Legitimate Home Business Checklist

If you are considering making the move to start a home business, you will have already been warned about the scams that plague our industry, in short it is becoming more and more difficult to find a business opportunity that is not going to take your money and head for the hills.

So with that in mind how do you find a legitimate home business that stands out from the scammy crowd? In this post I will list certain things that should definitely be on your checklist when choosing a home business opportunity.

The first question I would ask would be how long has the company been in business? Ordinarily I would say they should have been successfully in business for 5 years. Most scams or bad business opportunities would not have made it to that mark, so already you will greatly increase your chances of finding a legitimate home business if you apply this rule.

Every home business wants you to think that theirs is the stand out opportunity that you have been looking for, so be prepared for an element of hype and fluff on pretty much every one you investigate. It will usually come in the form of incredible income claims. Now don't get me wrong, it is possible to earn yearly 7 figure incomes, I am personally friends with people that have achieved that magical figure. But here's the warning…any home business that guarantees you will make hundreds, thousands or even millions of dollars should be immediately dispatched because they are flat out lying! there is simply no business out there that can guarantee this, for one simple reason, and that reason is you, how you apply yourself, what skill sets you possess, how much time you can afford your home business, the list goes on and on, will affect your earning potential.

I personally think the most important factor is what they will do for you. Education and ongoing training is crucial to your success. A genuine legitimate business will offer this as a matter of course. They will also supply you with websites to utilise, sure in the long run you will need to get your own site but in the initial stages they should provide you with websites for you to use, ultimately they would include some sort of personal customization tool for you to add your personal touch.

You will also need questions answering. Members should have access at all times to at least 3 of the following, up-line members, forum, email support, phone support and a live chat facility.

There are two more factors that will be crucial to your success, the compensation plan and a proven business system. A proven successful business system is something you can tap into and get up and running quickly so that you don't need to waste time reinventing the wheel.

Finally, the compensation plan. You will have to evaluate how hard it will be to get into profit, will it be possible to earn a full time income, are the income expectations reasonable and you should be getting paid from your very first sale.

I could go on and dig deeper but the above are, in my mind, the crucial factors when choosing a legitimate home business opportunity. Use this information along with your instincts and you should manage to avoid all those nasty bottom feeders that give this industry a bad name….

A year In Real Estate Vs. A Year Online

Over the weekend I found myself looking back to my brief time as a real estate agent. I presume this was brought on by the fact that it was late Sunday afternoon and I remember that uncomfortable feeling that used to afflict me at the same time when I had that JOB. The weekend would be coming to an end and the grim reality that Monday was fast approaching bringing with it another week of corporate misery.

You see prior to my one year in Real Estate I had had a successful career in the live music industry spanning nearly 20 years. With success came longer hours more time spent away from home and as I now had young children I needed to spend more time with them, thus I decided on a change of career. If I'm totally honest I didn't think it through and possibly made a rash judgment, but that is not the point of this post.

So I changed Rock 'n' Roll for Real estate….ha what was I thinking! I then proceeded to embark on what I can honestly say was the worst year of my life. First of all I had never worn a suit in my life (bar the usual outings to weddings, funerals etc) and here I was at the age of 44 having to wear one 5 or 6 days a week. I had a boss who would tell me to do my top button up and roll my sleeves down to conform (I hate that word) with the company dress policy. I would leave for work before the kids went to school and arrived back minutes before they were off to bed. I would have to work every Saturday, there was nothing more to my life than selling units of bricks and mortar, believe me when I say it was a soulless existence.

But one day I tried an experiment, I stared intensely into a mirror for 30 seconds, no blinking or flinching. I looked deep into my soul and asked myself 3 important questions: "Am I living my best life?", "Am I doing everything possible to create my own reality?" and "Am I selling my family short?" After two No's and a Yes I knew what I needed to do and the very next day I handed my notice in to the shock of all my work colleagues and decided to start my own home business.

I'm not going to pitch the opportunity I found online, but I will tell you how with their immense training and support I now make an income well above my previous boss and are now able to live life on my and my families terms. Last year, my first full year online, allowed me to make trips to the Dominican Republic, France, New York, Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Santa Fe, so far this year I have visited my sister in Boston and at the end of this month I will re-visit New York for 2 days intensive training followed by 3 days checking out that phenomenal city.

So, if while reading this, you find yourself in a similar position to where I was 18 months ago, go find the nearest mirror, be brave, be honest, don't break your gaze or flinch and begin the process to start living your best life….

How To Add Meta Tags To Your Blogger Blog

We all want our blog posts to be read by as many people as possible, indeed what would be the point otherwise!! The first step is to optimise your blog, and in this example it will relate to your Blogger account. Your standard template will not include meta tags, so you will need to manually add them to achieve a higher ranking, the process is simple just follow the steps below...



1. First login to your Blogger.com account.

2. Then click on ‘Layout’ and select ‘Edit HTML’ tab.






3. Now search for the line of code directly above the boxed selection below (it will be about 9 rows down from the top). Then simply add the code in the boxed section directly beneath it.

Now just change the capitalized letters with your own text. ‘Keywords’ meta tag can have any number of keywords.

Analyzing Meta Tags

Adding meta tags to your website/blog is not enough it is important that you then analyse their effectiveness. So here's the cool bit, you can use this free tool to get a report on how your meta tags rank and then optimise if necessary, you should be aiming for a score of +90%. It is called SEOCENTRO. It does not require you to register. Just fill your website URL and anti-spam code and you will be produced with a ‘Meta Tag Analysis Report‘ (see the image below).

There you have it!

WARNING: DUE DILIGENCE NEEDED...

If there was one warning I would give to a virgin online entrepreneur, it would be do your homework.

I have overspent on a host of programs and tools, hoping they would catapult me to immediate success with my home business. Follow my initial concept and you too will waste hundreds, if not thousands of dollars trying to achieve the dream you set when you first embarked on your entrepreneurial journey.

Now I'm not going to name names here because I blame myself for not carrying out my own personal research before purchasing, but all I will say is there are a lot of charlatans out there that will take your money and give you little in return, so save yourself $$ and time and do your due diligence before parting with your precious cash to some as****e who will use it to fund their shallow existence.

Online Success Comes With A Coach And Mentor

It's something I hear about all the time, you know, person decides they've had enough of their boss and their J.O.B and finally decide to do something about it and fulfill their dream of starting a new business that will allow them to work from home.

After a few online searches, they're off! they spend money buying countless courses on how to make thousands of dollars working from home, then put what they have learned into practice….days pass, the days turn into months and guess what, they receive nothing in return. They take stock of the situation and tell themselves that the reason for their failure is obviously the product they are marketing…

So back to the drawing board! More searches, more products, same mistakes, this process can go on for years as they desperately look for the secret that will unlock their dream of financial success and security.

But the one question they failed to ask themselves was, if I were learning a new sport, language, skill would I not try to find a coach or mentor to help me? Of course you would. Ultimately you would want to find someone to teach you the basics while focusing on the things that will give your business a strong foundation and get it producing results in as quick a time as possible.

An Internet business is the same as any other skill you desire to learn, without a coach you could spend years learning from your mistakes, but in that time give up because you are not reaching the goals that you initially set yourself.

So if there is one nugget of advice I would give to anyone just starting out is look for someone who has the experience and knowledge base to walk you through the minefield that is the internet. Someone who is totally savvy with new marketing techniques as the marketing landscape is constantly evolving and someone who made money 5 years previous may not have the same success today.

You will need to comprehend all aspects of internet marketing including:

Lead Generation
Automated Followup
Website creation
Creating Your Own Brand
Sales Conversion
Creating Multiple Streams Of Income
Building A Residual Income

Add to this a business that works on autopilot 24/7 and you will be giving yourself the best possible opportunity to build a successful online business. Of course everything I have mentioned is worthless without guts, determination and persistence by the owner, but bring that to the table and we will see each other at the top!

In summary I would refer to it as creating an online entrepreneurs incubator, nurturing individuals and giving them the best opportunity to achieve success and the ability to live life on their terms. So if you're tired of failing on the internet see how you can put all those mistakes behind you….

http://TheEntrepreneurIncubator.com

Why I Hate Twitter...

First let me get something straight…I don't actually hate Twitter, it's been a good friend to me, it's made me laugh, cry, make money, learn, the list goes on. But what really annoys me and spoils my user experience is freaking' spammers and people that use it solely to pitch their business opportunity.

What planet are these people on! There is one shining light that these same people will not remain in business long, these myopic individuals totally fail to understand the Twitter concept, it is not a free version of Pay Per Click, it's a social media platform, that's right SOCIAL media. You can reach out and connect with like minded people, socialise, create friendships, sure you can also show people what you do to generate an income, but at least introduce yourself first….

Can you imagine walking into a bar, going straight up to a complete stranger handing them your business card and then turn away to leave saying "call me"! This is effectively what happens on Twitter when it is abused, all I can think is they are using the premise that throw enough mud and eventually some of it will stick…well I've got some bad news for these marketing retards you're on a fast track to failure.

So if you are one of those reading this, this is a message from a new company I incorporated, TwitterAttorneys…."cease and frigging desist", your tweets will not be read and you are clogging up cyberspace with your inane sales pitches….go to your local pharmacy and order a bottle of "Attraction Marketing" take two spoonfuls a day with food and you will be cured before you know it.