Quote of the Day

“The trouble with being in the rat race is that,
even if you win,
you’re still a rat.”

Quote of the Day

“Most barriers to your success are man-made.

And most often, you’re the man who made them.”

Quote of the Day

“Always give without remembering,
and always receive without forgetting.”
~Brian Tracy

If this work at home "stuff" really worked, wouldn’t everybody be doing it?

I recently had a woman bring up this very issue. She wasn’t the first, and I’m sure she won’t be the last either, so I thought it would be best to share my thoughts on it here, and therefore save myself some time later on.

So if the idea of working from home, owning your own business, working around your schedule when and how you want, making as little or as much money as you want or are able to create, retiring at an early age, living the dream life, being able to stay home with your kids, living on your terms rather than someone else’s…if this was true, would everyone be doing it?

Nope. If everyone was created equal, they would. I mean who wouldn’t like to do what they want when they want, right? But the fact of the matter is, not everyone is the same. Some of us are self-motivated and driven to succeed, willing to do whatever it takes to do so. Yet, some of us need to have someone there to push us along, show us what to do and how to do it.

So many people have tried and failed at any number of work at home opportunities. The flashy cars, the lifestyles portrayed, the fast money, it all is appealing and who wouldn’t want that. But behind each success is a trail of hard work, time and effort. Why don’t they mention this in the ads, or when you are looking to work from home? Because hard work doesn’t sell. Most people tend to shy away from making anything harder, or adding extra work into their schedules. So if you were to say,

“give it all you’ve got, you must work consistently for at least a year, maybe two, but by then you should be making some decent money. Oh and by the way, you probably won’t be getting paid much in terms of the work you are putting out, at least in the beginning, but after a while, you will be able to reap the benefits of all that hard work.”

You try and post an ad like that, and it will most likely stop people before they even tried to get started, or more so, before they even thought about taking the time to request some information from you. Most people are looking for an easy, fast way to make money from home, regardless of whether or not we know that there is no such thing as “easy” money. When it doesn’t happen fast enough, or when it gets to be more work than what they had bargained for, they quit. Thus leaving yet another victim to claim that working from home does not work.

Working from home is not for everyone, it takes a special kind of person to make it work. Therefore, just because everyone might or might not know about it, not everyone would be doing it. The idea behind the industry is wonderful, but it takes more than wishful thinking, and that is why it isn’t for everyone.

Quote of the Day

” Even if you are on the right track,
you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”

Quote of the Day

“You will never find time for anything,
You must make it.”

Taking Action

Somebody once told me, “you don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.” It was then that I had one of many ah-ha moments.

When you think about it, nothing ever goes perfectly the first time around. We do things, then we make them better, and continue changing things up as we go. Even with parenting, with your first born your new to the whole idea and lifestyle of having a child. Then with the next child you have an idea of what works and what does not, so we tend to do things a little bit better. Then with each subsequent children, everything seems to progress a little bit. So even though we have no idea what to do at first, we learn as we go because that is the only choice we have. Having a child is a now or never sort of approach that we have to take. It’s not something that we can continue to put off to the side, or continue to research and perfect. When we first find out that we will be having a child, we have only 9 months to prepare, then it’s a go whether we feel as though we are ready or not. All we can do is try our best and pray that we don’t mess up too badly.

With that example we really don’t have a choice on whether or not we follow through with action. But when we have plans or ideas for things we want to accomplish in our lifetimes, most people will put them off and delay ever getting started simply because of the unknown. We tend to have a fear of failure or the ever pressing need to want to get it just right & make sure all is perfect before we take that first step.

I just want to say, no one ever gets it right the first time. Everything that has ever been created or done has gone through it’s own system of trial & error. When we consider how much things have changed over the last 50 years, many have become more economical, simpler and easier to use.

If you have been researching and planning and going over every minute detail to make sure everything will be just right before you actually do something, whether it be a business you’d like to have, or a way of making money through the internet, or maybe even a blog. You have to just do it. Honestly, when I started this blog, I had no idea how or what I was suppose to do. In fact, it took me almost 2 days to figure out how to set it up and how the layout stuff worked. (No joke!) All I knew was that I had information that I wanted to share with people. It started with so many people asking “Why would I pay to work from home?” Or “it’s all a scam, if they ask for money, it’s a scam.” Granted I have lost plenty of money on different endeavors, but either way, not everything is a scam and that is the message I wanted to share with everyone. It then progressed into much more & looking back I am proud of what I have done over the last 9 months. This could not have been if I would have been too afraid to actually get started. If I had tried to figure out every blogging tool, and how to use keywords to your advantage (which, by the way, I still don’t know much about…) But I could have continued to put it off and wait until all was perfect, but I didn’t. I am learning as I go, but I am also building a wonderful base in the meantime.

Take some time getting to know the basics of whatever it is you plan to do. Then just put it out there. You will be able to tweak it and improve things as you go. In time, it will become as it is meant to be. If you spend too much time trying to get it right, somebody else is going to do it, and then it won’t seem so great anymore. Like they say…

“You don’t have to get it right. You just have to get it going.”

The Tax Benefits of Owning Your Own Home-Based Business…

If you have been considering starting your own home-based business or any network marketing/mlm type endeavor, don’t wait until after the first of the year. With the holidays in full swing, and the overwhelming busy schedules that most of us keep at this time of year, we tend to not want to add anything into the mix until after it is all over. However, getting started in a home-based business before the end of 2007 has it’s own many benefits.

I’m not a CPA or even a tax advisor, so we won’t get too detailed here. But essentially the tax benefits that a self-empoyed business owner receives over that of an employee, is huge. As a home business owner you can write off a portion of your mortgage/rent, your lights, gas, phone, internet, computer and more. Not only that, but any out of pocket expense to “do” your business is also tax deductible, including the start up costs or fees involved.

If you were to start your business in 2007, sometime between now and December 31st, you could then get your start-up fee returned to you when filing taxes here within the next few months. If you wait until after the first of the year, then you have to wait until you file next years taxes for 2008, before you can recoup those costs.

So don’t wait to get started. Even if you don’t actually get started working on your business until after the first of the year. You’ll just be one step ahead of the program, and you will essentially be able to start for free.

Here is an article that explains what I’m talking about here…The Tax Reduction Institute.

Is It All Just a Scam?

I have seen many, many postings throughout the Internet, on message boards and what not, where someone is looking for advice on what options are available in terms of work at home or through Internet type opportunities. And as I scroll down through the responses given it amazes me as to how many people will claim that everything and anything on the Internet & related to the work at home industry is a scam. I wonder what exactly their experience has been in regards to this issue?

Regardless of whether or not anyone was to take my word for it, I understand that I am just another person of whom you may not know personally, and how are you suppose to believe anything I say, right? But seriously, if everything is a scam, then how is it so many people are able to work from home.

This is what I mean, even if someone has tried to find something and they were unsuccessful in doing so, does that mean that it’s not possible? Or is it just that with the vast array of “stuff” available they simply didn’t look hard enough or long enough to find what worked?

I know what it’s like to lose money, and a lot of it, due to untruthful & somewhat evil beings who are only out to make a dime. I don’t understand how their mental processes work exactly because I would think that it’s harder and more work to have to constantly find new people to swindle just to make a few bucks. If they were to spend that time & effort on something legit and something that made it possible for others to succeed in, then they wouldn’t have to work nearly as hard to make a living. It just doesn’t make sense??

That being said, I know that not everything is a scam. Even some of the things I tried, and paid money to do, and never made a dime doing so, that doesn’t mean it was a scam exactly. It did work for some people, just wasn’t something that I could do. (It was products that I could care less about and didn’t want to sell, which made it dreadful to get up and do anything at all, which leads to no money.) It wasn’t the fault of the company, they had actually been in business for 20 years, so there had to be something that was working right. But I was the one who had no idea what I was suppose to look for, what was out there, I was young and when I saw the flashy cars and the income potential I was like sign me up. We are all allowed to make mistakes like this, just accept the fact that the blame relies on yourself, not the industry or the individual company or rep.

So, how do you know if something is a scam or not? There is no one simple answer to this. Use common sense, do your research and find out all that you can from many different resources. Don’t take any one persons opinion as the simple truth, it is just that, their opinion or experience.

Here is a link as to the Definition of Scam: http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/definitions.php

You can also find other great information and tips as to common scams and what to look for and questions to ask.

Hopefully you will find this helpful. This is one thing that I have a great deal of passion for because of the many people who do benefit from working at home, many of which may not have had any other options available, myself included. So I can’t stand when someone makes false assumptions without knowing actual facts, or without having been there personally.

I would love for others to share their thoughts & opinions on this issue. However, I would like it if you plan to be exceptionally rude and distasteful that you restrain from commenting, but feel free to send me an email if it would make you feel better.

A Meme & 7 Things About Me

I was meme’d by Liz Fuller over at More Than We Know, a wonderful site she has created for Women Entrepreneurs. I had no idea what this meant exactly, but after a little bit of research, I found that it is simply being tagged by another. I have to admit it feels great knowing that I must be doing a little something right for others to notice me.

Now there are a few rules in regards to this meme…

1. Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 7 random people and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know they have been tagged and comment on their blog.

Doesn’t sound too difficult, or does it? Seven things about myself…that’s a hard one. It did take me a few days to ponder my thoughts and try and come up with things that others may want to know about me. And well I have no idea what may interest all of you about me, but I will give it a go…

1.) I was a terrible teenager. I ran away from home, skipped school, did everything and anything possible as long as it was the exact opposite of what my mother allowed or wanted me to do. I knew exactly what I was doing and I knew it wasn’t good for me, yet I continued to do it until I was finally forced to live with my father. That was in my junior year of high school, and even though I had skipped a good 16 months of school since 8th grade, I was still able to graduate as normal at the age of 17.

2.) I can’t remember the last time I paid full price, or retail, for anything. I am a huge clearance rack shopper. I purchase all of the kids’ clothes, shoes, toys, pretty much everything when it’s on sale.

3.) My dream job when I grew up was to be a Bounty Hunter, or even just a Private Investigator. And even though I am a little embarrassed to admit it, I spent around $700 & roughly 15 months of my time, with a home-study type course in order to follow my dream.

4.) Organization is not a natural strength of mine. In fact, I grew up surrounded by people who never threw anything away. At my dad’s house, we rarely saw the kitchen table as it was constantly covered with “stuff.” I am consistently working towards making my life and my home more organized. In fact, last weekend we went through the kids’ room and got rid of about 4 large trash bags of toys that they don’t use & don’t need, and we took them to a local shelter for homeless & abused women and children. It’s amazing the difference it makes now that the kids’ actually have a place to put the things they do use and are able to find them.

5.) I am terrible when it comes to exercise. I have had a membership at the local women’s fitness place since March of 2006 and only used it for approximately 5 months combined. I signed a contract for 24 months, so I am paying my fees every single month, yet I still don’t make myself get up and just go.

6.) I love learning new things. In fact, almost to a fault sometimes. I have a horrible habit of putting things off until the very last minute. This is also partly due to the fact that I constantly doubt myself a little bit and want to make sure I do the best that I can.

7.) Overall I am a very laid-back, easy going person. I don’t usually yell & get upset. In fact, I do all I can to avoid confrontation & arguments. Most often people are going to believe what they choose to, regardless of what anyone else says, so why bother trying to change their minds. As long as I know that what I am doing is right, then that’s all that matters.

So there you have it, 7 things about me. Now the next part of the meme is to choose 7 other people randomly and link to their blogs. I will simply choose some of my favorites, in no specific order.

1. Table4Five
2. Single WAHM
3. Notes from a Wannabe WAHM
4. Marketing Curve
5. It’s a Woman’s World
6. Super WAHM
7. Busy Mom

I suggest you take a look at each of these blogs. Each one of them has their own special qualities and wisdom included. I have gained a ton of knowledge through each of them.

So there you have it. Now all I have left to do is let my poor victims know that they have been meme’d and hope for the best.