake up. There a lot of losers out their that I don't want to sell to. Best Buy has gone so far as to label some of it's customers 'Devil Shoppers', and has even blacklisted some of them. It's sad ebay is making this change. Just another reason to abandon ebay and go to CraigsList. You get bad service their too, but at least it doesn't cost you anything.

I agree with Frank but for other reasons. Google Analytics is a very helpful tool, along with the other free webmaster tools they provide. They're an excellent way to keep track with your traffic as well as help determine which audience demographics you're appealing to the most. Did I mention they're free; it doesn't get much better than that.

Eric, it looks like a tidal wave of unhappy sellers!

Have you seen the comments from longime sellers on CNN money? http://fsbfeatures.blogs.fsb.cnn.com/2008/01/31/ebay-fee-hike-sparks-seller-rebellion/ Whoa, wonder what is going to happen to the stock after all the changes go into effect in May. Time to sell my ebay stock for 2008 while it is up? Looks like the momentum, and fury of the sellers no confidence, could really hurt them more than expected.

I agree that having sellers rate buyers doesn't really reflect the real world at all and seems to only exist on eBay. It was 'quaint' when eBay was in its formative years, but maybe now it's tim