Guest Post – Consistent Year Round Home Party Business

May 22nd, 2012

Regardless of what products you sell, the home party business is a year-round enterprise. Consultants that rely on their sales revenue for regular income do not want to see the flow of money stop because sales are seasonal. There are just as many good reasons to host an event in the summer as there are in the winter. When you know the ways to keep your home party business going all year long, you will start to realize the benefits of ongoing income.

- Shatter the Misconception

As a consultant, you come into contact with a lot of people that carry the misconception that your business only operates on a seasonal basis. Business success is often based on perception, and you can change that perception by letting people know that you work all year long.

When you talk to people about scheduling events, remind them that you run a year-round business. Find ways of scheduling events during months that many people think you are not operating. Include small phrases such as “offering year-round service” on all of your literature; that helps to corect the misconception that your business is seasonal.

- Keep Good Data

Momentum is a big part of maintaining a year-round business. Keep comprehensive sales data at all of your events that indicate what your best selling items are and how many of those items you commonly sell. When you find yourself ready to schedule an event at a time that is not traditionally busy, use these hot-selling products in your advertising to gain interest in the event. Attendees who see strong attendance at events scheduled during off-peak months will start to lose the part-time notion of your business.

- Keep Your Marketing Habits

As soon as you stop marketing your business, consumers will begin to think that you are done for the year. When the traditional slow months start to come up in the calendar, you should maintain your marketing efforts. Stay in front of people by hosting as many events as possible and continue to get marketing materials out to prospective customers.

One of your strongest sources of income and new clients is your referral network. Keep working your referral network on a full-time basis all year round. Do not let people tell you that an event will not work because of the time of year. You need to stay focused and keep your business in front of people to keep it going.

Being a year round home party plan consultant means never letting up on your marketing efforts and having an open calendar all year long. When people realize that you work the entire year, you will start to see your business prosper.

Deb Bixler is a home party plan business coach who teaches systems that create success in any party plan business. Incorporating her direct sales business tips into your business you will create a consistent income year round. Learn more about home party plan success systems that work for all companies here.

Outsource to Make a Holiday Happen

May 21st, 2012

As a business owner you know how important it is to get things done. You’re the only one to do everything and if you stop your business will stop and if that happens you won’t have money coming in. It’s difficult to let that happen when you use that money to support your family.

One of the easiest ways to make sure you continually have income from your business is to get help. When you outsource specific tasks you’ll have more time to do the things that grow your business, but you’ll also have the ability to make more time with your family and that includes taking holiday’s off to be with them.

There are many different tasks you can outsource. Some of them maybe specific to you and your business while others are generic and can be done with any and every business. Generic tasks would include article writing, article submissions, blog management, social media management, email management, and newsletter creation to name a few.

When those things are out of the picture for you, you’ll have time to do the things that must be done by you and only you. You’ll find when you have more time to do those things you’ll be able to get them done during your business day and when the end of your day comes around you’ll be able shut down and be with your family.

You’ll also find when these tasks on gone from your plate you’ll be able to do what it takes to plan a vacation and actually take the time off and not work. You’ll be able to relax and enjoy your time off. This will help you to rejuvenate yourself and have a fresh start when you return.

Outsourcing is the perfect way to make sure you have enough time in your day to complete your tasks and have the ability to shut down when it’s time. It’s also the best way to give yourself the ability to take a vacation or take a holiday off without worrying about losing money. When you have all of this, your life will be perfect and that’s what it’s all about.

 

Tips for Exercising while it’s Hot Outside

May 20th, 2012

When it’s cold outside it’s easier to workout than it is when it’s warm or even hot. Exercising in the winter will help you warm up and stay warm. When it’s hot outside it’s harder to do what’s necessary. That’s why these tips will help you to get your exercise in each day and stay cool at the same time.

If you enjoy taking walks outside as a way to get your exercise that can be difficult in the summer time when it’s hot. One way to still make this happen is to do it early in the morning or later in the evening. When the temperatures are cooler you’ll find it’ll be easier to do it. Look at the forecast and decide if it’ll be better to do it in the early morning hours or later at night.

If exercising outside is not your cup of tea, you need to consider your options inside. This will give you the ability to work out with a fan or air conditioner. This will make it more comfortable for you to work out and get the job done and you’ll have control over the temperature so if you get too cold or too hot you can adjust accordingly.

One thing to remember when you’re working out is the more you sweat the more fat you’re burning and that’s where your weight will come off. Even though it’s hot and you’re sweating, it’s still better, but you don’t want to get too hot, so it’s a good idea to use a fan aimed at your face or upper body.

If you choose to workout at home you have control over the temperature. You can use a fan, an air conditioner, swamp cooler or ceiling fan to control the temperature while you exercise. This will help make it more comfortable during the time you’re working out.

To continue reading this article, click here.

What Really IS a Direct Sales Fundraiser?

May 19th, 2012

If you are new to Direct Sales, you may hear a lot about Fundraising, but not find a lot of information as to what it really is. Well, I am here to clear up the mystique for you!

Fundraising is an event in which a charitable organization is identified to receive funds that are raised specifically for that charity, non profit group or select individual(s). In terms of Direct Sales, the donation to the charity usually comes out of the profit of the representative and the amount is identified ahead of time by way of either a percentage donation or a flat amount.

Many companies offer fundraising to help their reps but that does not mean the company kicks in money. Most of the time, the representative is the donor of his or her profit from the sale of goods through her business. There are some companies, however, that do have specific items to use for fundraising that are at a special price or they will have specific donation amounts.

If the group has a non profit status and a valid non profit number, most companies will withhold taxes from the fundraiser shipment so the customer does not have to pay State sales tax on the product. If your state does not have sales tax, this will not apply to you. Make sure to check with your company ahead of time on their procedures. They most likely will have special shipping procedures and instructions for fundraising sales so study them and ask questions!

To continue reading this article, click here.

Guest Post – Five Ways Your Blog Can Make You Money

May 18th, 2012
You blog because you’ve got something to say… maybe it’s a message to share, maybe it’s a way to help more people, maybe it’s a personal expression thing. Whatever your motivation, it’d be nice to make a little money from it, right?
Depending on your blog topic and how it fits into your business, you’ve got lots of options!
Here are five ways you can make money with your blog:
1. Advertising
You can offer advertising spots on your blog. For example:
• Image/Banner Ads (check out WP125 plugin or BuySellAds.com)
• Text Ads
• Paid Posts
• Ads in Your Newsletter or RSS Feed
Or you can consider options like Google Adsense.
2. Affiliate Marketing
What products or services have you used and can recommend that your readers might be interested in? Check into whether they’ve got affiliate programs you can sign up for.
Here are some strategies for promoting affiliate products:
• Write a review post
• Create a resource list blog post or page
• Write and giveaway a free report you can include a link in
• Ad a link or add to your sidebar
• Do a webinar or teleseminar (you promote on your blog and social media to get people there, the presenter gets to make an offer after they deliver valuable info and then you get a cut of any sales)
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Guest Post – Work At Home Health Tips – Keeping The Mind And Body Active

May 17th, 2012

Work at home jobs or home businesses has many benefits, that is a given. However, like many have experienced; working from the comfort of your home office has a few cons attached to it. Among the many work from home cons include non-school age children home with you all day, isolation, interruptions by family members and friends, no employment benefits and balancing your family and social life with your work life.

And those are just for starters. There are others depending on your situation and lifestyle. However have you thought about the health risks that go along with working at home? Yes, there are indeed many!

1. Your Eyes – Have you thought about your eyes while staring at a computer screen 8 to 10 hours per day? I’m affected, and my last eye exam proved it. My eye doctor could tell (just by my examination) what I did for employment. My eyes paid the price with me needing bifocals. I can imagine what my next appointment will be like. It will probably be trifocals. I can sure feel it …I have to strain more while tilting my head backward; and my eye doctor told me I’d be doing that more and more as time went on.

There is something you can do for this, and I can tell you it works. My eye doctor told me to take several small breaks each day, he said at least 4 times every day that I work. He told me to stop working and walk out on my porch and look out as far as the eyes can see. This gives the eyes a nice break several times a day. Your eyes are important to you, take the short time it takes to do this, and you will feel the affects of it more than you might think.

2. Exercise and Circulation – Sitting in your office every day is not good for your circulation, or your brain for that matter. You need some kind of activity to keep your muscles and joints moving and active. I start out my days with an aerobic video workout. It’s a 48 minute workout (including a warm up and cool down). I follow that workout with abdominal crunches. I feel awesome after my workouts. Walking is also good to stay fit. It would be a good idea to take two separate breaks from your online work to take short walks outdoors, (weather permitting of course). Also a treadmill is something to consider when the weather is bad.

3. Isolation – Isolation is often something that many of us experience when we decide to work from home.. For the most part, you are alone while working unless perhaps one of your kids are home from school on a holiday or he or she is sick. Although for many moms out there, it’s normal to have your kids around you. You need to get out with friends and family for various activities, even it it’s for a lunch or dinner. It can also be just for a cup of coffee and a good talk.

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3 Valuable Tips to Help you Reach Success with Article Marketing

May 16th, 2012

Article marketing is a valuable part of your business, but it can fail if you don’t do it the proper way. One of the most important things you must do with it to see success is to submit your articles to directories, but if you can’t get them approved it won’t do you any good. This is why you must write your article using the right format.

The most important thing you need to remember when you’re using article marketing to grow your business is to use the correct format for your articles. You must have an introduction paragraph, the body of your article, and a conclusion paragraph. Without those things your article won’t make sense and you’re going to fail from the beginning.

When you write an introduction for your article it’s important to share what you’re going to cover in your article. It’s important to tell your reader from the beginning what to expect while reading it. If you don’t do this, they’re going to stop reading your article and move on to one that shares this information.

The introduction to this article told you your articles won’t be accepted by article directories if you didn’t use the right format. With that information you’d expect to learn what the correct format is and how to make it work and that’s what this article is all about.

The body of your article needs to contain detailed information about the action items you described in the introduction. Your article can have one action item or many items. This article has three action items that pertain to the right format to use when writing your articles. The important thing to remember is you can have as many action items as you want as long as they all pertain to each other and make sense in the article.

To continue reading this article, click here.

2 Valuable Tips to Help you Reach Blog Post Success

May 15th, 2012

Even though the content in your blog posts is one of the most important things, there are two other things that must be used properly or your blog post won’t be read by the masses. You can have the best content possible, but if you don’t have a good title and you don’t use the keywords properly you might as well forget it.

1. Title

Your title is the first thing your readers see, so it’s important to use one that’s catchy, but fits the post as well. It’s not good to try to get people to read your post by using a title that in no way fits what you’re covering in the post. If you do that people will stop reading what you post and that’s not what you want. When you come up with a title that’s inviting and grabs their attention, you’ll get them every time.

When you’re thinking about the title for your blog post, come up with something that fits the post and try to use the main keyword in your post. This will help draw them in and make them want to read your post. Don’t make your title too long because that will cause problems with search engine posts and if someone uses your post on their site it may not fit depending on their requirements.

2. Keywords

The keywords you choose are invaluable because they help people find your post. Not only are the needed within your post for searches that may be done on your site, but they’re also used when people use search engines for information they need. You need to choose 5-7 words that best fit the content within your post. When you use the best keywords you’ll have more success with searches and that’s what you want when you’re trying to increase the traffic to your site.

To continue reading this article, click here.

Did you Work your Business on Mother’s Day?

May 14th, 2012

Taking time off is very important when you own a business. You’re the only one to work your business and make it what it is, but it’s also important to take time off to do the things you want to do.

Mother’s Day was this past weekend and if you didn’t take time off to be with your family, then you’re working your business too much. It’s important for you to remember taking one day off isn’t going to make or break your business.

If you’re struggling to realize this, you need time off now more than you ever did before. If you don’t feel you can make this happen, you need to take a good hard look at your business to make sure you’re doing everything you need to do and eliminate the things that aren’t necessary. You also may need to consider outsourcing certain tasks to a Virtual Assistant or Ghostwriter to help you with important tasks.

If you don’t take time off you can feel overwhelmed or you can feel stressed and that can be damaging to your business. It’s not worth it for that to happen when you can take time off here and there to relieve those feelings.

It’s not too late for you to start taking the time off from your business. Take a couple hours off to go play with the kids or to attend their end of the school year functions. Once you see how great it feels, you’ll see it’s right and you’ll figure out what it takes to make it happen regularly. When you make this happen you’ll see how important it is to continue to make it happen and you’ll see that your business will be better off for it in the long run.

Seven Reasons to Consider Homeschooling Your Children

May 13th, 2012

Have you been thinking about homeschooling your children? Are you wondering how they would really benefit from learning at home?

Homeschooling is not the right choice for everyone. But if you’re ready to commit the time and the energy to teaching your own children, here are some of the advantages you can experience.

1. You know your children better than any teacher ever will. When you homeschool, you choose how, when and what to teach your children. This means you can tailor your children’s education to suit their unique skills, interests, and learning styles.

2. Homeschooling creates more family time. Strong family relationships are created over time, and teaching your children at home creates opportunities for these relationships to develop. Time together also helps you teach your children your values.

All of our family relationships have been changed since we began homeschooling, but the biggest difference I’ve seen is in the relationship between my son and daughter. When they attended a public school, they didn’t get along at all. When we began homeschooling they had to learn to get along, even when they disagree, because they’re together all day, everyday.

3. Learning at home takes less time than learning at school. In a classroom setting, it takes extra minutes to make sure everyone has their books out, everyone is on the right page, and everyone understands the instructions.

When you regain that time by educating your children at home, your child can learn more, and also have time to pursue their personal interests.

4. There is less stress in a homeschool environment. Some children find it stressful to be in a traditional classroom. They might experience recurring tummy aches, headaches, or general anxiety. These can all disappear in peaceful home environment.

To continue reading this article, click here.