Work From Home

Many people dream about being able to work at home at some time or another. But maybe your boss laughed you out of their office when you asked if you could do your current job at home. Maybe you’ve searched the internet and got nowhere. While there are thousands more people working at home now than in the past, unfortunately, most employers still require your presence at their place of work, not yours.

So why not start a business of your own? There are many business opportunities that can be done at home. If you like the idea of taking advantage of a business opportunity, you must do your due diligence and thoroughly research its credentials before investing!

If you have your own work-at-home idea, follow these steps for turning your idea into a successful business that lets you make money from home:

1. Come up with an idea. You know what you like to do so why not make money doing it? After all this is why you are thinking of running a home based business right? If what you come up with is truly your own idea then you will have to know marketing. Some of the best ideas fall flat without proper marketing. Know your market and what will work. You can have the best hamburger out there but if people are not hungry they will not buy it! Probably the easiest way to get into a home based business is to go with a company that has a product and marketing already in place.

2. Research. Get a group of people together and brainstorm ideas around, this is called a mastermind group. Get a copy of the think and grow rich book. The internet is also a great place to research your work-at-home idea. Go check out some social networking sites, Facebook is a great place to start.

3. Make a plan. Most people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan. Any successful small business starts with a business plan. Think of it as your blueprint, the map of where you want to go. You can find a lot about business plans on the internet, or take a business course at your local college.

4. Find a mentor. Locate someone, ideally another business person, who is successfully running a home based business. Compare notes. Share ideas. Problem solve together. Need a Mentor?

5. Work at home! When all above steps are in place, you’ll be ready to get your home business started and begin living life on your terms. While there are many stepping stones along the way, you’ll happily plod on, knowing that you’re working for you and your family’s future on your terms. Look forward to that day when you can fire your boss. I know I did, my only regret was I didn’t video tape it!

Is MLM A Scam?

MLM Scams: is there such a thing or is it just a whole lot of people wrong here? Well yes there are some scams out there and there are also some good MLM companies out there too. As my gramps used to say “One bad apple spoils the bunch.” So let’s dig in to what is a scam?
To correctly and safely identify MLM scams a person has to first know a lot about MLM.

Most beginners in MLM and those just considering MLM don't know much about MLM so what most people do is they automatically group all of MLM, or at least most MLM deals, into the group of 'MLM scams'.
Although this is not fair to the MLM industry it does help many people, who know very little about MLM, from getting taken by those few MLM scams that do exist because they then decide to not get involved in MLM.
Okay, so just what can you do to protect yourself from MLM scams? That is the $64,000question! The answer is not so simple.

You have to do your homework and undertake a very detailed investigation of the company you are looking at.
You have to have a keen understanding of how MLM really works so that what may at first appear okay turns out looking like a scam, after a little investigation.
And what looked a little funny may actually turn out, after a thorough look, to be okay to pursue. You have to get educated on the whole concept of MLM scams.

At some level the person makes an emotional decision about doing an MLM program. And when the emotion clears up and level-headedness appears the person begins to see the deal, for the first time, for what it actually is.
And more often than not the deal isn't what it first appeared, through emotion laden eyes, to be.

So keep your emotions out of any decision you make about joining, or not joining, an MLM deal and you'll be virtually guaranteed to not find yourself in the middle of another of those many MLM scams. More on Is MLM a Scam in my next post. Need a Mentor?

Is MLM A Scam?

In my last post I asked the question is MLM a scam? Most people would say it is because let’s face it; there are a lot of not so honest people out there in MLM. This unfortunate reason makes it hard for the people who do run a legitimate business and not a Pyramid Scheme. Within a pyramid scam, you cannot make more money than the people above you. In other words, you cannot make more money than the person who introduced and only the people at the top actually make money. This is not true with a Network Marketing company. The plain truth is that it’s work and not a get rich quick scheme. Most who fail at MLM don’t plan to fail they fail to plan. There is no guidance or leadership in most MLM’s. You sign up, are told the sky is the limit, you buy the product and pretty much you are on your own. This is NOT the way to run any business.

The other challenge I see is commitment: most network marketers fail after 90 days. Let me ask you this: how long did you go to college or high school? So why not give your home based business that same commitment? Seek out advice and do your research and ask questions. If you are considering starting a home based business, and a lot of people are in this economy; you need to be Teachable, motivated, and have the burning desire to succeed. You will need a Mentor, someone to guide you and prevent you from making the mistakes others have made and not become one of the statistics. Let your Mentor teach and you be the student and watch amazing things happen. Not all MLM’s offer mentoring or coaching. More on my next post.

Is MLM A Scam?

I was on a forum the other day when someone posted Is MLM a scam? Let’s just call him Joe; Joe was new to the concept of MLM or Multi Level Marketing aka Network Marketing. Joe had jumped right in to a business not knowing how to run a business or where to start. Joe used emotion to make a decision that he should have used logic. We have all been there admit it, that new car, house, or gadget. We bought it on emotion, not thinking about tomorrow sort of like our current state of the economy. From what I read Joe was signed up and forgotten about. He was left to run this home based business on his own. Then when Joe called up his uncle Bill and told him about this incredible business opportunity his uncle told Joe that this was a pyramid scheme and he wanted nothing to do with it. Wow! Joe thought this was going to be his way out of the rat race, put his kids through college and sip on those drinks with the little umbrellas on the beach somewhere and collect a paycheck.

Ok so is MLM a Scam? Well I guess that depends on who you talk to. With our current economy and unemployment, people have been flocking to the home based business arena a lot lately. The problem is that while there are good companies out there, people sometimes don’t understand how MLM works or they get very little guidance. The pyramid scheme theory? Here’s my take on that: You work at a company, you have X amount of bosses who have X amount of bosses until you get to the top boss or CEO. Ok draw that out and you have... you guessed it a pyramid! If you don’t have a clue how MLM or Network Marketing works there is an awesome video called the brilliant compensation HERE. (no you don’t have to sign up for anything) MLM is not a scam if people are shown how to run the business and are guided through the steps to get where they want to be. They need a Mentor that will help them through the whole process, and make them successful in the business. More on MLM in my next post.

A paradigm

Paradigm; what a strange word, in fact how many times do you use this word? Bare with me here I promise this is not boring. This could change something for you. So let’s dig in shall we?

Dictionary.Com defines paradigm as:

A) Set of forms all of which contain a particular element, esp. the set of all
inflected forms based on a single stem or theme.

B) A display in fixed arrangement of such a set, as boy, boy's, boys, boys'

C) An example serving as a model; pattern.

Ok let’s go with C a pattern, a pattern of thinking. What is your thought process? Or what do you think when someone communicates something to you? Let me give you an example:
A young lady was speeding down a mountain road one day in her convertible. It was nice sunny day so she had the top down enjoying the ride. Tooling along she came to a bend in the road with a blind spot. At the same time a young man in his convertible was going the opposite way. As they came along side each other he yelled “PIG!” Well she looked backed and yelled “JERK!” when she turned back around there in the road was the largest pig she dad ever seen! She hit the brakes, missed the pig but totaled her car. In the little time the young man had to communicate to her that there was a pig in the road up ahead he only had time for one word. She took the word as an insult, a pattern of thinking on her part; a paradigm.

So my question is do you need a Paradigm Shift? Paradigm shift is a change from one way of thinking to another, and can apply to anything; your job, your married life, your relationships, your home, and your surroundings. What, however, changes is your attitude to all these. Your positive or negative, and good or bad, attitudes define the way things appear to you. So check out your thought patterns you might need a change; the next time someone yells “PIG!” you might want to slow down. Need a mentor? I’m right HERE

How's your attitude?

Feeling poor or having a poor attitude can make achieving wealth difficult, if not impossible. Your job, spiritual belief, career, the people you associate with, or even a calamity can be main contributors to poverty. However, there are some forms of poverty that we create ourselves. Taking an assessment of your current state of wealth or poverty in these areas is a fundamental step to success. People who have not achieved success are usually people poor, time poor, or money poor. Here is a brief look at each of these forms of self-poverty.

Relationship poor

Friends and family are supposed to take precedence, sad to say for some people this is just not so. The pursuit of making a buck is the foremost thought or priority, while personal relationships suffer. It’s okay to strive for more income to provide the things that you and your family desires. That may require long hours and hard work in the traditional work place, but it's important to maintain a balance. Are the relationships in your life in need some improving? Or, are things going outstanding? I have a few thoughts on improving a people or relationship poor situation. Schedule time to spend in your most important relationships, take the vacation with the family, spend 1 night a week and make it “family night” and enjoy it. Your children rather have you than the “stuff”. Make time for those who deserve it not want it. That sounds harsh, but how many people do you know who are always needing you for something? How much of your time do they waste? Meanwhile the people who you would like to spend more time with suffer, and in the long run so will you.

Time poor

We are all given the same amount of time every day. The only difference is what we do in that time. Those who are time poor often feel there is not enough time to get anything done. Where many people go wrong in this area is in over-estimating how much time is left to complete something, and under-estimating how long it will take. Try these simple tips: stop procrastinating! Get your list of priorities in proper order; don’t do the lowest priority tasks first. Make an activity log or journal of your time and what you do with it and analyze it. Set goals of getting those items done, put them in writing and stick to it. Schedule your day; make a habit of always being on time or ahead of schedule. Being early can mean waiting longer for someone else. You can combat this down-time by having something to work on; catching up on reading, writing down ideas, or making a few phone calls.
More on time management here

Financially Poor

Been there done that. Many people go into debt because the credit card companies make it very easy to do so. Advertising targeted to our pride or “keep up with the neighbors” We can feel poor when we don't get the things we think we deserve. It can be a vicious cycle. Taking an honest look at your situation is the only way to know where you are. If you’re broke; ok so you’re broke at least that is a starting point and you know where you stand. People who are money poor are often quick to dislike those who are wealthy. Thoughts like “Only the rich get richer”, or “You have to be lucky to be rich”. Never mind that most people who are wealthy have earned and paid the price. This poor attitude contributes greatly to money poorness. Changing attitudes about money can be hard, even if you are a normal person, with a regular job, and somewhat of a paycheck. However, to help change your attitude try this out: What is your attitude towards wealth and prosperity? Do you believe that it has never been in easy reach? Write down your beliefs, doing this will show you what thoughts are holding you back from achieving success. Make a commitment to change your beliefs; it's all up to you. If you want to be wealthy, you need to leave behind your old attitude and develop a new way of thinking.