What to look for in a home business?
Choosing the right home business opportunity is a very important decision and must not be taken lightly. The list of opportunities is endless and that list is growing every day.
There is no end to stories about failed home businesses, and people who lost lots of money attempting to start their own home business. It is very easy to not be included in one of those sad stories if you follow a few simple rules, which I will attempt to outline here.
1 – History of success:
You will hear many people tell you that the only way to be very successful is to get in on the "ground floor" of a start-up company. This is a total myth .
Although how long a company has been in business is no guarantee of it’s success, it is the best tool we have when looking at companies. It has been reported that the home business industry has a history of approximately an 85% failure rate in it’s first year, and that increases to 95% by year five. For the best odds of choosing a company with a good chance of being around to provide you residual income in the future, it is suggested that you not even consider a company less than five years old, and a company ten years or older is preferred.
In good company with a good compensation plan, your residual income should be based upon the profitability of the organization you create, not upon how long you have been a distributor. Your comp plan should provide for the ability for you to be a top income earner within 2-5 years of joining, and you should expect to easily be able to earn more than your upline.
2 – Residual Income:
Residual income is income that continues to be paid to you long after you are no longer working the business.
This is a concept that many people just never seem to grasp. Most people understand the concept of trading time for money. An hour’s pay for an hour’s work. This is not the concept upon which network marketing was founded. That is a J.O.B. (Just Over Broke). You work from month to month hoping there is enough money coming in to pay the bills.
Residual income is possible because you build a business which is not dependent upon you being there to continue to do the work. Far too many people believe that because they are earning commissions from a downline that they have residual income. That is rarely the case because the majority of people do not build their businesses properly.
When considering network marketing as a home business, one of the most important features to look for is a company that has a great potential of providing long term "Residual Income".
3 – Look for a company with excellent tools and a strong training program.
One of the largest misconceptions about network marketing is that it takes sales skills. Frequently the opposite is true. Many times a strong sales background will be a handicap to the growth of your business because you will be tempted to use those skills in building your business, and your downline will not be able to duplicate your talents.
The company should provide tools which can do 99% of the work of promoting and supporting your business for you. The tools include, brochures, audio tapes, CD’s, Video Tapes, Internet web sites, conference calls, three-way calls, recorded training and presentations.
A good company will have all of these tools. However having the tools is not enough. The company must have a proven SIMPLE, duplicable method of using the tools, and a program of training the new distributors on the use of the tools
You may be a very good trainer, or have a great talent for speaking in front of large groups or making sales presentations, but 99% of the people you introduce to your company will not share your talents.
If the company you are deciding to join has these 3 qualities then you are starting off on the right foot. The next step is up to you to work it like a business and duplicate the success of the top performers.
What is Dropshipping?
Understanding Product Distribution
People have been distributing products since before the first mastodon skinner traded a fur coat for a flint axe.
Here’s how it works.
Let’s say ABC Manufacturers makes a product called Mom’s Ankle Wax. We’ll say that Mom’s Ankle Wax has been around for years. It’s a very well known brand name product. It will without a doubt give you the shiniest ankles on your block, and everybody wants some.
ABC Manufacturers makes Mom’s Ankle Wax, but they don’t sell it directly to the public. They’re a manufacturing operation. They’re far too busy melting paraffin and waxing test ankles to go around building stores all over the place. They need distributors; companies who will take their product and distribute it to the places that will sell it.
For years, ABC Manufacturers has sold Mom’s Ankle Wax to a company called DEF Distributors. The founder of DEF Distributors knew Mom herself, back in the old days when she made her Ankle Wax by hand, out in the turkey barn.
Today, DEF Distributors buys Mom’s Ankle Wax by the truckload. They pay $5.00 a case for it, which is a very good price. It’s such a good price, it has it’s own name: the Manufacturer’s Wholesale Price.
However, DEF Distributors does not sell it to the general public either. They are a distributor. They distribute Mom’s Ankle Wax.
DEF Distributors works with a chain of retail stores called Wax R Us. This place was founded by a retail business visionary who saw the incredible potential of Mom’s Ankle Wax a long time ago. Today there are Wax R Us retail stores on every street corner in every major city in the country. Wax R Us buys truckloads of Mom’s Ankle Wax from DEF Distributors for $10.00 a case.
So, DEF Distributors makes $5.00 on every case of Mom’s Ankle Wax they sell to Wax R Us retail stores. This makes DEF Distributors very happy.
Cases and cases of Mom’s Ankle Wax arrive in the stockrooms of Wax R Us stores everywhere. The Wax R Us employees open those cases, and pull 12 cans of Mom’s Ankle Wax out of each case. With their pricing guns, they stick a price of $4.50 on each and every can.
Wax R Us stores make a total of $44.00 on each case of Mom’s Ankle Wax. (12 cans x 4.50 per can = 54.00, minus the 10.00 they paid for the case = 44.00).
Wax R Us is even happier than DEF Distributors.
However, the happiest people of all are the people who can stroll into Wax R Us and purchase a can of Mom’s Ankle Wax for only $4.50. They think this is a great price, and they’re walking around with the shiniest ankles in town.
Well, that’s it…basic product distribution. The manufacturer sells to the distributor, the distributor sells to the retailer, and the retailer sells to the end user (the customer). The manufacturer, the distributor and the retailer all make money because the customer is willing to spend money for the product.
Drop Shipping has been around for a long time, too. Probably as long as mail order catalogs; maybe longer. If you want to use a buzzword to impress a corporate type, call it “second party addressing”.
Above, we talked about the manufacturer-distributor-retailer relationship. When you use drop shipping to sell products on the Internet, (or anywhere else), YOU become the RETAILER in that relationship.
It should be noted here, if only to keep the Punctuation Police happy, that if you use the method of drop shipping in your business, YOU are not the “drop shipper”. The company(s) who supply the products to your customers for you is the drop shipper. YOU become a “Stockless Retailer”.
How Drop Shipping Works
1.) You open an Internet Store, with a shopping cart and the ability to accept credit cards.
2.) You find a distributor who is willing to DROP SHIP the products you want to sell. The best place on the Internet for this is www.worldwidebrands.com. This is our website, the home of OneSource, recognized as the best source for legitimate Wholesale Suppliers on the Internet.
3.) You establish an account as a retailer with the Drop Ship Wholesale Supplier.
4.) You receive images and descriptions of the products you want to sell from the Drop Shipper and post them on your Internet Store.
5.) A customer surfs into your Internet Store, and falls in love with a product that you have priced at, say, $80. They purchase the item with their credit card. Your Store charges their credit card $80 plus your shipping fee.
6.) You turn around and email the order to your Drop Shipper, along with the customer’s name and address.
7.) The Drop Shipper sends the product directly to your customer, with YOUR Store’s name on the package.
8.) The Drop Shipper charges you the wholesale price of, say, $45.00, plus shipping.
9.) Your customer gets a cool product from your store shipped to their door, and they tell all their friends about you, and you make even more money.
There you have it. You just made a $35.00 profit on one item. You didn’t have to buy a whole bunch of the product and keep it in your warehouse, hoping you would sell it. You didn’t have to pay to have it shipped to you, and then pay to ship it to your customer. All you did was send an email to your Drop Ship Wholesale Supplier.
That’s the drop shipping process in a nutshell!
This article was written by Chris Malta owner of WorldWide Brands
Learn how not to be the next online scam victim
Did you know….
There were 565.7 million Internet users worldwide at the end of 2005, and there were 633.6 million at the end of 2006. This amounts to 67.9 million per year, or 5.66 million per month (in 2006). That’s 189,000 per day, 7,875 per hour, 131.25 per minute, or 2.2 new internet users every second of the day worldwide, translating to a new Internet user going online every .45 seconds this year. This is great news, but unfortunately this opportunity will also attract scam artists According to Forrester Research 2007 Market Projections say E-Commerce will produce $10 Trillion. Unfortunately this explosion of opportunity will also bring in people who will try to run scams.
Everyday Yahoo, AOL and MSN filter over 90 percent of all email sent because it is considered spam or a scam. Unfortunately if you are looking to start a online business you will quickly learn that the same statistics apply to that industry. In Newsweek December 1999 issue the cover story was “In the Internet age, the GREATEST risk is being left behind." If that was the case in 1999 it is even more so today.
With the massive growth of opportunities online and the increase in people who will try to run scams also trying to make money online how do you get started and avoid the scams?
Here are some general rules to follow:
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! Granted, there are legitimate money making programs out there, but there are also a large number of over hyped, over promising, under delivering scams too. A key indicator of a scam is the promise of big returns for no work.
Be mindfullof programs or sales pitches that use a hard sell to get you to sign up right away. Take your time to think about opportunities. If you do find a program that intrigues you, do yourself a favour and check it out first. Sign up to their newsletter to see if you like the way they do business, see if they explain how to make money with their program and have a good look around their site.
Reputation is a key indicator of a good online company. Try to find at least 3 positive and negative reviews on the program. All companies will have negative reviews. When you read a negative review make sure to read between the lines to see if the person giving the negative review really tried the program or is simply disappointed because they expected returns for no work. Positive reviews need to be watched as well. Often a company will post positive reviews about itself so if you see the same things being said by different people question why.
Make sure there is an out. Before you sign ANYTHING, find out what the procedure is to withdraw if you change your mind and what, if anything, it will cost you. If you have to pay start-up fees, pay with a credit card rather than cash or check. Knowing what the withdraw policy is before you join you will know that you can walk away without damages.Read the fine print before you sign anything. If you don’t understand an agreement, have a lawyer or an accountant review it before signing.
Going through all of this and then some can be a challenging task. A short cut is often to find a reputable work at home directory website that does the work for you and lists various types of opportunities for you to chose from.
Once you find a companies that you feel is your golden ticket work it hard and take advantage of this incredible time of history.
How do paid surveys work?
The movement towards the dependable methods of Internet Research is growing rapidly and is seen by many as a more favourable option than traditional methods of information collection. Customary processes of surveying consumers such as over the telephone and through the mail, are both costly and lengthy. Online surveys are faster and cheaper. For this reason, developing large online panels has become a priority for marketing research companies and they are willing to pay for our opinions. Researchers seek to determine the public’s opinion regarding products, issues, candidates, and other topics. The most popular and reliable method of acquiring such information is through scientifically-developed public surveys. Such information is used to develop new products, improve services, influence policy, and is used by health care providers, the government, airlines, private businesses and others. The practice and use of survey research facilitates and drives the maintenance, and indeed the advancement, of our quality of life.
Paid online surveys are a great way for those wanting to jobs at home. Some people do online surveys as part-time work to make their car payments. Others work full-time and make enough to quit their jobs! It’s your choice! More and more people are signing up for paid online surveys because it’s easy, fun and make money online is rewarding. This is the perfect opportunity for students, retired people, or ANYONE wanting to earn extra income. Many studies use paid surveys to acquire information on consumer opinions and behaviors. A variety of questions touching on a range of topics are presented on online forms on which people are invited to give their opinions. Compensation for the completion of such surveys can be up to $250 which makes paid surveys a great way to make money online!
The companies that pay for your opinions sponsor the surveys and focus groups you participate in. In general you are not paid directly by these companies but by market research firms that conduct surveys on their behalf. You are to be paid by cheque sent by postal mail, online using PayPal or with coupons that you can use in leading stores on the Internet. The details of any particular payment method will always be disclosed from the beginning.
Here is how paid surveys work: First research assignments are ordered and paid by large corporations, government agencies, and institutions who know that listening carefully to consumers is important to their success. Then consumers fill out the surveys online and/or they take part in focus groups and are compensated for their contributions (up to $250/hour). All you need to do to start making money is follow these four steps:
1.Subscribe to Paid Survey company: You get immediate access to a broad collection of qualitative companies
2.Fill out your profile and wait for invitations by e-mail to fill out a survey.
3.Sit in focus groups or fill our surveys
4.Get rewarded for your opinions
That’s all! The more companies you register with and qualify for, the more invitations you will receive. These companies will send you an invitation if your profile matches these requirements (age, sex, education, profession, country, etc…).
Among the top companies who distribute these surveys is Maximum Paid Surveys. They have a huge directory of market research companies that are willing to pay for your opinions. This state-of-the-art database lists hundreds of money making opportunities and provides tips, tricks and strategies that will help you make money as quickly and as easily as possible. Maximum Paid Surveys currently have over 500 survey companies in their database, more than you need to get started. These companies were sorted by regions (countries and states), incentives (money or prizes), priority (top companies are listed first) and other criteria so you can quickly and easily register with the ones that match your profile. All this makes Maximum Paid Surveys the biggest database of online opportunities on the Internet! On the internet your choice of survey databases with which to register is unlimited, the best of the bunch is Maximum Paid Surveys.
How do Focus Groups work?
A number of focus groups may be very specific in terms of things like gender and/or age, and not everyone will qualify for some of the specifics. Of course, a lot of them are very general and just about anyone can take them. Focus Groups are usually a more lengthy process – lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours or even longer. The amount of money that you earn is commensurate with the amount of time and effort that is required.
U.S. companies alone spend hundreds of billions of dollars each year working to attract potential customers. The largest segment of this money is spent on advertising, but a good share is also spent on invaluable research.
A wide range of topics are covered in most focus groups, relating to how, why, and when you use certain products, as well as your spending habits and opinions regarding the quality and use of certain goods.
The kind information that can be acquired through the use of focus groups goes far in terms of helping companies to understand what consumers want. Companies see the tremendous importance of this kind of information and are eager to compensate people up to $150 per hour to get it. In the long run, these companies know that paying people for their opinions will translate to more returns for themselves eventually.
A "Focus Group" is a group of individuals selected and assembled by researchers to discuss and comment on, from personal experience, the topic that is the subject of the research. You simply share your opinions and discuss them with others.
The setting for focus groups can be in any particular location, but these days, they are more often held online using a variety of technologies. If you are interested in participating in these types of focus groups you can make money online, often earning up to $150 per hour for doing so!
There are NO limits to the number of focus groups you can participate in. The number of focus groups in which you are invited to contribute is generally dependant upon your personal profile as well as the number of companies with which you have registered that profile.
Everything about you – where you live, whether you have a job or go to school, what kind of car you drive, whether you are single or married, etc. – makes up your personal "profile". Market research companies then use your personal profile to place you in those focus groups that are most relevant to your particular information. This ensures that people are not included in groups where they have no familiarity or interest in the particular topic or product.
The numbers of wide-ranging focus groups available are ample. There are groups out there to fit most any profile, even if you currently have a full time job. There is no one "profile" that regularly qualifies for more focus groups than the rest.
While your "profile" is one of the most important factors that will determine the type and number of focus group invitations you receive, there is no such thing as a "good" or "bad" profile. Each and every person simply has a different profile, as everyone in the world is a little different.
Regardless of your walk of life, marital status, whether you work at home, are a student or a stay at home mom, Focus Groups are available to anyone who is looking to make money online. Your opinions are valuable!
